Hi all – I hope you had a fabulous Christmas, NYE and that 2011 is treating you well! Now that Christmas has past I thought I would share some of the gifts I gave and received…

Saturday: My mum gave my 17 month old niece a front bike seat and a helmet for Christmas – she had her first go it on Boxing day and loved it. I’m unsure of the brand that mum bought but here is one type sold in Australia.

Friday: A little while ago I mentioned that while on holiday in NYC I discovered uncooked cards and we entertained ourselves for nearly an hour reading evey card they had and laughing like crazy people! Well in that same bookstore I came across the perfect book for one of my brothers – What’s Your Poo Telling You? by Richman & Sheth M.D. From the book’s introduction I knew this was a Christmas present he would appreciate:

While this books primary aim is to liberate poo from the undeserving position in the societal sewer, it also seeks to free those individuals who have until now been unable to share their love for poo with others…

Thursday: probably my favourite gift this Christmas was from my younger brother. I didn’t realise I needed a Cartoon Panda iPhone speaker until I got one – it is so cute and I love that you adjust the volume by squeezing its ears!

Wednesday: one of the gifts I received for Christmas was a Sydney Writers’ Centre gift certificate. I just decided tonight that I am going to do the Magazine Writing Summer School course – looking forward to learning the secrets of how to write for magazines and newspapers!

Tuesday: Have you been watching season 2 of Luke Nguyen’s Vietnam on SBS on Thursday nights? If you haven’t I highly recommended it. My dad is off to Vietnam in a couple of months so a copy of season 1 was the perfect gift. Make sure you watch this Thursday because Luke is visiting Sapa, which was one of my favourite places when we were in Vietnam last year.

Monday: Yesterday my mum and D went hang gliding – they had both previously told me they wanted to try it, so I gave them Sydney Hang Gliding Centre gift certificates. They had an awesome flight off the world famous ‘Bald Hill’ at Stanwell Park. It looked so fabulous I’m even thinking about giving it a go!