Every gift from a friend is a wish for your happiness. - Richard Bach.

And so the first week of my Christmas holiday has already flashed past in a whirlwind of excitement, shopping and champagne.  It's been a particularly strange week, one that has passed with phenomenal speed whilst also giving me the strange impression of never having been away.  Fortunately I still have a couple of token Euros in my purse and random French words popping into my head (and occasionally out of my mouth) without me really asking them to, all reminding me that my time in Lyon was more than just a bizarre and slightly surreal dream!

This week has been spent in the midst of a huge flurry of activity and excitement - the sort that can only truly be induced by the most festive of all seasons.  It began with frantic shopping, wrapping and card-writing, while also trying to organise reunions with as many friends and family-members as possible and culminated in three days of tremendous indulgence with some of my very favourite people.  We all ate and drank far more than would be normally acceptable - so much so that my first New Year's resolution will definitely involve some sort of detox and exercise regime - and received many, many wonderful presents.

So many lovely things, I barely know what to do with myself: My family obviously know me and my love affair with all things sparkly far better than I thought and I have several more items to add to my sequin-covered collection.  I am also now the proud owner of a beautiful MacBook Pro and Canon DSLR camera - courtesy of my parents and grandparents - and have spent a large part of the weekend playing around with them and making a nuisance of myself with incessant photography and computer-based activities.  Aside from this uncharacteristically sizeable helping of electronic gadgets, the remaining gifts were more in keeping with my usual wishlists of make-up, perfume, jewellery, clothes and money (to be spent on more make-up, perfume, jewellery and clothes!)

While I appreciate every one of these amazing presents immensely and would hate to be labelled spoilt or ungrateful, they only improved what would already have been an utterly fantastic Christmas.  The longer I spend away from my family, the more I value the short and increasingly infrequent opportunities we have to spend time together; this Christmas I have been lucky enough to spend some time with nearly all of my most cherished family members - from completing puzzles with a young cousin to Christmas shopping with my mother and playing board games with my grandparents, I could not be more grateful for the chance to enjoy the company of those that I no longer see nearly often enough.

Anyway, the madness of the festive season is not yet over in my house; my 21st birthday party is tomorrow and there is still rather a lot to do!  While there are considerable obstacles to this party - I'm not entirely ready to accept the fate of being twenty-one and the timing of my birthday leaves something to be desired as far as party-planning goes - my family and closest friends will be here to celebrate with me and for that reason alone, I am extremely excited!