♡ What I Got For Christmas ♡

みなさん、こんにちは!

It's halfway through January and I'm going to fuck everyone's timeline up with a belated Christmas post after requests from my best friend and a few other people... *cough* you know who you are *cough cough* here is what I received for Christmas, minus a few pieces as stated in my last post but I'll just put stock photos up instead! First things first, I wasn't expecting as much as I received in all honesty! As soon as I found out that I was getting the tablet, I only asked for a book as another present as I felt bad asking for more... but come Christmas and Boxing day, I was certainly surprised!

Samsung Galaxy Tab 3 Lite

My ppprrreeeccciiiooouuusss. After HJ last November and not using my laptop for a whole weekend (seriously, my whole life is on my laptop, it's sad I know) I certainly felt a little cut off so I decided to look into getting a tablet for myself come New Year but, my parents beat me to it! I honestly spent the whole of Christmas day setting it all up and making it perfect to my needs... hello Molang theme and Hiroko Nariyima lock screen!

Taiwanese Home Cooking Cookbook & Leatherbound Classic

I always, always, ALWAYS ask for books for Christmas but this year I really was stumped until I saw these particular ones. I cannot wait to start using the cookbook, I've already planned out which ones I want to try first! And is it sad that I've already read the leatherbound ones?! They are, seriously, super pretty in person and will look STUNNING on my new shelving! I'm excited about getting the entire collection!

Disney DVD's

It's not an event without being given something Disney! Another collection I'm trying to build up and it's definitely working! I think everyone dreams of owning all the titles of the animated side that Disney has ever produced, I know mine certainly is! I also want to collect the ones that weren't as popular... I don't think there is a title I don't want.

Too Faced, Clinque, Etude House, MAC, L'Oreal & Dirty Works

Of course there was make-up involved!! I think hell would have frozen over if I didn't get any make-up!! The Too Faced palette was a serious surprise from my brother and I am super excited about trying out different looks using it... I also love the smell of the coco powder every time I open the palette *O*

VIXX 2015 Seasons Greetings

Needed a calender... noticed that one of my favourite k-pop groups had a seasons greetings box... bang tidy, how could I say no?! I'm super paranoid about taking it out of the box in all honesty but I will use the calendar... honest! Also, I'm screaming internally that Leo is on my birthday month... score for sharing the same birthday month as him!!

Giveaway Prizes from Chloe

May not particularly seem like a Christmas present in some peoples eyes but in mine... it was! I was super surprised, followed by the overwhelming sensation of happiness, when I had found out that I had won Chloe's Christmas giveaway! Even after all of the postcode mix ups from the delivery company, it still managed to arrive on my doorstep pretty darn quickly! I've already been using the mint compact as it helps cover up my red cheeks so much!! Expect reviews on some of the products coming up soon!

Monsters Inc. Mugs

An extra surprise present from my penpal in Japan! She had sent these ones separately from the main box as she wanted something for me to open on Christmas morning, how sweet of her right?! Luckily my parcel to her arrived just in time for Christmas and yet, the cheeky mare hasn't had a chance to send mine out!! I'm not fussed about this detail in reality omg don't take that line seriously please!

Selection of K-Pop CD's

A present to myself for being.... myself *lame* When I saw the signed DGNA cd, I knew that I had to have that as well as continuing the tradition of getting signed AlphaBAT singles whenever they pop up - seriously, I have all signed AlphaBAT stuff without realising it at first. VIXX... obviously I have had my eyes on forever but never got around to purchasing these two singles so getting these particular cd's for Christmas was a must do!!

Still to come;

An unbranded eyeshadow palette (it was on this wishlist) and MAC's A Passionate Quest Eyeshadow as well as a parcel from Renn as our intended swap dates were just before Christmas, I sent mine out extra early and she sent hers out extra late!! I'm still super excited about getting these other gifts, heck I get excited whenever I even purchase something as a special treat!

Ahhh I'm still reeling over all of these goodies! I honestly love each and every piece and I still am super grateful for getting them all! I definitely feel like a spoilt princess! I'd love to see what everyone else got for Christmas so if any of you lot have a post, please comment the link down below for me! *super lazy as per usual*

Thanks for reading!
xoxo

♡ メリー・クリスマス! ♡

You can certainly tell that I'm really behind on things with the fact that I'm writing my Christmas blog on the last day of 2012... d'oh (*´_ゝ｀) Also I would like to add this note - because strangely people have been asking me about it this year and never in the past six years? My religion is Shinto, which is a branch of Buddhism and whilst Buddhism never celebrates Christmas; I celebrate my family's and friends traditions because this time of year is not about my religion but theirs so it is a mark of respect to them that I do this. Also in Japan - where a large percentage of the population is Buddhist / Shinto it's just a holiday for them to exchange gifts. Most countries in Asia that I know celebrates it, it's not a cultural thing, just a "foreign" holiday that has been adapted. They decorate trees, exchange presents, eat (chicken), but they do not pray or anything on Christmas Eve. So after this long note; it's all basically about giving my family the presents I have bought for them... oh and the food because well I'm a fatty and I love food!

