Wednesday 11 January 2017

Twelve Days Of Christmas 2016 Reveal

This Christmas was the worst I've ever had, called in to the hospital late on Christmas Eve as my dad wasn't expected to live and not getting home until the early hours of Christmas Day morning, visiting throughout the festive season not knowing what was going to be and on top of that, feeling ill myself, it hasn't been the best Christmas. My Twelve Days Of Christmas swap gifts were a little light relief in each day.

The swap came about as my lovely blog friend, Lisa from Jumble And Jelly, asked if I'd like to do a swap with her back in 2014. We each really enjoyed it and so last year I hosted a swap on my blog for other people to join in too. It was such a success that I decided I'd host it again this year.

Lisa and I decided we'd still do the swap between ourselves as well so I thought I'd show you the things which we swapped first of all. These are all the gifts which Lisa sent to me.


I've never read anything by Katie Flynn before so I'm looking forward to starting this book and when I do, I might have used the paper cake cups and cake toppers and made myself some buns to eat whilst I'm reading, how cute are they? Those little snowmen are adorable. Lisa knows how I love my old films, especially musicals and White Christmas is a lovely one to add to my collection. One of my favourite gifts was the piggy foldaway bag and piggy sticky notes, I'm such a huge fan of pigs. I'm always scrabbling about for a bag and this one is great because it can just be clipped to the outside of my handbag and doesn't take up any space.


I took these photos in the conservatory to give me a little more light in these dull days and I'm not sure you can read what's on the mug, it says If Friends Were Flowers I'd Pick You, isn't that lovely? It came with two hot drink sachets which I'm itching to try. The cute cupcake tin will come in very handy, I do love a tin, and it was filled with a packet of Snow Bites, yum yum. I remember Holly Hobbie well from my childhood and I just love these notecards, they so pretty. I've been itching to open the cinnamon & hazelnut mini stars all Christmas but I've been saving them until I did the photoshoot, I shall be opening them very soon.


I love these Cosy Footlets, they're so pretty and very toasty. Lisa knows that Green & Blacks is my favourite chocolate, it's very rich though so these miniatures are just the right size for when I fancy a taste. The stocking plate is really lovely, it's something I'll be able to use each Christmas and it came with Ferrero Rochers, another of my favourite choccies. The table games have already been in use and I can give them a big thumbs up, we all enjoyed playing them and they'll be brought out again when we have another family gathering.


Thank you so much, Lisa, you've got my tastes off to a tee now, I love everything I received.

Here are the things I sent to Lisa.


A Santa filled with Dairy Milk chocolates, paper straws and ice cream tubs & spoons, I thought they would be nice to use on a summers day, an egg cup with a chicken shaped cover to keep the egg warm and some cute girly notelets.


A spotty dotty mug with some flavoured tea sachets, two pairs of cosy socks, a shopping list pad which is magnetic to stick to the fridge and a pretty butterfly coaster which I saw when I was on holiday in Cornwall and couldn't resist buying.


Twelve Days of Christmas book by Trisha Ashley, I thought this was quite appropriate to add to the swap parcel, a silver tealight holder, packets of Snow Bites and Malteaser Reindeers and a notebook and red spotty pen.


I thoroughly enjoyed our third swap and we've already decided that we'll do it again next year.

My swap partner from the swap I hosted on the blog was Kim from This Happy Homemade Life. I received some wonderful gifts from Kim and she definitely knows the things I like as they were all themed to my likes and my hobbies.


A set of three Botanica notebooks, I love stationery and these little notebooks are so pretty, a butterfly writing set, again pretty, I just love this design, a craft paper pack, now I don't know whether Kim knows this or not but I used to enjoy scrapbooking and it's a hobby I'm keen to take up again so these will come in very handy, and a mini cross stitch kit which will be a nice little project to do in between some of the larger things I've got on the go at the moment.


I've never read anything by M. C. Beaton but I do like this genre as I'm sure you know with me working my way through the Agatha Christie books so I'm sure this will be a good one, the orange & cinnamon scented tealights smell divine, I love anything with a tangy scent so these will be lovely, such a cute gingerbread man bath bomb, it will be a shame to melt him but it will be nice to take a relaxing bath after the stresses I've been under lately, and the cutest cross stitched Rudolph, how I love this little tree ornament and it will take pride of place on my tree in the years to come.


