2025 Christmas Haul
It's the season of red and green! Let's talk about my Christmas this year, and show off the cool shit I got!
2025-12-26
It's weird to be making a post about a Christmas haul, because the last time
I did was in my first ever blog post back in 2023. Haven't we come far! The website looked SO different then,
and only had a small fraction of the content it has now.
But I digress. This year was a bit of a strange one, because things got a little bit complicated earlier in the year. My parents (mum + step-dad) started going through a divorce in late August, so we've had to adjust to a new normal with two separate Christmasses, a tradition I haven't experienced outside of my mum and dad split all the way back in 2007 (i think) and of course I don't even remember that.
There's also the fact that this is the first year I actually have a source of income (other than benefits) so I've been graced with the responsibility of buying presents for people rather than just receiving them. It's new, but there's something pleasant about being able to gift, especially to my mum who's been giving me presents her entire life.
Oh and I have a girlfriend Freezer now too, so I need to actually TRY with some of my presents. Can't just spend 20 quid and call it a day, you know what I mean?
Regardless of the changes, what didn't change was the fact that I still got presents! Hooray! So without further ado and in a way that doesn't sound like bragging, here's what I was given!
Audio-Technica AT-LP3XBT
Automatic Turntable
I started collecting a few vinyls mid this year, with the purchase of a second-hand copy of Pendulum's In Silico album (which was expensive as balls, by the way) and a few others. I've always been fascinated by physical media, and I think vinyls are a great investment, as someone who cares a lot for good sounding music.
So when my mum asked me what I wanted for Christmas, I knew exactly what to ask for from the get go. This turntable doesn't have the exact specs I need, but to be honest, I didn't really specify a model or anything and just said "turntable please!". There's a few things I want to purchase alongside to complete a nice sound system, such as speakers, a phono preamp, headphone amplifier, speakers, etc etc etc. but that'll probably be tended to once January comes around.
Overall, quite happy with this one, especially considering I wasn't expecting much since this was a present I got during the first Christmas with my mum on the 21st. Great stuff! Oh, and the stuff it's missing is completely fixable with the right equipment so I'll live.
A record for the heart
(What's The Story) Morning Glory?
Alongside the turntable, I also received a few vinyls by The Prodigy, Seba and Oasis.I love all three of these vinyls, but the Oasis vinyl in particular from my mum meant a lot to me, as it has some of my dad's favourite songs on it. I haven't talked about this on the website much, but my dad passed away in October of 2023 and he used to LOVE this song when he was younger. So I find it really thoughtful for her to get me this and it means the world to me to own something that had this much sentiment to him.
I'm off to Sweden
..and one of the most stressful delightful afternoons of my entire life
On the afternoon of the Christmas with my mum, Freezer surprised me with a quiz in the form of a PowerPoint presentation. It was a series of questions, with each question and/or answer linking to what the present was. I was tasked with guessing the present.
Oh my god.
I love the amount of effort she put into the presentation, but I honestly would want nothing less than to go through that game again. She was jotting down my thoughts in a mind-map, and my ideas were so far from what the present actually was that I felt nothing more than deep internal heaviness and shame for my entire bloodline. It was not a proud 7 hours of the day.
But once I made the link between where Minecraft was made, where Spotify was made and winter clothes, I landed on the answer: Sweden! I remembered me and Freezer talking about this while she was in Prague, I've always wanted to visit a cold Nordic place, especially with some sick architectural design. What can I say, I was a big fan of Anomaly's vlogs on YouTube and seeing all the cool shit he'd get up to on his holidays home.
I'm super looking forward to it. I'm going during my Birthday; it'll be the first time I'm away from home on the day! But I'm certain it'll be awesome.
Christmas at Freezer's
Doing grown up things because I'm cool
Christmas with my mum was great, but that covers it for my major gifts! I think! I'm actually not sure to be honest, I'm writing this paragraph on the 23rd. But the Christmas with my mum was great, and I'm spending "For Realsies Christmas" with Freezer at her house. It's the first time spending Christmas not with parents, and I'm really excited. So LETS GET IT!!!!!!!!!!!!!!Quite to my surprise, I had more presents to open than I was expecting, since Freezer's mum gave me a few things (presumably so I'd have things to open). Some of the things from her mum included:
- Kalimba - I love anything that makes noise and plays notes
- Kettle - Might seem a bit unusual, but I actually don't have a kettle in Sheffield, believe it or not
- Various chocolate - Can't complain, love chocolate
- A thermal top
- Thermal socks
- Some other stuff, but the main takeaway is that I'll be warm
- A CD box set of Despicable Me 1-4 from Freezer's brother (lol)
- A vinyl of "Twilight" by boa from Spoon (who has been referred to on the microblog before, in this post)
- Lynx wash set from Freezer's nan
Overall, a pretty good haul this year. I'm super grateful for everything I've received, especially considering Freezer's family didn't have to get me anything at all.
The gift of giving
And catching a hint
I wouldn't typically talk about this, but the occasion feels special. Throughout the year, Freezer has been constantly talking about this one jacket she really wants. It's called the Chinese New Year Jacket, it's made by Adidas and it's only sold in China. It's rare outside of China, quite expensive and quite annoying to get hold of.So of course, it makes for the perfect present. I managed to find a seller on eBay who was willing to ship internationally, and I got it for her
The only way I can one-up this is by getting her this Panic! At The Disco jacket that costs £1,000... so maybe in a few years...
Oh, and I also gave my mum the Sony XM4 headphones because she's been begging to take mine since I got a new pair of headphones. She's a fan.
Boxing Day
Retrospective
I'm writing this on Boxing Day, and I feel like I've missed talking about a few points but as it stands, my social battery is absolutely drained and I'm fighting the urge to go on a "Mr Robot Hacker Vigilante" arc. So I'll leave it here and conclude that this Christmas was new, exciting and love-filled or whatever. Good stuff.It feels inappropriate to say Merry Christmas on the 26th, so... happy holidays :P
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