Christmas Gifties For 2011

Merry Christmas, everyone! :) Hope you're all having a fun and happy celebration with all your family, friends, and favorite people you love. :) I enjoyed my Christmas celebration this year. My son was the one who was especially happy. He said this is the best Christmas he's ever had. Hehe... I'm so glad he liked this year's Christmas. I hope he will like the next ones to come too. :)

Christmas was happy this year because my relatives came over to visit. There were a couple family friends that stopped by too. Funny how one of them was actually a classmate of mine from high school. LOL. I did not know he knew my aunt and mom. Small world. This is the second classmate who happens to be a family friend. Another one is my sister's friend's husband. LOL.

Anyway, our celebration consisted of going to church, eating (multiple meals), games, and family bonding time. We all liked it a lot. I wish we can play games in every family gathering. It's very fun and interactive. :)

Another exciting part about our celebration is opening up the presents. This never gets old. Every year, it's hard to wait to open them already. LOL. We did something different this year to spice things up a bit. Instead of doing a Secret Santa, we had this little game for our presents called White Elephant. I really don't know why it's called White Elephant. Anyway, you draw a number from the bag. If you get #5, then you'll be the fifth one to choose among a pile of random gifts. You have to unwrap whatever you chose. You can either keep the gift to yourself or return it to the pile if you're not too crazy about it. It's great when you end up with something you like. Not so great if someone decides to steal it from you. LOL. In our version of White Elephant, gifts can be stolen from someone up to two times. I snickered while my cousin's boyfriend was trying to grab the present from me in the pile. It had makeup in it. Then again he could've given it to my cousin. Anyway, another cousin ended up with my makeup goodie box.

Okay... On with my presents. Hehe... I LOVE each and every thing I received. :D I am very happy with my gifts. Whether they read my blog or not, I give a big THANK YOU to everyone. :)

First present in the pics is from my son, Justin. It's a Premium Body Care set from Chandler Farm. It's my first time hearing of this brand. This will be exciting for me to try products from a new brand. Well, new for me at least. This was originally a gift for my mom, by the way. Tsk, tsk... :P LOL. Oh, well... She's not much into bath and body type products, so at least I can definitely put this to good use. The set also has bar soap that smells like mint. I can't wait to try that. :D

The next gift is from my mom. It's the fragrance I've been wanting for so long. Very Hollywood by Michael Kors. :) Now I have a version of this I can spritz before leaving the house and a version I can roll on while I'm on the go. Not too long ago, Nancy included a Very Hollywood roller ball (with lipgloss) in the package she sent me. So yeah, I love that I have quite a supply of Very Hollywood now. My mom got me the big 3.4 oz bottle too. :D

In our White Elephant gift exchange game, I picked out a Bath & Body Works Sweet Pea set in the pile. It's from my cousin, Melissa. The box is BEAUTIFUL. I put the box on my dresser as a decoration. It does help in storing a few random things too to save space. As for the Sweet Pea things, they smell really good. They have a sweet, floral scent. Although I'm not much into sweet scents, Sweet Pea has just the right amount of sweetness to be easy and pleasant on the nose. The set includes body lotion, body mist, and bath gel. I was very pleased nobody stole the gift from me. :D I'm glad Melissa got something from B&BW. I've been obsessed with that place lately. LOL.

Speaking of obsession, Donna included Warm Vanilla Sugar body lotion in the package she sent me. This package is meant to be for my birthday, I think. Or is it a combination Christmas and birthday present? Whatever occasion it's meant for, I AM LOVING all the contents in it. Thank you so much, Donna. You surprised me with that. Especially because it arrived so quick. :D Other than Warm Vanilla Sugar, she included a Paco Rabanne Lady Million roller ball. Another fragrance favorite of mine. :D My deluxe sample from Sephora ran out a couple months ago. I was sad about that. I'm so happy Donna included another Lady Million in the package. I can't help but gush so much. I am IN LOVE with the taupe colored scarf she sent me. My aunt liked it too. I need to wear it ASAP. Hehehe... It is too CUTE. :D Donna was also very kind to include a treat in the package for Justin too. :) The moment I told Justin he had a treat, he grabbed it from me. It was never to be seen again. If it's chocolate, I am pretty sure he downed it all already. LOL. He says thank you to the nice friend of Mama who gave him the treat. :D

Trying to channel my (pretend) psychic abilities, I had a hunch Rachelle (a friend from work) would be my Secret Santa. I was right. :D I had a hunch, but wasn't really too sure. I was getting kinda worried either nobody drew me from the bag or somebody unknown probably did. Whoever came up with the Secret Santa idea decided to include newbies. That's fine that newbies weren't getting left out. Then again, a majority of us don't know them. I was happy Rachelle was the one who picked me after all. :D She's one of my good friends at work and she knows I'm obsessed with ANYTHING girly. Hehe... She got me a mirror and gift card to Sephora Inside JC Penney's. Yes, that's the only Sephora we have access to other than ordering online. I'm thinking of what to buy with my card. Hehe... That was so nice of Chellie (Rachelle). It's pretty much like she read my mind. :D

Other than nice presents, I am happy and thankful I had an awesome Christmas and spent it with all my loved ones. I really wish everybody had family and friends they can celebrate with too. Everyone deserves to be surrounded with the people they love and have that moment of joy. There honestly is no greater gift than that. :)