Birthday surprises

This seems rather indulgent and a bit smug at the same time - dedicating a whole post on what I received for my birthday and Christmas. As you may or may not know, my birthday happens to fall on Boxing Day. Most people when I tell them make sympathetic noises and lament on how sucky that can be. When I was at school, it did seem like a big deal as I was never there for people to fuss over like my friends had when they turned up to school on their birthday. But since entering the world of adults and started to work full time, I can see the positive side of having one's birthday fall on a public holiday. It means that I never have to work on that day.

I did receive a lot of presents this year, despite our family just doing Kris Kringle and only buying one present.

So my favourite? It has to be this:



The BFG and I have had many "discussions" as to why I "need" to have a KitchenAid mixer. Not just any mixer and definitely not the K-mix by Kenwood who is trying to look like a KitchenAid. So I was utterly surprised to open this on Christmas day.

You know when someone loves you when they buy you an expensive piece of kitchen equipment even though they secretly believe that you don't cook enough to warrant one. I've always wanted the almond cream one as I love how it looks so retro. Now we just need to find that house, with that perfect kitchen for me to display it... I mean, use it in.

So the other present I wanted to show off was this beautiful tatted choker which my friend of many talents Katie made for me. This was such a thoughtful gift and it looks absolutely stunning on.



I also received the third book in the Stieg Larsson Millenium trilogy from the BFG's parents and so am keen to start reading the whole series. My sister and brother in law got me an umbrella with the Eiffel tower on it (ok - apart from my obsession with knitting, I also have a small collection of Eiffel towers collected from my own and other people's trips to France). My younger sister Lucille who is much more fashionable than I am got me new jeans which fit perfectly.

I also received some new notebooks from the BFG's sister and also my friend Becky. One of them, I'm saving as a travel diary for our upcoming trips this year and another I've decided to start writing in everyday again. I've always kept a diary but I find that I write more when I am particulary angry or upset about things and it's quite therapeutic. Not that I plan to be an angry and angsty person every day of the new year, but even writing down a line that summed up the day or week would be helpful when I want to remember things - good and bad.

Merry Christmas

Merry Christmas! The BFG's parent's are here from Denmark and so we celebrated Christmas last night as is tradition with Europeans. Today was spent lounging around and then going to my sister's place for more food.


The BFG's Christmas elves came out to play along with some new friends.


I wanted to get a tree this year but the BFG who is a bit anti-Christmas decorations was not keen on the idea. So we made do with the little wooden tree he already had and on it I hung this beautifully tatted Christmas bauble which my friend Katie made for me.


Asger and Luna has also come all the way from Denmark to come and live with us.

Anyway, tomorrow is my birthday so I'm going to try to sleep in. I had plans to go to the beach and the movies but rain has been predicted. So we might end up just going to see a movie and playing with my new toys which is another post altogether. I have so much to show off!