Christmas

A belated Merry Christmas to you all! We spent the days surrounding Christmas with M's parents in Manchester. Our arrival was fairly eventful. We were supposed to land on the 23rd in Gatwick from Amsterdam, before getting a train up to Manchester the following day. However the winds saw fit to do otherwise and our flight was delayed by 5 hours before landing at  Liverpool as Gatwick was deemed too dangerous.

Luckily for us, Manchester and Liverpool are relatively close so M's parents kindly collected us in the middle of the night.

Following our unorthodox journey there, Christmas was perfect - filled with good food, drink and Cranium.

I always love having a nose at other people's blogs at the gifts they receive so thought I would write a similar one myself.

Starting with this treasury of True Grace candles from my Grandma. I love scented candles so this huge variety was perfect - it was difficult to not light them all at once

I was so pleased with this Blondie I bought as stocking filler for Martin from Le Pain Quotidien, until I realised he'd done exactly the same! I guess we just know each other too well. It's an awful lot to eat by April 2014 but luckily it's a task I'm very willing to undertake.

Here are the rest of gifts from M to me - he just knows me so well.

Chocolate from Liberty.

Almond shower oil from L'Occitane - this smells divine.

A scarf from Zara that I've had my eye on for ages.

In the mix was the latest book by one of my favourite authors, Sebastian Faulks. He's quite hit and miss: I adore Birdsong, Engleby and Human Traces but a few of his other offerings left me a bit cold so I'm hoping this marks a return to his previous form.

And last, but certainly not least, this cashmere jumper with detachable snood from M&S. I squeaked when I saw it! 

My best friend, Caz got me this clutch from Miss Selfridge which I'm already looking forward to using at weddings.

M's parents were incredibly generous and bought me the black boots I bought back in October in Bath. Somehow I managed to save them to Christmas day. Since then they've been worn numerous times and I just know they'll be perfect for the poor weather months ahead.

Finally, I can't resist showing you my new bag I bought in Amsterdam which was kind of a present to me for completing my first term as an NQT. I know I shouldn't have but I couldn't resist.

How was your Christmas?