For me I find the festive season unbearably exciting, sometimes I can freaked out (genuinely) by how excited I can get about Christmas. I love the festive season, I love spending time at home, I love buying gifts for my loved ones, I love opening presents, and I love eating far too many pickles. There’s plenty of stuff I could list in terms of things that I’m not particularly too fond of when it comes to Christmas, but I don’t want to dampen the mood…

What I really really love about December is the quirky little gifts that pop up in shops, the really sweet little presents and ‘knick-knacks’ that you can buy others (or buy yourself). I’m a big fan of sweet, little presents, items, bits and bobs, personalised items, and cute stuff that you don’t particularly leave but never want to part with once they’re in your possession.

Time to Change have a wonderful campaign running at the moment celebrating the #smallthings that help in recovery, small things that help when we’re dealing with mental illness, small things that better our wellbeing. Their campaign certainly led me to think more about the small things in my life that brighten things up a little. Those small things certainly include my friends, my family and of course my monstrous little cat,  but it’s also little things such as gifts and presents that people have bought me in the past. I love looking at an item which has a really nice story to how in came to be in my possession… (I couldn’t have made that sound any cheesier than it is).

I definitely think that the time of year affects my wellbeing; in the winter I find great comfort in warm, soft, cuddly type things. Whereas in the summer I’d much rather sit in the sun and read my book instead of snuggle up in my duvet doing my best caterpillar impression.

I thought I’d share some of the #smallthings that’ve made me smile throughout the past few weeks. (Basically I just wanted an excuse to share photos of things that I love…) All jokes aside though, I think it’s a really lovely, fun activity to think about all the small things, be it a gift from someone, a piece of clothing, an activity, some food, music or whatever. I think it’s really nice to acknowledge the things that make us smile, and improve our morale, even when we don’t realise. I’ve also recently been introduced to the term ‘Oasis Items‘, which refers to items that comfort us, and objects that we can turn to when we may be struggling. I think some of the things I’ve listed below could be considered Oasis Items for me.

Here’s some of my favourite #smallthings:

Today (Sunday 20th December) my housemate and I ventured out to do some shopping at our local shops (Kings Heath, Birmingham) and we stumbled across a mini street food festival. It was really sweet, I had this incredibly tasty steak burger, which was so so good.

Currently I’m on medication as I have something up with my throat/lymph nodes, so I’ve been unable to drink any alcohol. I always try to regulate my alcohol intake anyway, I like to have a few drinks with my friends every now and then, and at Christmas time I’m a fan of mulled anything. But Friday night (after my housemates finished watching the new Star Wars film, sigh) we went to Birmingham’s Frankfurt market, then to a few pubs. We ended up in a really cool underground bar type place, where the music was really reaaaaally ace. I had so much fun, and didn’t touch a single drop of alcohol all night. When we got home at around 2am I had a nice cup of Ovaltine (yep) and snuggled up in bed. Ten points to the ‘festive feel’, Birmingham does Christmas really well if ya ask me.

I spotted this sign in the building where I work (Birmingham) and it really really made me smile. I was having a particularly rubbish morning, and stumbling across this on my way into work really cheered me up!

We decorated our house all Christmassy a few weeks back, as we’re all going home for Christmas (I live in a shared house) we decided to have a Christmas meal on Tuesday. It was lovely, my housemates are ace, and Alan (our house reindeer) had a fantastic night too).

This cushion was a gift from my sister a few Christmases back (or maybe last year?) Either way, it always makes me smile, it makes me feel all diva-esque, sassy and awesome. Sometimes you need to feel important, even if it’s when you’re at home, alone, watching Harry Potter…

I genuinely think that acknowledging little things that bring wonder into our everyday routines, whether it’s small items, or fantastic evenings with our friends, I think those moments and those things are incredibly nourishing and prominent for our wellbeing. I think items, and things that we love and are fond of contribute toward bettering our mood. It’s an act of self-care – I think – to take some time to acknowledge the things that make us smile.