Merry Christmas Everyone - Presenting the present haul...

(DISCLAIMER: This will be a picture-heavy post. So... enjoy the pics :P)

Ho ho ho! Hope everyone had a fabulous Christmas with their families and friends, I know I certainly did (paying for it now though, my heaaaaad...). Sorry for the distinct absence of blogging from me, I was working pretty continuously in the run-up to Christmas, finishing at 4pm on Christmas Eve before doing a mad dash to Glasgow by bus. But once I arrived at Kris' mum's, drinks were poured,work was forgotten and I had a lovely 2/3 days at home with our families and friends!

The tree at Kris' mum's. Wow! And now the tree at my mum and dad's...

Niice! I love their fibre optic tree, it used to belong to my gran, so it's kinda like a family heirloom in some ways...  and yes that is a bottle of Jack Daniel's Tennessee Honey peeping out from under the tree :P

Now for the fun part: the presents! I shall preface this by saying I was unbelievably spoiled by pretty much everyone this year. I received so many beautiful and thoughtful gifts I think I would crash this post by trying to include everything! So since I'm trying to be a good beauty blogger, I'll show you all the lovely beuaty related presents I received. First up, my boyfriend Kris wins major man points for getting me...

Two amazing Benefit sets: Passport to Posh eye kit, and Let There be Bright Face Kit and the fabled UD Smoked Palette! I must confess: I squeed opening these. Like the world's biggest child. But if you can't do that on Christmas Day then when can you? I can't wait to share all these goodies with you guys!

Next up, we have...

The Stila All is Bright Lip Glaze set! My friend and fellow blogger Claire gifted me these and they look awesome! So excited to try these on :)

My Auntie Margaret and Uncle Raymond gave me the most beautiful Rituals Shower set! I believe it is called Time Out and it contains a shower foam, body scrub, shampoo and body cream. I do love a good shower, so I will be trying these out soon methinks...

Another person who knows I love a good shower pamper is my little brother (having lived with me for nearly 20 years, he knows I take a day and an age in the bathroom.). He gave me the Soap and Glory Bubbletime set, which comes with the cutest retro alarm clock. I'm hoping Kris will let me use it instead of using our phone alarms...

Finally, from my parents... I wasn't too sure of this at first, because I thought it was going to be more hassle than it was worth, but my mum and dad gave me a gorgeous black quilted cosmetics case!

 The idea behind this was that my mum and dad know I always bring a ridiculous amount of make-up and skin-care with me whenever we stay with them in Glasgow. So they decided that if I had a case of make-up there, I wouldn't need to bring so much every time! At first I panicked and thought: "Oh no, I don't want to choose what stays and what goes!", but having gone through my make-up, I realised I was being an idiot (It's not like me that. Honest...), and that it was a brilliant idea.

This isn't even everything. I also received some lovely nail polishes and make-up bag from my friends Sara and Fraser, Kris' mum gave me an Avon eye-palette and blush, Kris' little brother gave me a Bev Ridge hand care set (which smells AMAZING and comes in the nicest tin, which I plan to re-use as a lunch box.). I got loads of awesome presents in general, so if people would be interested in seeing some of my non-beauty related gifts I received, feel free to tell me :)

In the meantime, enjoy the rest of your Christmas holidays, and have a fabulous New Year and 2013 when it arrives!

Christina xo