A pack of adhesive fabric sheets, how clever, I'm thinking up projects that I can use these for, a Baileys truffle bar, yum yum, a pack of gel pens which I'm thrilled with as mine always seem to go walkabout so these will replace them and the most beautiful project bag. The fabric used is just so me with my love of gardening and growing veggies, and can you see those cute little pea pods? One of them is a stitch marker and the other is a progress keeper, how fabulous.


Thank you so much, Kim, you've done so well choosing these gifts, they're all things I'd have chosen myself.

Here are the things I sent to Kim.


Twelve Days of Christmas book by Trisha Ashley, yes, you saw this in Lisa's swap parcel too, too appropriate for the swap to pass it by, a manicure set, French manicure nail varnish and a couple of mini cross stitch kits.


A row counter for knitting and some Made With Love charms and in with these I popped some pins and a crochet heart kit which had come free with magazines, I thought Kim might be able to make use of them, a tin of Whittard's afternoon tea, some pretty tealights and a set of lip balms.


I'm afraid I mixed up the gifts here, oops! This photo shows some bath bombs which were actually popped in a different parcel, in their place I sent Kim some Drops cotton yarn, a writing set, a Peter Rabbit notes & lists pad and some Dairy Milk and Smarties chocolate.


Thank you for taking part in the swap, Kim, you were a brilliant swap partner.

I took on another swap this year. Cath from Clicky Needles was left without a partner after the one I allocated her pulled out so I said I'd swap with her instead. Here are the gifts I received.


A giant Toblerone triangle, we're all fans of Toblerone in our house so I've been careful to stash it away, some cute t-shirt shaped sticky notes, they'll be very handy in my Filofax, some pretty ribbon, always handy and the cutest little Rudolph brooch and flower covered button badge.


Cath didn't leave Archie out of the swap, he got a bag of treats, a torch which will be very handy for his night time walks and a safety ID tag, such a good idea. I'd listed some Etsy shops on my Christmas wish list and said that I wouldn't mind a notions pouch but I didn't receive one so I was thrilled to bits with the one Cath sent, it's just lovely and will be very useful, some pretty covered buttons, I need to find just the right project for them and some more pretty ribbon.


A tealight holder and three glitzy gold tea lights, they'll jazz the place up, three spools of decorative tape which will look great in my Filofax and a sparkly notebook which will be handy to pop in my handbag, I don't always carry my Filofax around with me these days so it's handy to be able to jot things down when I'm out and about. I also received a chocolate treat with each day's gift.


Those were my Twelve Days Of Christmas swap gifts but Cath had put an extra special gift in the parcel for me, a beautiful skein of yarn which Cath had hand painted herself. This colourway is called Bazaar. I just love all the different colours and I know I'm going to love using this. Thank you so much.


Thank you, Cath, I'm really happy with the gifts I received and I'm glad I could step in when you were left without a partner.

Here are the things I sent to Cath.


A pair of cosy footlets, a ha, there are those bath bombs that I mentioned earlier again, this is the parcel they were destined for, a lip balm set and some Whittard's truffle praline tea pyramids.


A row counter for knitting, a thimble and some Made With Love charms and I popped them all in a little notions pouch which had come free with a magazine and also included a heart brooches kit which was also a free magazine gift. A Yankee Candle votive and holder, two bottles of nail varnish and some Green & Black's miniatures.


Another Twelve Days of Christmas book by Trisha Ashley, I added one of these books to each of my swap parcels, a cute owl writing set, a to do list pad and two balls of Drops Love You yarn.


Thank you for taking part in the swap, Cath, you were a great swap partner.

I had such a lot of fun with each of the swaps I took part in this year and I hope that everyone else who took part did too. Thank you so much, it does add to the excitement of it all when there are lots of swappers joining in.

As I mentioned earlier in the post, when I hosted the swap last year it all seemed to run very smoothly without any hitches at all that I know of. Unfortunately, this year, there's been a few problems. I've had people pulling out after they've been allocated a partner, miscommunication and others who have simply ignored all posts, comments and emails which have been sent to them. I know there may be hiccups along the way and that some people may sign up and then something unforeseen happens which means they can't fulfil their commitment, I totally understand that, but this wasn't the case and I've had swappers left disappointed after being left without a partner and, to be honest, it's taken away some of the enjoyment for me. I don't get anything for hosting the swap, I just thought it would be a nice thing to do but there's always people who will put a downer on these things and spoil them. I'd like to apologise to those people who were left without a partner this year, I certainly never foresaw this happening.

