Keeping it simple

This year has been a bitch. Husband spent 2 months in hospital, the 1 year old spent almost a week in hospital and I fell out of love with my job. I think it's safe to say that the past 6 months have been a huge emotional struggle.

So with this in mind, we decided not to make the annual Christmas pilgrimage home to Scotland. We didn't want the stress of travelling with 2 small children in unpredictable weather conditions, or the expense of flights for four when the same amount of money could get us a fortnight in Turkey. We couldn't face spending 10 nights in a very small 2 bedroomed house with 2 other adults when our own 2 bed flat can barely contain us.

So we stayed at home, just the four of us. Was I worried it would be a huge letdown for Bigger? yup. Was I worried we'd regret not spending Christmas with the grandparents? yup. Was I dreading Christmas dinner with a 1 year old with a penchant for flinging food as far as possible? yup.

Were all my worries unfounded? YES!

We ended up having a lovely, chilled out Christmas day. I honestly believe the secret was not planning anything. Not even dinner. A couple of weeks ago we decided that, with the 1 year old's table manners, it would be far less stressful to just not bother with a traditional Christmas dinner. Instead, we'd bake a ham, bake some bread and have hot roast pork sandwiches. We also planned a trip to Waitrose last thing Christmas eve to pick up all the bargains and if we all ended up surviving on vol au vents all day, then so be it.

In the end, we spotted a turkey in Waitrose for a bargain price we couldn't refuse. So at 4pm on Christmas eve we decided to wing it with Christmas dinner and go traditional after-all. We'd still play it by ear and if the boys weren't up for turkey at lunch time, husband and i would eat after they crashed out.

It the end, it was beautifully easy. We hadn't had weeks to worry about buying all the essentials, so we had a simply turkey dinner with homemade gravy, home made roast potatoes, carrots and some homemade stuffing balls I whipped up last minute. No cauliflower cheese, no pigs in blankets, no elaborate starter, no cranberry sauce, not even a sprout. But it was perfect. Stress-free and perfect.

We ate, we played, we laughed. Repeat times 10. We all opened presents in our pyjamas (something we never get to do in Scotland - pyjamas and in-laws just don't mix), breakfasted on pancakes, snacked all day on the gingerbread house we'd constructed christmas eve and feasted on turkey and trifle.

There was only one episode of tears the whole day, which in my book is a bit of a result.

Hope you all had lovely days, wherever you were and whoever you spent it with. Merry Christmas!

It's almost Christmas!

I have to admit, I'm beginning to feel a teensy bit excited about the forthcoming festivities. Today, I'm mostly loving that:

:: I've wrapped all the santa presents *smug*

:: the cards are all written (just waiting for the husband to sign his ones)

:: I've almost finished making the little gift boxes/hampers I'm sending to our mums

:: I've reached a decision on the tree dilemma - we're having one. A real one. Oh yes. (the destructive 16 month old will just have to learn not to pull it over on top of himself...) 

:: I've discovered a fabulous blog called the Knackered Mothers' Wine Club with a.maz.ing advice on wine and champagne (decent tasting cava for £3.99! I'm there!) from a proper wine expert with a sense of humour

:: I can crochet. I can ACTUALLY crochet! It's taken a week of youtube videos but I think I've finally sussed it out. Haven't actually made anything yet mind you...

:: that I've remembered to light candles every night this week, making the houses look and smell lovely

:: it's the end of my working week which means that a weekend of gingerbread houses, baking bread and spending time with my boys is just round the corner

What are you loving today?

Regent Street - oh sparkly!

Hello! Happy New Year! Merry Christmas and all that jazz!

Oh my word. It has been such a long time since I last wrote anything here. Many things have happened in that time including Christmas, Hogmanay (New Year) and snow glorious snow! I may have been absent from my own blog, but I've tried to keep up with everyone else in blog land, so I haven't felt too isolated!

So, what have I been up to? Well, life got kinda crazy int he lead up to Christmas and by life, I mean work. It was hectic and crazy in a way that was good but totally exhausting. Then we disappeared up to Scotland for the holidays. A trip we'd been looking forward to for such a long time.

The weather was exceptionally Christmassy and we shared some lovely family news but, to be honest, the whole Christmas thing just didn't do it for me this year. I'm gutted really, truly gutted. I adore Christmas, I love the glamour and the sparkle of it. The anticipation, the buying of gifts, the wrapping of presents, the bows, the glitter, the music, the stories, the cheesy films. Love it, love it, love it.

So what happened this year? Why did our Christmas feel so flat? Like a bottle of champagne that has been opened and carelessly left behind the sofa without anyone so much as enjoying a single bubble. Well, part of it had to do with a very sad and frustrating situation that one part of our family is going through at the moment. The situation is unavoidable and sadly will not change anytime soon.

But, in all honesty, I think the true reason our Christmas fell flat was because of traditions. Or more specifically, a lack of them. For the past 2 weeks I been reading about lovely seasonal traditions from all different corners of blog land, from bonfires and soltice jammies to tree decorations collected over the years. And that's when it struck me. We just don't have any firm traditions that signal Christmas to us as a family. We don't go to church, we don't go carol singing (as much as I'd love to), we don't even have a tree! (we spend so much of the festive season with relatives that it just doesn't seem worth it - the poor tree would be left all alone from half way through December!). So I'm left thinking, what are we telling Miniegg about the significance of the festive season? Sure, he knows it's a time to spend with his grandparents and gets very excited about the airplane trip. But what else is there for him apart from presents? Not a lot.

So that's going to change. I'm going to think carefully over the next 12 months and start devising a few traditions that our little family can call our own.

Do you have family traditions that "make" your Christmas? Do share!