Spreading Some Festive Cheer

Christmas is most definitely about giving. For me, this year, I’m enjoying giving my daughter her first Christmas where she ‘gets’ the whole Father Christmas thing. We’ve taken her to see Santa for the first time, she helped us decorate the Christmas tree, and she’s been practising like mad for her pre-school Winter Wonderland concert (I’m definitely taking tissues to that….)

I love giving gifts. I spend ages thinking of the perfect present for someone, and love to see their face when they open it. I’m one of those people who might spot a present for someone’s birthday four months in advance, and I buy it then, to store away until their birthday. (I’m also one of those people who buy gifts in the January sales, and keep them for 11 months until I give them to someone for Christmas. Hey, I’m Scottish.)

This year, I’ve been able to enjoy buying gifts for someone I don’t know. And it’s been a fantastic experience. A few weeks ago, Debenhams approached me about taking part in a Secret Santa campaign with some other bloggers. The usual Secret Santa rules apply – we were each given a blogger to buy for (when I say ‘buy’, I mean we were given an £80 budget and Debenhams said they’d send the gifts at no cost to us. Thanks Debenhams!) We would then receive a package and we’d have to guess which blogger has bought for us. SUCH FUN.

I didn’t know anything about the blogger I was buying for, and I worried that I wouldn’t be able to choose gifts she would really like. I mean, how do you buy for someone you’ve never met?

I spent a whole evening reading her blog and reading her tweets, looking for clues about what she might like – what TV shows does she watch? How old are her kids? What colour is her decor? Does she like wine? I found her on LinkedIn (yes, I was this close to becoming a full scale stalker) and clocked her job which ruled out a whole type of gift.

After a long time stalking researching, I made my selections for her gifts. Some things for her, some things for her kids. I felt like I knew her, by that point, and I couldn’t wait for her to receive the package. I wanted to tweet her and say hi, but I couldn’t reveal myself as her Secret Santa. When she did receive her presents, and she shared a photo of her gifts, it brought tears to my eyes. (Disclaimer: I have been crying at everything this Christmas – the John Lewis advert, even that West Jet stunt)

As I waited for my package to arrive, I wondered who my Secret Santa might be, and what clues they might have picked up from my blog. I realised that I don’t actually reveal that much about myself on my blog. (How is that even possible, by the way? How can someone waffle on so much without revealing stuff about herself?) I wondered if my Secret Santa would struggle to choose me presents.

But I needn’t have worried. The gifts selected by my Secret Santa are just brilliant, and they’re all perfect for me, for very different reasons.

The wall art is beautiful, and will look fab in my bedroom (which has cream/pink floral Laura Ashley wallpaper on one wall and white wooden furniture). Likewise, the tea light holder is just perfect to sit on top of my mirrored Venetian style dresser in my bedroom. I can just picture myself lighting a tea light, and my favourite Jo Malone candle and curling up on my bed to read Twitter a book, of an evening. With a nice cuppa, of course.

I adore the owl cushion – I’ve got a real thing for owls, dating back to the macramé owls my mum used to make in the early 80s (I may have mentioned this in a blog post – my Secret Santa could well be a super sleuth).

The decorative suitcase is the kind of thing I see on Pinterest, piled with some old books and a lamp on top, in the corner of a fabulous looking room. Totes going to try to recreate that look, with this.

And so many gorgeous nail colours! I do love to paint my nails and these sets have ALL the colours I love – I’m not even making this up. Reds, corals, oranges, navy, metallics. It’s spooky.

So THANK YOU to my Secret Santa and thank you to Debenhams for asking me to take part. As well as these lovely gifts, I’ve been given a really warm fuzzy feeling inside and a real sense of festive cheer. Oh, I nearly forgot. I need to guess who my Secret Santa is…. well, I genuinely don’t have a clue. So I’m going to guess Donna from Little LilyPad Co. She looks like she has fantastic taste. Am I right? Check the comments below… my Secret Santa should eventually reveal herself.

You can view more of the Debenhams Secret Santa posts on the Blog Hop below…