A Time For Receiving

And of course another fun part of Christmas is people giving you gifts. I'd be lying if I said I didn't enjoy getting presents. I really do. I didn't realise just how much I'd received until I laid them all out on the bed to take this photo yesterday morning.

Pictured above are all the presents that were given to Mr Click and I (apart from the ones I gave him, I posted a photo of those yesterday). The only thing not shown up there is my Secret Santa gift from work (a Wonder Woman mug with matching socks, those were in the wash because I'd worn them the day before, and a little cat shaped phone screen cleaner).

The day started with opening stockings. Too big to fit inside was the big cuddly dog on the right. I've named him Cracker and he's just like another (slightly larger) cuddly dog Mr Click bought me a few years ago. Tara was very jealous of this dog being allowed on the bed when she wasn't!

My stocking is the pink and black thing underneath the goodies at the bottom of the photo, amazingly Mr Click had managed to squeeze that big book into it. It's a copy of Jean Greenhowe's Knitted Toys which was originally published the year I was born. I've wanted it for ages and I can't wait to get started on knitting some of the toys from it. It's a bit hard to make out from the photo but on the book is also a little blue net bag with some handmade stitch markers in it. Just what I need since I'm always using scrappy bits of wool!

I also got a massive stash of Wonka goodies. I've not had Nerds for years, I always used to get 50p sweet money each week and would buy myself two packs of Nerds back when you got three flavours in a box and they were 25p each. The Wonka bar is becoming a bit of tradition now, it'll be set aside somewhere safe until we watch Charlie/Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory again which is when I like to chow down on the bar.

I also got a whole bunch of films. I'd asked for Don Bluth films since I lost all mine in the move. I got The Secret of N.I.M.H., An American Tale, and All Dogs Go To Heaven (which I've not seen for years because I never had a copy of that). Mr Click always gets me Disney animated films and I get him the Disney Pixar ones to avoid duplicates, this year didn't disappoint, I got The Jungle Book and Peter Pan (which is convenient because that's what I'm studying at the moment).

There was also underwear (woo hoo!) and long socks (because most of mine have worn through and are slowly being binned). The socks are lovely and stretchy, stripy and come right up to my knees which makes them perfect. And I got a beautiful locket with butterflies on it. I'm going to print out some nice photos to put in it soon.

My main presents from Mr Click were The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey Extended Edition. I've been waiting for this to come out pretty much since we saw it in the cinema last January. This edition has a 3D holographic cover so if we ever get a 3D TV/Blu-ray player I'm prepared. I can't wait to devote nine hours of my life to watching all the special features!

I also got a box set of the X-Men films. I've not watched the originals for so long. I always used to watch them with my brother on the 30th of November while we waited for the Christmas music channel to go live. I've not even seen X-Men First Class yet so I'm going to have to have an X-Men marathon at some point soon.

And then the main gift from Mr Click was the complete series of Criminal Minds. It's a series that I've known of for years but never got around to watching. Of course I knew it as 'that series with the guy from Dharma and Greg and the guy from Dead Like Me', but it's right up my street. We've spent the best part of this year watching E.R. so it'll be good to go back to watching a good crime series. I don't think it'll be too long before I'm hunting out Criminal Minds fanfic (as well as trying to track down the old X-Men RPG I used to be active in when I was at uni).

I also had a nice tin of chocolate biscuits, from my work's Christmas night out (there's a tin of Roses from work as well, that's not pictured because it wasn't wrapped up and we've eaten almost all of them apart from the caramel, orange and strawberry ones). A family friend gave us some other fancy biscuits with a posh jar of honey. And the two pairs of trainers at the top came from my in-laws. I've needed new trainers for ages but I'm awkward to find trainers in the right size. Since we've got Tara we get through trainers like nobody's business so these are good sturdy ones which will hopefully last a good long while.

As you can see from all that I've been thoroughly spoiled. It's really hard to pick just one favourite; the trainers are fantastic so comfy and have really good grips on so will be perfect for the winter weather (plus the last pair I had from this brand lasted about four or five years). The locket is beautiful, Cracker is really cuddly, the films will bring me hours of entertainment, and the knitting book will keep me going in knitting projects for years to come. And you can never have too many socks.

Hope you've all had a really good Christmas holiday. What are some of your favourite things that you've received?