The festivities started in my house on the 21st of December as it was the last day of work for the holidays as well as in the evening we had our work Christmas party meal. What's nice about Christmas time at work is receiving cards and edible gifts food from parents and it makes you feel a bit more appreciated in this line of work. All the gifts get collected together and divided up equally between all members of staff and because mum and I work at the same place, we get given ours together! It's nice what we received this year because my dad likes to eat biscuits... a whole lot of biscuits (_ _ll) so it's like he's received something from my work too!

That evening for our meal; it was absolutely freezing outside and so I wore many layers to keep myself warm and inside the pub - we went to The Green Dragon that is located somewhere between Braintree and Great Leighs I believe - it was sweltering and I instantly regretted my leather jacket... d'oh ヽ(#`Д´)ﾉ

I also didn't get many pictures of the night but we had lots of fun! Loads of us were making paper areoplanes out of cracker cardboard and throwing them like naughty school children oh and the food was pretty mediocre... the only thing I liked out of the whole three courses was my smoked tomato and lentil soup because my main meal was too bland and I had to put extra salt onto it - and I NEVER add extra salt to any of my food!

The dessert wasn't so bad though... but it was overly sweet though and I felt like people had to peel me off the ceiling because of the sugar high ∑(O_O；) At the end of the night we all exchanged our Secret Santa gifts and I received a great pair of bed socks with 3D dogs on the front! They were so cute and my (real) dogs think they're absolutely fabulous to play with... when they're attached to my feet.

On the Saturday 22nd we managed to FINALLY put up and decorate our Christmas tree! We have a mixture of old and new ornaments in my parents 'Christmas Box' and so it was basically a higgelty piggelty of... stuff! But still, it did look very pretty and festive with the coloured lights turned on （＾ω＾）

In the afternoon; I had some time to myself to wrap all my presents to my family but somehow that ended up with me wrapping up EVERYONE'S gifts except for my own... I need to learn how to say 'no' to my parents a bit more often (；￣Д￣）

So an hour worth of work turned into eight hours of paper cutting, sellotaping and tag sticking... oh and with the result of a sore back too! But I had a 'helper' for most of the time:

Who am I trying to kid? She's no helper but she is majorly cute when she's trying to be nosy! Gah I love my furry baby to pieces - and yes I did buy my animals presents... even the horses because no one is left out in our family!

Christmas Eve, Christmas Day and Boxing Day kind feels like that it blurred into one whole day because of how quickly the time flew by! Despite the fact that I couldn't help out with walking the dogs as I had severely cracked my toe and I couldn't wear any shoes / flip flops / slip on shoes of any kind - I thought it was broken at first but nope just cracked and bruised! So I actually thought the days would go by really slowly but because I helped out with odd jobs around the house and with the cooking; my boredom was pretty surpassed and before I knew it we had opened our presents and eaten dinner...

Despite my wishlist in another blog post; I was surprised that my mum took notice of what I had asked for from her and with a few extra goodies I was extremely happy with what I had received from all of my family and friends /throws heart shaped confetti everywhere/ （＾Ｏ＾☆♪

Oh, for once in our lives, my brother and I agreed that we liked Boxing Day food the most because it's mainly cold cuts, pickles, crisps, crackers and CHEESE. LOTS AND LOTS OF CHEESE GROMIT ʘ‿ʘ who can now guess that I am a cheese-a-holic?

All in all; this holiday turned out really well and there were no arguments and 'accidental' deaths of my uncle (I swear all I want to do is a smash a plate over his head to shut him the fuck up) and everyone had a really good time. My other uncle's girlfriend was extremely sweet and asked me if we wanted to be facebook friends and so I accepted and ta dah... now I'm hoping they don't break up because that would be extremely awkward ('-'*)

Did everyone else enjoy the holiday season and get what you had asked for? Cannae believe that it is New Years Eve already though... hope you all have your resolutions (or goals, whatever you prefer) at the ready to GO GO GO ☆彡

Thanks for reading!
xoxo

♡ メリー クリスマス ！Part II ♡

みなさん、こんにちは!

