Christmas is well and truly over. I think the Christmas Spirit left at exactly midnight Boxing Day morning and we won’t be seeing it again until next year. Although the lights and decorations are still up in most places there is a sense that everyone is just trying to get back to the daily grind – that went fast!

2012 was not my first Christmas away from home so I didn’t have the problem many expats have with homesickness over the holiday season. I once spent Christmas in Paris with a bunch of girls from my high school. We ate pate and got food poisoning from the Christmas chicken. This year there was plenty of good food with no negative consequences! I’m sure there are lots of new expats our there in the wide old world and I hope you had a lovely Christmas and found some people to share it with. I’m sure you did

Anywho.

I am generally pretty happy when Christmas is over because now I can show you my present wrapping skills without having to worry about ruining anyone’s surprises! So here I give you my crafty Christmas wrapping theme for 2012 – you’re welcome!

This year I went with brown paper and string – those are a few of our favourite things. It’s cheap and cheerful, but looks classic. I also went with gold bows to add some class. I just love brown paper because it reminds me surprises in the post. Not that anyone has every posted me anything in brown paper, but it reminds me of old films and stories where characters received them and I got excited by association.

For the gift tags I kept going with brown paper. Black ink looks fabulous on it for my Harry Potter themed quotes!

And no, they weren’t socks in the end