Friday 28 December 2018

Christmas Presents!

So Christmas is over for another year!  That's a little bit sad, as I love Christmas - it is my favourite time of year.  But I'm also very happy, as I have a whole new set of Christmas memories to add to my collection.  :o)

Also, now that all the Christmas craziness has died down a little, we have the fun of looking at all the lovely presents our family gave us!  I feel very lucky this year - I received many beautiful presents; some Sylvanian, some not, but all very much appreciated!  I would like to show you my Sylvanian Families presents.  Here they all are:-


Three new families (and a Freya) - how exciting!! 

Let's have a closer look at them.  First, meet the Thistlethorn Mouse family:


Aren't they cute?  This family was given to me by my lovely Mum and her husband.  They were bought second-hand (for those who don't know, they are a retired family, and no longer available new), but they are in mostly beautiful condition (the brother is missing his tail, and the sister has a little flocking damage to one arm, neither of which you can really see when they have clothes on.  I am going to create a back story to explain the lack of tail though - stay tuned for that in a future post).  I am in LOVE with these mice!

You may have noticed a little blue dress in the foreground of the main picture - this is a lovely dress that my daughter Caitlyn gave me for Christmas.  She made it herself, and it is for Priscilla Thistlethorn (the sister figure) - here she is modelling it:


Next we have the Hedgehog family.  I knew I was getting these from my wonderful husband and daughter, and they have been VERY eagerly awaited - this is one of my favourite families of the whole range, past and present.  They were actually the catalyst for me getting back into collecting my own Sylvanian Families, as they are not a family Caitlyn wanted for herself (much to my disappointment at the time).  At some point I suddenly thought to myself, "Well, why shouldn't I have them for me?"  Aaaaand, the rest is history...


Look how CUTE they are!!!  They each have a little brush or comb to groom their spikes!  The cuteness!!  I have decided to name them the Prickles family.

Last but not least, I am pleased to present the Outback Koala family!


They are also a gift from Husband and Caitlyn.  As you can see, this family is somewhat different from most, as not only are both the children girls, but they are also both babies - one jointed standing baby, and one sitting.  A very cute feature of this set is the sling that either Mum or Dad can use to carry one of the babies, whilst still keeping his or her arms free:


So the baby koala can be carried on its mother's back, just like a real baby koala!  :o)

At first I mostly wanted the koalas because I thought it was weird that we didn't have any Australian animals living in our corner of Sylvania, but every time I saw them in a shop, I liked them more and more.  Now that I have them, and have had a chance to get them out and see them properly, I love them to bits.  They will be a very important addition to the village too, as both my Outback parents are going to be doctors - they will be the first medical professionals we have had!

The final animal added to my collection is little Freya Chocolat - she will get to keep her official first name, as the Freyas Caitlyn owns have both been given different ones.  It looks like we are going to end up with a chocolate rabbit family living in Macadamia Grove, although we don't have any parents yet, just lots of kids!  I actually really like my Freya's red and white spotty dress, it is very pretty.  My Freya came with the Cosy Cottage, but she isn't going to live there.  The Prickles hedgehogs are going to be the lucky ones to move into this cute little house.

I also received a Street Lamp from the new Town series (which is very elegant, and includes real lights that flicker like old-fashioned lamps would have);  a Family Table & Chairs set, which is great as we are a bit short of tables;  a Garden Decorating set, which the Prickles and Bouquet families have already claimed parts of;  and a second-hand bathroom set.  This bathroom set is really cool as it comes with a section of tiled floor, a shower curtain and a little cupboard, as well as more or less all the pieces the Country Bathroom set comes with. 


I suspect this may be a retired set called the Cottage Bathroom set.  There may be a couple of little pieces missing, but nothing important, and it is in great condition.  I am very happy with it!

Finally, the one present I didn't have in the first picture was this lovely new cushion:


If you are on the Sylvanian Families Forum, or if you read my daughter's blog, you may remember a while ago we won one of these cushions (with different pictures on it).  So imagine how happy I was to unwrap this one on Christmas Day!  They are going to make a gorgeous matching set...

 

Wow, this turned out to be quite a long post!  Thanks for reading (if you have made it this far!)

I really appreciate all those people who read and comment on my blog.  It's nice to know there are others who share this funny little hobby!  I hope that you and your families had as wonderful a Christmas as we did, and wish you all the best things that 2019 has to offer.

7 comments:

  1. Hi GreyRabbit!
    Wow! You got a wonderful sylvanian haul for Christmas! Congrats on all these lovely additions!
    All the sets are fantastic!
    The three families are really cute too.It´s great you got The Hedgehogs and a cottage for them! Prickles is a perfect name for this family. I love how smiley they always look.
    The Thistlethorns are the cutest sylvanian mice. Yours look in perfect condition . I bought mine second hand too but they aren´t wearing their original clothes and they are very worn out. I love them anyway .The dress Caitlyn made for Pricilla is gorgeous!
    The Outback Koalas are lovely too!Mine are still in their box. I´ll have to unbox one of this days. The babies are very cute, especially the one carried on its mother´s back.

    I´m in love with your cushions! It´s great you have two now. They match perfectly!
    I haven´t got any Christmas presents yet. In Spain the main day for presents is the 6th of January. Presents are brought by the Three Wise Men so the festive spirit is still in full swing!

    Enjoy all these lovely presents. Hope to see some of your new additions in future posts.

    Happy New Year!

    Hugs!

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    1. Thanks Cutata. Yes, I have been very lucky!
      I liked hearing about your Christmas tradition in Spain - actually the idea that the Three Wise Men bring the presents is a really good one. Hope they bring you something nice!

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  2. Hi GreyRabbit! Wow! You are so lucky to have the Thistlethorn mice! I have always wanted them, they are just so cute! Especially Chester, I've always had a soft spot for him! And those cushions are gorgeous! You're so lucky! By the way, I love your blog! So genuine and sweet! I just started a blog too! :) Such a fun little hobby!

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    1. Thanks for visiting, Kelsie.
      The Thistlethorns are lovely, aren't they? I like all the mouse families, but I think the Thistlethorn family might be my favourite.

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    2. Hello again GreyRabbit! I just wanted to thank you for adding Bluebell Oaks to your links list! So kind of you, I appreciate it!

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  3. The Thistlethorns are my favorite, all the ones I can find for sale though are missing tails! Any good ideas for how to make a new tail??

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    1. Nope, sorry! It does seem to be a very common problem for Thistlethorns though! For the ones I have with missing tails, I just make up plausible stories for why their tails are missing (eg Ash lost his in a house fire).

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