Day 11 of Blogmas - Happy Christmas Eve

In many countries, today is the day to open presents; not tomorrow.

Every year my mum lets me open one present on Christmas Eve; she picks and I open it. To extend on this tradition, I let Dad open his jellybabies. I thought about giving mum a present, but that would leave her with one thing to open, which is due. This year I got her a calendar that she picked and a Laura Geller gift set. While moving, I accidentally smashed her Brighten and Glow by the brand; she was annoyed, so thought it would be nice to replace with some other great products.

Dad tried to say I was too young for this tradition, but like an advent calendar, I refuse to let my mum stop doing it. Total mummy's girl here!

Last night, I had a great Skype conversation with two of my friends, and got to open my presents. We usually meet, have a lovely meal, catch up and open presents. Not this year. It makes me sad, but I'm hopeful we will do it next year when I have more money.

One friend got me a balloon lamp and Body Shop gift set:

I've already tried some of the body lotion since my legs have blistered from chaffing (that's something nobody tells you about putting on weight). I found this lovely, cooling and just what was needed. I'm really happy with this as feel I look after my skin well, but body is actually very dry and neglected.

Another got me two packs of bath salts from Oliver Bonas, book: What would Audrey do? by Pamela Keogh and book: Ultimate Travelist: The Best Places on the planet...ranked by Lonely Planet:

As you know, I love Audrey and she's utterly my idol!

One of the places I wish to visit most!

Back to my Christmas Eve tradition, this year my mum let me open this:

I love a good pair of PJs as of late, so I'm excited to wake up wearing these.

Here are some funny conversations and things to happen on the lead-up to Christmas to end on:

Conversation 1:
A: I hate it when he screws up his wrapping year every year at Christmas.
B: (laughing) why? Everyone does that!
A: It makes it hard to recycle, it needs to be folded. I will just have to do it after he's done because he just won't.

Event 1:
Have you ever tried wrapping presents with pets? They are fascinated by wrapping paper. I was clever to do mine in my room, and away from animals. My mum not so much. One dog got tangled in sellotape and the other managed to trample on the wrapping paper.

Event 2:
As I might have previously mentioned in my post about Santa here, I believed in Santa until I was 11, which is probably quite old. I even believed when friends said they'd seen their parents putting out the presents. I even believed when I saw Santas at department stores or garden centres, that they were fake but help Santa. I fell for every lie my family gave me. The funniest excuse my mum came up with for why kids had seen their parents giving presents...they are naughty children, and the parents didn't want them to be upset.

That leaves me to wish you a merry Christmas. There will be one short post tomorrow, so I won't wish you a "Merry Christmas" just yet!  Not decided whether there will be anymore December posts, or whether it will be in the new year...