I must have been very good this year...

Hello poppet! 

How was your Christmas?

Mine was full to bursting with board games, delicious food, laughter, vast amounts of pudding, and cuddles with my gorgeous niece; whom I'm very glad to say no longer cries every time I hold her. 

Looking especially adorable (even in mid-yawn) in her special Christmas dress and the knitted strawberry hat my Mum made her.

We spent Christmas day at Tom's brother's house, which was beautifully decorated inside and out from the piles of beautifully wrapped presents under the tree to the table dressed with these gorgeous, sculpted crackers. Instead of the usual plastic tat, each cracker contained a cheeky, wine-related badge. I'm still unsure whether the crackers were sneakily assigned to our seats, but mine seemed oddly appropriate... 

After several days of relaxation, and hundreds of my MIL's delicious veggie sausage rolls, I've got a serious case of the warm and fuzzies. My extended family went out of their way (as always) to make sure I had plenty of delicious food to eat, despite being the only vegetarian (my sister-in-law was up at midnight on Christmas Eve, cooking chestnuts to go in a vegetarian pie!), and spoiled me rotten with thoughtful, perfectly chosen presents. These included...

Teapigs tea in popcorn, jasmine, peppermint and super fruit, a dinosaur-shaped mould for chocolates/ice-cubes, a very festive snowman teatowel, and a huge box of Thorntons' chocolates.

The first addition to my impending collection of long-admired Penguin Clothbound Classics, the best notebook I've ever seen (from my recent trawlings of Etsy), and an Orca ring from Designosaur (Eep!!). 

The cow-print mug is a limited edition Emma Bridgewater design for Waitrose, and the gorgeous woodland pencils are from Sass and Belle (via Ebay). 

The candy cane was a joke, because it looked like a festive shiv. For some unknown reason I keep making shiv-related jokes at the moment. Probably because I've been watching too many prison-based TV shows.

If you're wondering what the roarsome fabric is at the bottom of these photos, it's my new, totally amazeballs, DINOSAUR PYJAMAS. They're advertised for 12-13 year old boys(!), which seems MENTAL, but actually appear to be a very small size 10. Which means that, if I'm ok with not breathing overnight, they sort-of fit; which I'm using as motivation to not eat the entire box of Thorntons' in one go. 

The jar at the back is a solar-powered fairy jar; which glows at night as if it's full of fire flies. I reckon it goes perfectly with the pink fairy wand I received from my sister-in-law which, combined with the moustache air freshener and rose-scented candle, made the car smell like a Lush shop all the way home (yum!). 

Tom and I received a box full of kitchen equipment from his aunt and uncle, and it was pretty obvious the sugar shaker and T-rex cookie cutter were meant for me. I have no doubt the cafe-style blackboard in the background will be appearing on my blog again, when I'm styling my future (dinosaur-shaped) bakes. 

Tom's Mum, who recently learnt how to quilt, made me the lovely miniature patchwork basket; which was filled with the moisturiser and some Lindt chocolates. Sadly, the chocolate did not survive the journey home in one piece (I bit the tiny reindeer's head off at some point on the M25) and therefore could not feature in these photos. 

I'm looking forward to filling the metal jug with flowers to jazz up our dining table, and putting the pompom trimmed food cover to use at summer BBQs.  

I realise Worcestershire sauce may seem a rather odd present, but I've been trying to find a vegetarian version for ages, and I'm therefore very excited about emptying half the bottle onto my next round of cheese on toast. Which is possibly slightly excessive; so it's a good thing Tom got me two more bottles! 

The hand-decorated Christmas tags were made by my sister-in-law as part of her brand new crafty company Love, Beanie. Aren't they pretty?

Tom's Mum also bought me this beautiful mirror to adorn the walls of our Moroccan-themed bedroom.

And finally, here's a present for you - a photo of a rather drunken me, complete with obligatory wonky paper crown, opening my presents in my Lame sweatshirt and cracker badge. Just look how drunkenly happy I am at the size of that box of chocolates....

Right. I'm off to run round the house with my magic wand and fairy jar, to burn off some of today's cheesy snacks and make sure I can fit into my pyjamas this evening! 

Katie xxx