Tis the season...

...to eat all the cheese and chocolate because calories don't count for the last week of the year. Except now it's the 2nd of January and my jeans are feeling a little tighter than usual. Oh well.

I apologise, dear people of the internet; I kind of forgot this blog existed for a while if I'm honest. I will be writing an update, run-down of 2014 and hello to 2015 style post soon (ie. tomorrow, not in 3 weeks I promise) but for now I thought I'd go down the materialistic route and show you what I got for Christmas this year.

Christmas was a little different for my family this year- my sister got married in summer so instead of her travelling up to us as usual, my parents & I made the journey down to her house. Sitting in a car for three hours on Christmas morning wasn't ideal but we had a lovely day once we got there (being welcomed with a 1.5 litre bottle of prosecco didn't hurt).

Here are some of my favourite things (shown above);

• Jo Malone Wood Sage & Sea Salt perfume: I fell in love with this after my friend invited me to the Leeds launch of it in September and I'm so happy that I finally own it. I don't think it particularly smells of wood, sage or sea salt but whatever it does smell like is amazing

• Collins easy learning spanish CDs: as you may know I'm planning on travelling to South America this year. I've been meaning to start learning spanish for a while- I know it isn't the only language spoken in S.A. but I think it's a good base to start with- but I've been putting it off. Now I can have these CDs in my car and learn while I'm driving to and from work. I know I won't become fluent from it but it'll certainly give me a good starting point.

• Charlotte Tilbury matte revolution lipstick in Love Liberty: I've wanted to try one of these for so long and I'm so glad to now own one. It really is the most moisturising matte lipstick I've tried and I'm very tempted to go buy more from Ms. Tilbury's collection now- though I'm sure my bank balance would prefer if I didn't

• 'Thunder only happens when it's raining' print from Lloyd Loves: I saw Kate post a few prints from this seller on instagram and loved them. I also love Fleetwood Mac so this print makes a lovely addition to my bedroom.

• South America on a shoestring: I really need to start planning my afore-mentioned travels so this should be pretty helpful. I know guidebooks can get outdated quickly but even if not for specific recommendations this book should be useful for a general insight into each country

• Origins Drink Up 10 minute mask: I don't have dry skin generally but I definitely notice my skin feeling tight and dehydrated in the winter. I'm sure we haven't experience the worst weather of this season yet so I'm hoping this can help my skin out for now

• Gift voucher for the making of Harry Potter studio tour: I am one of those people who will judge you if you're from my generation and haven't read the Harry Potter series. Seriously, if that is you, what on earth did your childhood revolve around?! Anyway, I didn't love some of the films as much as the books, but I don't think I'll be able to contain my excitement when I finally get to go on this tour. It's probably not okay to be 22 and be so giddy over Harry Potter.

• Read this if you want to take great photographs book: Despite my best intentions I still haven't really got to grips with my DSLR camera- I spend most of my life at work where I don't feel particularly inspired to take photos so I rarely practice. I really want to learn how to take better photos and this book has a lot of advice from many different types of photographer, plus easy to understand explanations of the different camera settings so I'm looking forward to reading it

• Fox head from Fiona Walker: Perhaps one of my oddest presents but I really love this felt fox head. My parents & I went into York a few weeks ago and went into a little independent shop that had these heads on the walls- there were foxes, rabbits and deer amongst others- but then I forgot about them. I rarely get surprise presents anymore but this really was one. My fox now hangs proudly in the corner of my room but I'm looking forward to when I have my own place and can display this (hopefully) above a fireplace.

Not pictured, I also was lucky enough to receive the Urban Decay Naked basics 2 palette, a lovely little globe charm from Links of London and of course a good selection of chocolates. As you can see Santa was really good to me this year and I'm very appreciative of all my presents.

What did you get for Christmas?