To this end, I've decided that I won't be hosting this swap again next year. I'd just like to take this opportunity to thank all the lovely people who have taken part over the last two years and hope you've all enjoyed joining in. It's been nice to get to know you and I hope you all had a lot of fun with the swaps. If you write a blog post about the gifts you sent or received I'd love to see them, do please leave me a comment so that I know.

34 comments:

  1. What a coincidence we posted about our swaps on the same day. You both sent and received lovely things once again. It was so good of you to organise this swap, I certainly enjoyed it and I hope that my partner, Mary, did too. Not sure we were the greatest communicators, but I think - hope! - we were both happy. I know the pitfalls of swap hosting myself, I am thinking of doing a little trial of doing a slightly different sort of swap soon, so if I do it and it works, I will let you know in case you do ever decide to change your mind. I have still been thinking about your Dad and hoping that you are as alright as you can be. Hugs, good thoughts, prayers and all of those things to you. Thank you again for hosting. I certainly enjoyed it and I hope that overall you did too and that my partner did as well.

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    1. I shall be over to read your post soon, I'm afraid my blog reading is all over the place at the moment with one thing or another and I'm not commenting as often as I usually do, I'll hopefully be back to normal again soon. I'm so pleased with everything I received, I really did have wonderful partners who spoiled me. I'm so glad you enjoyed the swap and that it ran smoothly for you, thank you for taking part. I'm intrigued about the swap you will be hosting yourself and I'll keep an eye out for that. Thank you for your very kind thoughts, my dad is certainly on the mend, he actually went out in the car yesterday (against my wishes I hasten to add), and he's recovering well which puts my mind at rest a little.

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  2. Oh wow you sent and received some lovely and useful things in your swaps:-) I did read the comment by one of the people who pulled out and i thought at the time what a shame she never gave it a chance. But i suppose she had her own reasons.
    I really enjoyed this swap Jo, thanks for organizing it. I'm sorry it caused you problems this time around and that you won't be hosting it again :-( but I can understand.
    I did a blog post a couple of days ago about my swaps:-)

    I hope everything is getting better with your dad now and that you are feeling better too.
    Take care x

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    1. I was thrilled with everything I received, there's so many kind and generous people. It was a shame that there were so many problems this time round, it seemed I was getting bombarded with emails telling me that someone had dropped out or that someone couldn't get in touch with their partner and I did my very best to help out but I felt very responsible when they were left without partners. My dad is certainly improving now, it's good to see him up and about again, though I think it's taken its toll on him. Thank you for asking.

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  3. I'm sorry you had problems and more work than expected, it was fun do thank you for your work.

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    1. Everything went to plan last year and I expected it would again so I was a little downbeat when problems kept cropping up. I'm so glad that you had fun taking part, thank you for joining in.

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  4. I'm sorry to hear about your father being unwell, I hope he's feeling better. And you too, it's horrid at the best pf times to be ill but what awful timing - flippin' germs!
    You gave and received some fab gifts. So did I, I'll be posting soon. I had great fun finding, wrapping and sending my parcel to April.
    What a shame that others spoilt the experience for you, I totally understand your decision not to do it again, but I do think I'll miss it. Thank you for taking the time to organise it, it has been fun x

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    1. My dad's so much better now than he was, it's been such a worrying time, especially as I was under the weather myself. I'm just hoping that he continues to improve now. I'm pleased that you enjoyed the swap, it's quite exciting having Christmas go on for a while after the day itself. I'm just sorry that some people missed out, I do feel kind of responsible for that even though there was actually nothing I could do about it.

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  5. I've enjoyed having a look at all the gifts you gave and received in your 12 Days of Christmas Swaps. Sorry to hear that there were those who were disappointed because their appointed swap partners backed out or for whatever reason didn't fulfil their commitments. If you do change your mind and host the swap again, I'll be joining in this year. Also, I hope you're feeling much better and your dad too. Take care. x

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    1. It was a great swap, lots of fun to both choose and receive the gifts. I've still got a bit of a cough but these things can go on for weeks, can't they? I'm just about right now and my dad's so much better, thank you for asking.

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  6. Such a variety of lovely things in all the swaps.
    I had a very bad experience with a swap once so am very careful what I join now.
    I've met M C Beaton at a book signing, she's lovely. My book group all love her Agatha Raisin series.

