Friday 30 November 2018

Epic Advent

Hello again my dears, I said I'd be back today, and miraculously, I am!

Previously during the period of Advent, I have used this blog to display the lovely yarns in the Opal advent calendar.  Last year I added to that with other advent calendars, and used them all as a means of giving myself a rest, a treat, and a break from the stresses of a roller-coaster of a year.

This year Opal have not produced an advent calendar, but thanks to my lovely friend Katie, of Homespun Wonders, and Yorkshire Dales Yarns, I do have a yarny advent calendar, so I can continue with my tradition.

I loved the multiple advent calendar thing last year, with lots of lovely little surprises every day, so I'm doing the same again this year.  Except that this year I might have gone a little overboard with just how many calendars I've got...




This photo shows most of the advent calendars I have for this year.  I say most, because I took these photos a couple of days ago, believing all of my advent preparations to be complete.  Then we went to the local pharmacy to pick up some of my meds, and get Stephen a flu jab, and while I was waiting for Stephen to be poked with a needle, I spotted another among the various beauty gifts on sale.  I expected it to be too expensive for me (With the obvious exception of the yarn and tea calendars, I'm not willing to spend a lot on these frivolities), but actually it was very affordable.



This is that extra calendar, and I believe it contains a number of sample sized bath products.  I'm looking forward to finding out exactly what they are.



Everybody needs a chocolate advent calendar, well, everyone who isn't lactose intolerant, or otherwise sensitive to any of the ingredients in chocolate.  Poor people!  I love Lindt chocolates, and since these particular calendars are not much more expensive than those really cheap ones with the moulded chocolate in a plastic tray, I prefer to buy myself one of these.  



This year I've rediscovered a little bit of my self confidence in my appearance.  I might be fat, but at least I'm no longer convinced that I'm ugly.  Because of this, I've also picked up my makeup again for the first time in many years.  Having done so, I also discovered that there are a vast array of beauty and makeup advent calendars available.  Most of them are incredibly expensive, but this one was the same price as my chocolate advent calendar!  I'm not expecting a lot from it for the price, but it is another little bit of decadence and mystery to add into my little advent pamper sessions.



Although I do love chocolate, I actually don't really have that much of a sweet tooth.  When given a choice of snacks, I generally prefer savoury.  Dad, Yasmin, and I were doing the grocery shopping one day when we spotted these cheese advent calendars!  So dad bought us one each :)



I wasn't sure if I'd be able to afford a Yankee Candles calendar this year, but then this appeared in my Amazon Black Friday deals at half price.  Perfect!



Doesn't give much away that photo...


I did really like the tea calendar that I had last year, but I was a little disappointed that there was actually only a few flavours of tea, and they repeated throughout the month.  This year though I have discovered T2, thanks to our friend Jo.  I've been wanting to reduce the number of teabags that I use, and switch to loose leaf tea as much as possible.  As a result, we now have a large collection of different loose leaf teas and infusions, and I have fallen in love with this store.

T2 are doing 2 different advent calendars this year, and neither as expensive as I would have expected, given the quality.  I chose the loose leaf version, and I can't wait!



Finally, the bit you've all been waiting for!  And with it, unexpected penguins!  Thank you so much Katie!

I only expected an advent calendar, but when I opened the parcel including 24 days of mini-skeins wrapped in numbered mystery packets, I also discovered this vast array of treats and Christmas decorations!  The pretty tin contains chocolates, the candle in a jar smells amazing, the silver sheep badge is amazing quality, and there are 2 penguins!  One bauble with a jingle bell inside, and one pin bade, which is going straight onto my handbag!  We also need to find a way to hang the little heart wreath on the front door.

On top of all that, there's a full sized skein for Christmas day!  

I'm so excited!

Roll on tomorrow!  Happy Advent everyone!  I'll be back every day or 2 for the rest of the month to show you what all of these beauties contain!


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