I did promise that I would post my Christmas presents and well, here is the post finally! I'm pretty happy with this years gets because I wasn't expecting getting a couple of them but I am a happy bunny indeed! The top picture is my bits and pieces from my stocking, because even though I am 22 and my brother is 25 our mam loves to still do stockings for us! It's kind of cute because (and this is a recent thing like 4/5 years old) she does practical presents as well as things we like. So for example; I have a jar of lemon curd because lemon curd is my favourite spread to have on toast and my brother would have a jar of peanut butter because that is his. We both got a jar of posh instant coffee (is there such thing as posh instant coffee?) but I had already packed it away before I took photographs! Damn myself (*￣(ｴ)￣*)

So the rest of my stocking consisted off chocolate, body lotions/body wash, shaving cream, nail polish remover, deodrant, razors, face cream, some underwear and socks as well as a new bath sponge! I love my stocking presents because they are actually things I did need to buy for my house back in London but now I don't! Lovely! ヘ(￣ω￣ヘ)

The next picture is of my Clarin's stuff that actually wasn't a present from my parents but from a friend of the family who I've known since I was a baby and every year she buys me the most expensive beauty products ever! She's a beauty therapist and she only gets me this stuff because she can get discounts and I seriously love her for it as I in no way can afford to buy if for myself, especially on my budget! ヘ(゜Д、゜)ノ

This picture is of the clothes I got as Christmas presents! There is a pair of leggings, pair of tracksuit bottoms for lounging around in, three jumpers, a t-shirt and a scarf with gloves as well as some adorable red boot slipper things. I am actually in love with the slippers (づ￣ ³￣)づ

This picture is of my new hot chocolate decanter! Originally I had asked for a coffee one but apparently this chocolate one makes cold chocolate drinks as well as hot ones! Yay no more lumps in my Milo or hot chocolate! Also some lovely and different types of hot chocolate were included as well as a mandatory new mug! YYYEEESSS (づ￣ ³￣)づ

This is my Japan Fashion Now book that I had put on my wishlist but never actually asked for from my parents! I am super stoked to get it because now... well... I have something interesting to read about finally that isn't university related!

Ahhh my uncle is actually a legend! I asked for Gladiator on DVD and he buys me the three hour extended DVD! I also only asked for the first Wayne's World movie and he gets me number one AND number two! He is just a legend in my eyes

And finally... this is my new baby! Oh how I am excited to have a new camera finally and it is just beautiful! Also it takes the most amazing pictures ever! They're so clear even with my shaky hands!

I hope everyone got what they wanted for Christmas! o(≧∇≦o)

Thanks for reading!

xoxo

♡ メリー クリスマス ！Part I ♡

みなさん、こんにちは!

I hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas and got everything they asked for ヽ(*≧ω≦)ﾉ I certainly enjoyed my Christmas day with my family. I didn't wake up until around 11am, which is nice because in the past I've woken up around 4am before (_ _") but as soon as I woke up, my parents and I opened one present each and the present I opened was a brand new camera! In a sense I was and I wasn't surprised that I got it, but I was still extremely happy to have it! *(*´∀｀*)☆ Mum and I then sorted out all the food for Christmas dinner and by the time we finished, it was time to go and visit my nan in the hospital. We met up with my uncle and his girlfriend there and we took some tea and cakes as well as nan's presents to cheer her up （＾ω＾）

After we came home; it was time to take the dogs for a walk and then to eat! I didn't eat as much as I would normally do at Christmas time so it was a nice feeling not to feel sick or bloated after dinner. I made coffee with my dad and then it was time to open presents! ＼（＠￣∇￣＠）／ If I'm honest; I hate opening presents in front of people... I guess it is because I hate being watched when I'm eating etc. I bought some nice reading material for Christmas evening as my parents tend to watch Christmas television but I have no interest whatsoever *sigh* So I entertained myself! Also I tried a limited edition of J20, a juice drink here in England, it was called "Glitter Berry" and it actually had gold specs in the drink! You had to shake it a lot to make the drink sparkly but it was so cute! ヾ(＾∇＾) Mam and I are going to try the drink warm tomorrow as the taste reminds me of mulled wine slightly!

On Boxing Day, my uncle and his family decided to /gatecrash/ our home and eat our food, use our electricity and basically be arses. Can you tell I really dislike my uncle? Then again, I don't get on with my uncles on my dad's side of the family... but I do speak to my cousins when I can which is lovely I'll admit. Anyway, they came on Boxing Day to visit Nan in the hospital and then come and see us and for once, I actually engaged with a proper conversation with my cousin as she was asking me questions about university and wondered what the fashion degree at Kingston was like. Honestly, I was surprised that we spoke for that long without feeling awkward and it made a nice change (★^O^★)

Christmas in my family tends to be a small affair, not a lot of fuss is made and honestly it feels like any normal day of the week to us because we have our animals to tend to - walking the dogs and checking on the horses etc - but the one difference is that we eat pancakes for breakfast! ヾ(*´ー`)ノ 

Thanks for reading!

xoxo