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    1. I think you do have to be careful which swaps you join, I'd asked that only people with blogs join in but there were still problems even then. I'm looking forward to reading the M C Beaton book, I've looked at the Agatha Raisin series before but haven't read any.

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  7. Sorry to hear that you've had such a difficult Christmas, how stressful and worrying for you all. Thank you so much for organising last year and this year's swaps, I've really enjoyed taking part and appreciate you doing it for us xx

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    1. I've never known a Christmas like it before and I hope I don't again. I'm so pleased you enjoyed taking part in the swaps, they've been fun and I think those who have joined in have enjoyed them.

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  8. Wow, that kept you busy you sent and received some amazing gifts. Hope all is well with your Dad now and that things are improving. Hope you are feeling better too. Take care.

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    1. It was very busy making sure I'd got gifts for three swaps, thirty six gifts in all, but it was so much fun on each of the twelve days of Christmas when I was opening three gifts each day. Both my dad and I are on the road to recovery now, thank you for asking.

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  9. What a lovely lot of gifts, both sent & received. It is a shame that so many haven't participated as well as in 2015. I know I enjoyed the experience, but also knew my limits for last year, having been overseas & the rising cost of postage here in Oz, so didn't take part. I was certainly not going to disappoint anyone, but am always happy to swap a gift or two with my good friends, anytime of year, for birthdays or just because. Hope your Dad is on the mend & that you've been looking after yourself. Talk soon, huggles & take care.

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    1. Christmas is a busy time anyway and swaps do take time to do, I was extra busy this year with the number of swaps I'd taken on. My dad's much better now, though I think it will take some time for him to build his strength back up again, it's good to see him on the mend though.

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  10. Hi Jo, How is your Dad recovering now? It's a shame it didn't work out. I wish I'd have thought of taking photos of what I sent - I always forget to do that bit. x

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    1. Thank you for asking, my dad's definitely on the mend, it's such a relief. I must admit that I only remembered to take photos of everything I sent at the last minute.

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  11. It's amazing that you fulfilled your commitment with the swap, Jo, considering your personal problems this year, and disappointing that others didn't. You sent and received some lovely gifts though! I'm glad your dad is doing better and hope you are completely back to full health soon! P. x

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    1. Luckily, the swap gifts had already been taken care of and posted off before illness struck. I'm really pleased with everything I received. Both my dad and I are recovering well, it's good to see my dad up and about again after everything he went through.

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  12. The gifts you gave and received are all so fabulous, Jo. What a shame that others have spoiled the swap for you. I'm glad to read that your dad is on the mend. I've been thinking of him - and you. Hopefully you both will continue to improve.

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    1. I was thrilled with everything I received and the things I sent were well received. Thank you, it's always worrying when someone in their 80's is so ill but the nurses said he was a fighter and I think he's proved that.

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  13. Such a shame some experienced problems ...
    Love the look of all the swaps you've highlighted in your post.

    All the best Jan

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    1. I was really sorry that there were so many problems with the swap this year, especially as it had all run so well last year and everyone enjoyed it so much. I had some lovely partners and I received such wonderful gifts.

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  14. what wonderful, wonderful gifts all round. Tracking down the Holly Hobbie cards - I need a set ! ;) I'm sorry the swap turned not so great - you did such an amazing job co-ordinating it and I appreciate it! x

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    1. The Holly Hobbie cards are really lovely, they bring back so many childhood memories. I'm so pleased you enjoyed taking part in the swap, I think everyone who did join in had a lot of fun with it.

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  15. What an amazing set of gifts given and received. So sorry to hear there were lots of problems, I thought you a great host and I have loved my first ever blog swap of gifts. Totally understand that you are not inclined to host next year but it will be missed. Reading through the comments and replies I am pleased to hear both you and your dad are on the road to recovery after what seems a very stressful Christmas, sending hugs and thanks Jo

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    1. I received some wonderful gifts, I was really pleased with everything. I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed the swap too. It was a very stressful Christmas, quite traumatic actually, but my dad's making a good recovery and I'm just about back to normal now too.

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    2. Glad you are now back to normal Jo, sending love x

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  16. Hi Jo, I'm so sorry to read about how difficult things have been for you. I really loved my swap with Hazel and I am so grateful to you for organising it. I'm glad to hear your Dad is recovering. Sending hugs and best wishes, April x

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    1. I'm so pleased that you enjoyed the swap, I think everyone who took part had fun with it. My dad's much better now, well on the way to making a good recovery.

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