I felt so loved this year with the birthday presents I received, and I was really excited to share them here on my blog. A little about me: I’m a curator of treasures. Every item in my home holds a special meaning — well, except for appliances, or my printer. I really HATE my printer.

The special items I collect or receive as gifts are tied to memories, people, places, and events, making them incredibly important to me. They act as little bridges to moments and connect me to the past – They’re like little snapshots in time. Without them, my home wouldn’t feel like mine — it wouldn’t feel cosy. If I buy a Jellycat and don’t bond with it or it doesn’t carry meaning, I won’t keep it. It would disrupt the cosy vibes I get from loving every item I see. That’s why I wanted to share my birthday presents with you, along with the significance and meaning they’ve brought into my life.

Gifts From My Son

Plushies have always been a love language between me and my son, symbolising hope, comfort, and even a way to communicate without words. (More on that at a different time — let’s just say they once healed me like the all-seeing, all-knowing space baby from 2001: A Space Odyssey.) Gifts of plushies between us are a gesture of love that say, “I see you, I love you for exactly who you are and I want you to feel celebrated”. This year was no different, as my son bought me a Jellycat Birthday cake.

If you’ve read any of my other posts you know that I have an ED, and have been struggling with it recently. My sons reasoning for giving me the Jellycat cake as a gift was so that I can still have birthday cake on my birthday and it can give me comfort without the weight of my ED. It will also continue to give me comfort as I get to keep it forever, unlike any other type of cake. He also knows how much I love Portal, so he knew I’d be comforted instead of annoyed at GLaDOS that the cake is a lie. I LOVE that this cake is a lie. My son is so layered in his thoughtfulness, in that sense, he too, was my other comforting birthday cake.

He also got me a little penguin, and he wouldn’t be the only penguin this birthday which means a lot to me because of WeeGee, and a tiny smudge fox, which is so so tiny and ADORABLE. My Mortimer Fox plushie reminds me of my dad, so now Roxy the Mortimer fox has a fox plushie too. My son also got me a wonderful card and he always draws little doodles inside. I have pictures in my phone of so many of my birthday cards he’s given me as he turns each one into a little work of art.

Gifts From My Best Friend

I met Amanda (also known as Cosymoth on Instagram) in the Jellycat plushie community. I remember the first thing I ever said to her was that we were bag twins — we had the exact same handbag but in different colors. We’ve been best friends ever since. Well, not exactly, but it feels like it.

This year, she sent me a box of meaningful gifts for my birthday. I hadn’t told her about the special birthday boxes my best friend WeeGee used to send me, the ones that made me feel so connected to her. And yet, Amanda’s gift brought those same feelings back. It was such a beautiful gesture that reminded me of WeeGee in the best way.

I think I’d given up hope of having a connection like the one I had with WeeGee. After she died, I thought that kind of love and thoughtfulness was something I’d only ever have once. But Amanda’s gift showed me that connection can happen again, and it made me emotional — not just because of the gifts themselves, but because of the love behind them. Knowing my grief and how much I loved WeeGee, Amanda got me a little penguin. Now, this penguin feels like it represents both friendships, and how lucky I am to have had two best friends who care about me so deeply.

The penguin was wrapped in star paper, which I loved because, well, I’m obsessed with stars. And along with the penguin came a Jellycat hot chocolate and a tiny Bart ornament wearing a scarf — absolutely ADORABLE. Funnily enough, I’d been planning to buy the hot chocolate plushie myself at some point because I have a bear named Cocoa who wears red pajamas. It just goes to show how Amanda and I are so in sync. The Bart, well, I love Barts SO MUCH, and if you’ve seen my plushie Instagram, you know I do too.

She even managed to track down a Jellycat Bartholomew bear pin! I’ve wanted one for ages but could never find one, and I was so EXCITED when I saw it. I’d love to put it on my bag, but it feels too special. I think it’ll sit in my display tray with all my most precious things.

