No Books Allowed - Stacie's Christmas (AND BOOKS!)

No Books Allowed is a monthly feature hosted by Readaraptor and particpated in by Stacie here at Beautiful Bookish Butterflies. Stacie uses the feature to discuss things things in life which aren't related to books (and/or blogging), anything from days out with friends and family or music she's listening to, to TV and films she's watching or games she's playing, and so much more. It's the perfect feature for book bloggers who occasionally do things other than read and go to book events, so if you're interested, take a look at Readaraptor and check out the feature.

Christmas Eve/Day

So my Christmas started off on Christmas Eve as tradition. Me and my daughter stayed at my Mums the night before, as we wouldn't be seeing them on the day. It started off with my dad running around like a headless chicken making sure he had everything for the dinner the next day, my sister trying to find the last present for my nephew and my daughter and niece jumping up and down excited as always. My cousin also had her baby boy which was lovely as not only was her sister getting married but it would be her birthday the next day so it was a busy few days for them. Though my mum was working, I still enjoyed being there even if she wasn't, I managed to relax and read some before the mad rush hit at mine. When we got home, tired and cold, Caitlyn had a bath and went to bed (trying to con her way out of sleeping, ha!) and Glenn started the preparations for Christmas lunch and I started the task of wrapping presents (I was at it for hours). When we had finished we went to bed around half 11 to try and get as much sleep as possible. How stupid we were..

Caitlyn woke us up at half 4 by running in to our room shouting excitedly that Santa has been and left her lots of presents. Thankfully we managed to keep her in the bed watching Frozen till half 5, but she didn't want to wait any longer. Opening presents was exciting as ever, though I knew exactly what she was getting I was so happy to see her face when she opened the things that she put on her list to Santa mid November. After all the presents were done we took all the toys out and set them up for her, tided the sitting room up, put the turkey in the oven and had a bit to sit down before Glenn's parent's come over with yet more gifts and we would have to repeat the cleaning process. We severed dinner around 3, we watched a Christmas movie and we played board games with Caitlyn. We just had a lovely day and Caitlyn went to sleep as soon as her head hit the pillow, me following not long after. Caitlyn got so spoilt this year, everything Frozen and My Little Pony themed. I was going to list them all but it would take too long. One of her favourite toys though would have to be the Elsa Snow Glow Toddler Doll, it comes with a little Olaf, says 12 different phrases and sings a bit of Let it Go. My only problem with it? No off button :( HAHA!

Boxing Day

Boxing day was just as lovely. We went over to Glenn's Mum and Dads house to spend it with them, though it was a bit hectic having his Mum, Dad, 2 Brothers, Sister and her Boyfriend, Nan, Aunt, myself, Caitlyn and Glenn in the same room (followed by his other Aunt and her boyfriend and his Cousin,) it was the type of hectic you don't mind and is cosy, if that doesn't sounds to crazy. We had a lunch of gammon, turkey and mash (and a side of peas and pickles for those who wanted it) and it was bloody handsome, though I love Christmas lunch there isn't anything better then meat and mash on boxing day, haha. We had picky party food at night, Manchester United won against Newcastle, (I don't think my dad was happy about that though being a Newcastle fan) we had a few drinks and then got a cab home around 8, relaxed on the sofa watching Rock and Chips before hitting the sack. It was a pretty perfect day in all honesty. It's silly how everyone obsesses over those two days and they are over before you even know it.

Gifts, Gifts and.. More Gifts!

The first thing you should probably know is that as I'm practically married and - though paid for by me - the majority of the books below are in fact a gift from my other half and daughter because all our money is together, we don't have a his or hers money fund any more so even though I was pretty much left up to my own devices, they were gifts (I am just so pig awkward when it comes to gifts that it was easier for me to just pick our the books and buy them as an when I saw fit, rather than have Glenn scratch his head over what books to get). I decided to buy my books for my Kindle, although I've got back into reading paper backs recently, buying for the kindle is just so much more cheaper and because I don't like to spend money on myself I thought the best way to please everyone would be to get the digital copies, and a lot of these books were on sale or gone down anyway, win win!





As I already stated, most of the books were much cheaper than normal. So even though it looks like I spent a lot, I really didn't. As far as the type of books I got, I wouldn't say I was going for one theme or another, just basically sticking to books I had either wanted to read for a while or that came highly recommended by people, (Yes Amanda, I am looking at you!) either way I' pretty damn happy about what I got :) I'm actually getting more so this list could very well grow soon..

Physical Gifted Books

This year I was gifted 3 psychical books (so far, my Mum is taking me out soon to get some more). I was lucky enough to get Ed Sheeran's book, the one I have been staring longingly at for months in Asda. It's the only book that my other half actually picked out personally for me and its my favourite for that reason; he knows how much I love Ed and though I wouldn't normally buy and read autobiography’s, I've wanted it since I hear about it early in the year. I love that he knows me well enough to get me one of the very few no-fictional books I would read haha. I know you are wondering who got me Blood Red Road and Rebel Heart right? Well my lovely co-blogger Amanda of course. I knew she would be getting be Blood Red Road because she called dibs but she ended up getting me the second one too and I'm so happy and very thankful for them, it's a series I have been dying to read for some time now so I can't wait to get around to them :)

Pre-ordered Books

Non book related

3 boxes of my favourite chocolates, a Big Bang Theory Mug (IT SAYS BAZINGA!), perfume, a lovely hat and scarf and gloves set, a sturdy purse (funny enough my one I've had since I was 17 broke a week before), shower gel and body lotion set, 2 sets of PJ's (my favourite thing about xmas is getting them), and Glenn's parents bought us a joint present, a big chunky air fryer/halogen oven. We wanted one for a while and we were thinking bout getting one next year anyway so we are very pleased with that.

There’s my Christmas in a nut shell, Tell Me About Yours!