Bloggers Secret Santa Swap

Back in the summer I took part in Rhiannon from The Sparkly Panda's Summer Swap and loved putting together a package of summer themed goodies to send on it's merry way.

 

So I was on the lookout for any Secret Santa gift swaps and stumbled across two of them - one run by Hannah from Hannah Bee and another run by Janet from Words That Can Only Be Your Own. I promptly signed up for both and set about finding some little things to package up.

 

 

First up - the Bloggers Secret Santa as organised by Hannah.

 

My Secret Santa recipient was Jenna from JennaSuth who happens to live in a town in the north of Scotland where I've actually been camping several times before!

 

I spotted on her blog that she liked cosying up with a hot chocolate and some Haribo so I thought a present themed along those lines would go down well.

 

 

 

I included Haribo PJ's, an mug, Clipper drinking chocolate, two chocolate stirrers (from our local farm shop), three packets of Christmas-themed Haribo and eight sachets of different flavoured hot chocolate.

 

 

I wrapped them all up in a shoebox sent it on it's way across the miles.

I know Jenna recieved it safely (she popped a picture up on her blog) but I think she has far more restraint than me and has kept it til Christmas day!

 

 

 

 

 

My Secret Santa was the lovely Abigail from Tuesday's Girl who sent me a fabulous package of gifts - all perfect for a cosy Christmas night in.

 

 

 

I unwrapped a huge wine glass, a large box of Lindor chocolates, a Cath Kidston mushroom keyring, a Cherry Vanilla Yankee Candle, a Sunlight on Snow Yankee Candle and some candy canes.

 

 

 

It's all very exciting, not only had Abigail managed to hit the nail on the head with the chocolates (Lindor are my absolute favourite), she also included two Yankee Candles - I've never even owned a Yankee Candle before!

(I know, a blogger who's never had a Yankee Candle, wtf?)

Plus a gorgeous pink and clear wine glass and an incredibly cute keyring - I haven't decided yet whether to add it to my keys or use as part of the decoration in my sewing area.

Either way, it's all fab!

 

 

 

Thanks very much Abigail! And thanks to Hannah for organising it!

 

 

 

Coming up in the next couple of days - the Thrifty Christmas Gift Swap by Janet :-)

 

 

Have you taken part in any swaps this Christmas?

A Duck Birthday

So yeah...I know you're all dying to see them - pictures of birthday shenanigans!

 

 

The cake...

 

 Huge amounts of fresh cream in my birthday cake made by a friend at work.

 

 

The stash...

 

Presents!

 

Owl bunting, Farringtons Farm Shop vouchers, White Company smellies, Eton Mess chocolate, black and glass necklace and the Caro Emerald CD.

 

Reindeer slippers!

 

Gorgeous bird necklace from the Literary Emporium, a session at the Thermae Bath Spa and a fab pink fabric brooch from my lovely friend M.

 

 Huge poinsettia plant from my in laws.

 

 

The day out...

 

Magnificent Christmas tree at Swindon.

Even the Great Western Railway engine was decorated.

 

I wanted to get a good shot of the shiny baubles but the wind had started blowing a gale!

 

 

 

The food...

Ed's Easy Diner gives you a free milkshake on your birthday - I had banana!

 

Big Bubba's Bacon and Cheese Burger

Watching the food being prepared at Ed's.

 

 

 A fab 'Kit-Kat Choco-Lat Sundae' for me and 'Lot of Waffle' for Andrew (no comment!).

 

 

 

All in all, a very good birthday weekend!

The Midweek Hop - Party On

The other half's guest post - three music videos on a theme...

(inspired by Desmond Carrington's 'The Music Goes Round')

 

 

'Balami S100' 1959 Jukebox

 

 

This weeks theme is...Party On

 

Inspired by the fact that it's Christmas Party season!

1. Let's Have A Party by Wanda Jackson


Yep, can't argue with that!
'Let's Have A Party' entered the chart on 1st September 1960 reaching Number 32.


2. Party Doll by Buddy Knox


What every young man wishes he had at a party...
'Party Doll' entered the chart on 10th May 1957 reaching Number 29.


3. Mama Told Me Not To Come by Three Dog Night

Check out the cool moustaches and mullets!

'Mama Told Me Not To Come' entered the chart on 8th August 1970 reaching Number 3.

 

 

Happy listening!

 

 

Christmas Jumper Day at Work

It's currently silly jumper season here in the UK, but last Friday there was a proper official reason to wear an outrageous and colourful Christmas jumper - Save the Children's Christmas Jumper Day.

The charity day coincided with my birthday (have I mentioned that before? I think I might have once or twice...) and at work, we'd decided a few months ago that we were going to support the day by wearing festive outfits and gradually after a lot of chat, the idea of a festive cake sale emerged.
 

 

 

We set about enlisting people to donate cakes and managed to get the event advertised across the University.
I collected a selection of decorations and novelty cake bits from Home Bargains, Poundland and Ikea and spent each evening last week making cakes when I got home.

On Friday morning, myself, Andrew and my friend M traisped into work laden down with 4 bags of cakes and a cake box full of yuletide delicacies.
 