And then there were bear clothes! I love dressing my bears up when we go on adventures. One of the shirts says “Sending hugs,” which feels perfect for when I need a hug myself. The other one says “Cookies, Cocoa, and Cuddles,” which is absolutely ADORABLE — I can already picture my bear wearing it while drinking his Jellycat hot chocolate.

The rest of the package included a beautifully written card, stickers, and postcards. Everything was so thoughtful and personal. I felt so incredibly loved, not just for the gifts themselves but for the connection they represent.

Gifts I bought myself

To accompany my little penguin that Amanda gave me, I may have bought him a mother penguin, and a little polar bear. I figured the little polar bear and the penguin could be best friends so the penguin could have a best friend too. The REALLY cute little polar bear is a nod to the first polar bear who inspired my adult plushie collecting, called Cassie (This too will be in the same space baby post I talked about earlier). This little bear also connects me back to Amanda as she made me aware of Bunnies by the Bay plushies by posting an adorable polar bear – which I also previously bought for myself so we could have matching plushies. I’ve just become more and more obsessed with their plushies ever since. I don’t think these adorable new additions will be the last of their plushies to join our growing plushie family.

I also got myself some physics earrings. I’ve been making every effort to reconnect with myself after losing my friend, and getting back into posting here, and reinvigorating my interests is one of the ways I’ve been doing that. These earrings from Silver Rain Silver on Etsy were absolutely perfect. Silver Rain Silver is our favourite place to buy earrings from, they carry multiple niches, if you can think of it, they probably have a design of it in beautiful earrings – I highly recommend having a look at their shop! When I saw Schrödingers Cat earrings I just had to get them, I added them to cart faster than the speed of light (Maybe I should have got E=mc2 ones too?). I use superposition to describe nearly everything in my life, and with one cat being alive hanging from one ear, and one cat being dead hanging from the other ear, I can constantly think about how my brain is the superposition between them itself – I think it probably is, hence why it even connects everyday events into cat states.

I also bought some little atom earrings from the same Etsy store as I really love the quote, “I, a universe of atoms, an atom in the universe” by Richard Feynman. It is my philosophy on life, I am actually comforted by the insignificance of being an atom in a universe, more so when I remember, I too, have a universe of atoms within me. Finding the insignificance comforting means that when significant events happen, I find them even more significant and miraculous. Both of these pairs of earrings, will be a symbol of my journey of getting back to myself in my grief journey. I just wasn’t myself at all for 4 years, it’s like I was in stasis since the day WeeGee died, but now I am remembering.

Wrapping It All Up (haha)

As I sit here reflecting on the incredible gifts I received this year, it’s clear that they are so much more than just “things.” Each one carries a story, a connection, a piece of love from the people — and even the moments — that mean so much to me. From my teen’s “cake is a lie” gift to honour me with a cake I can find comforting and make endless GLaDOS jokes with, to Amanda’s thoughtful penguin that brought back memories of WeeGee, to the physics earrings symbolising my grief journey, self-reconnection and of course my obsession with superposition, every gift feels like a little beacon of hope and fluffy comfort.

These aren’t just gifts to me — they’re reminders of who I am, everything I love, and who I’m becoming again. For me, it’s not about collecting or having more; it’s about curating a life full of meaning, warmth, and the connections that make living my utter disaster of a storyline much more bearable.

I’m so grateful for the people in my life who see me, understand me, and remind me that I’m loved. It feels so special, too, because, like with Amanda, I wasn’t expecting such a deep connection to happen again after WeeGee died. This birthday wasn’t just about gifts; it was about feeling understood, valued, connected, and celebrated. And honestly, that’s the greatest gift of all. I would be extra grateful though if I was suddenly able to name plushies better, because now I have a really hard but fluffy task ahead of me – To give them names that are as meaningful as they are.

Heres a song dedicated to everyone, and everything that I love :-