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.