 

 

Lots of other members of staff had made cakes as well and between a few of us, we quickly got a stall set up in our reception area festooned with balloons, tinsel and posters. By the time all the food was laid out we had:
Little Mince Pie Cakes
Iced Gingerbread Biscuits
Christmas Pudding Cakes
Mincemeat and Marzipan Slices
White Chocolate and Cranberry Cupcakes
Christmas Pudding Cake Pops
Banana and Walnut Loaf
Snowman Meringue
Rocky Road
Gluten-free Ginger Cake
Mincemeat and Marzipan Tea Bread
Cranberry and Chocolate Cookies
Peanut and Chocolate Blondies
Orange and Cranberry Yogurt Cupcakes
...and a Christmas Cake the Dean of the School had specially made for the sale!
 

 

 

 

 

 

It ended up being really busy, loads of people came and bought cakes during the day, both staff and students - we even managed to flog some cakes to the men who came to service the photocopier!

Lots of people arrived wearing their Christmas outifts and donated money as well as buying a cake or two.
We decided to price everything at 50p per cake thinking it would entice people to buy them and as it happened, most people bought two or donated more than 50p anyway.

 

By the end of the day, we'd raised a grand total of (drum roll please...) £204.60!
And this was all we had left over...
 

 

 

We were very pleased with that!
It seems like a fantastic amount to raise from just a few small cakes and silly jumpers. :-)
 

 

 

Did you take part in Christmas Jumper Day?

 

Christmas Carols at Bath Abbey

It seems like hundreds of bloggers have gone and 'done' Bath Christmas Market; we did have a quick look round but like the majority of locals, we avoid the centre of Bath like the plague when the market's on.

 

 

 

Our main trip into town was last Wednesday when our workplace held it's annual carol service in Bath Abbey.

It's not particularly exclusive though, pretty much every company, school and community group seems to hold a carol service in the Abbey!

 

 

"Jesus went into the temple and drove out all those who were buying and selling there"

Matthew 21.12

(The main market is held in the grounds of the Abbey, in the Abbey Churchyard)

I'm not really religious but even I can see the irony of Bath Christmas Market...

 

 

 

We did have a very quick wander around the market but after helping ourself to some of the free samples of sausages and cheese we headed to the only real reason we go to the market - the beautiful vintage set of gallopers owned by a friend of ours.

 

 

 

You might have guessed from the many other blog posts I've written, that me and Andrew are huge fans of vintage fairgrounds. David Downs is a lovely friendly showman who owns several rides and his gallopers date back to around 1900 (and he's even more lovely because he gave us a free ride!). Incidentially, if you want to impress someone from the fairground, in the UK they're called 'gallopers' or 'a set of gallopers' and not a carousel - they're only called carousels outside the UK. Next time you spot one, take a look around the top of the ride, it'll probably say 'golden gallopers' or 'galloping horses' or something similar!

 

 

 

 

Anyone else braved the crowds and shuffled around Bath Christmas Market?

 

A Photo Every Hour - Saturday 14th December

The lovely Janey from Is That You Darling has started regularly holding Photo an Hour challenges. Janey will set a date and anyone who wants to can join in - either on Instagram, Twitter or any other way you fancy. I signed up to do one on September 14th (see here for pics), again on November 9th (pics here) and the latest challenge was Saturday 14th December. I knew that Andrew had ideas about going out for a birthday day trip so it worked out perfectly for doing a photo every hour.

 

 

Here's how our day panned out...

 

10am - a quick trip to the local delivery office to collect a mystery parcel (which turned out to be a not very exciting package of vitamins from Amazon).

11am - heading over to my parent's house on our way out and first up on the in-car jukebox was The Muppet Christmas Carol.

 

 

12pm - we munched on a delicious breakfast baguette and cup of tea at my parent's house (stupidly I forgot to take a pic though until I'd half eaten the baguette!).

1pm - we nipped into Home Bargains and picked up 3 of these fab Christmas storage bags for only £1.79 each.

 

 

2pm - on our way to Swindon to try and go ice skating.

3pm - unfortunately the ice rink was full by the time we arrived so we headed into the centre to look round the shops and go out for dinner.

 

 

4pm - I loved these huge sparkly red baubles on the Christmas tree in Swindon.

5pm - what do you call a bevvy of Percys?

 

 

6pm - the main reason we went to Swindon; a meal out at Ed's Easy Diner.

7pm - Kit-Kat Choco-Lat Sundae for dessert!

 

 

8pm - one last look at the massive Christmas tree in Swindon.

9pm - a wet and windy journey home.

 

 

10pm - I'd got a bit behind with my blog reading; If you look closely I think the oldest one is December 5th! (apologies to anyone I spammed with comments on posts that were really old!).

11pm - catching up with Friday night's 'Have I Got News For You'.

 

 

12am - a nightcap before bedtime (yep, I know it's a bit strange but I've always preferred a nice cup of tea before bed).

 

 

 

I think Janey is planning on holding a photo an hour challenge each month in 2014 so head on over to her fab blog to find out more and join in!