This Christmas has been a lot of fun!
Looking back over the month of December, there have been lots of special moments. The holiday really does start as soon as Thanksgiving is over here, with many decorations and trees appearing the weekend after!
However, many of my favourite moments have been the simple times we have spent together, whether playing in the snow, crafting or baking. So, here is my run down of our 12 days moments of Christmas.
1. Tradition: Santa
We visited Santa at the beginning of December. This trip had been planned for the weekend after Thanksgiving (!) but a diving off the sofa incident, which resulted in a wee girl with a rather bruised and scratched face, pushed this back to the following weekend. It’s a cheesy photo, but I love it, and it’s set to become a family tradition.
2. Community: Home for the holidays
Our town celebrates the start of the Christmas season with a town wide event. Organised by the Chamber of commerce and involving all the local businesses and community groups, it is a wonderful occasion for the kids with activities ranging from a petting zoo to cookie decorating to mini golf, there was even a hayride with Santa! There was such a wonderful sense of community, the kids had a blast, and I felt very settled as we bumped into friends and neighbours along the way.
3. Milestone: First snow
Last year the wee girl was too small to play in the snow. So, when we had our first decent covering of snow running around in it was a must! A milestone; a simple, ordinary moment; treasured memories.
4. Play: Lots of snow
After our first snow we had our first winter storms, resulting in 15 inches of snow! The kids had a ball :)
5. Craft: Paper Christmas trees
Nothing beats a bit of Christmas crafting, we’ve made trees and pictures and Christmas cards. Lots of gluing and sticking and glitter!
6. Bake: Christmas cookies
The 4yo always enjoys baking – we just had to make some Christmas cookies. Decorating is the best bit :)
7. Spirit: Christmas tree
It doesn’t really feel like Christmas for me until the tree is up and decorated. I will, as always, be sad to see it go. Nothing beats sitting in the glow of twinkly fairy lights in the evening.
8. Surprise: Granny
My husband arranged for my mother to fly over for Christmas – it was a complete surprise! I am thrilled, and the kids are excited beyond belief! It has made our Christmas.
9. Neighbourhood: Gifts
Our close neighbours give the kids gifts for Christmas, which is very kind of them and really strengthens our sense of belonging and community. Last year I made biscuits, this year I made chocolate and peppermint cookies. This was a solo baking effort, and it was lovely to spend an hour baking alone :)
10. Make: Gingerbread house
On Christmas Eve we finally made our gingerbread house! An enjoyable time spent with the boys building and decorating – I think I enjoyed it as much, if not more, than them.
11. Excitement: Presents
Christmas really is all about the kids. Watching them open presents was just the best thing. We had kept the piles modest this year, and it was brilliant. They all immediately started playing with their main presents, and were engaged and happy for hours. The wee girl may not understand the concept of presents yet, but she certainly understood the unwrapping bit!
12. Family: Christmas Day
Christmas Day itself was wonderful. We had such a relaxed and calm day. There was no stress, no rushing around. Christmas dinner was lovely, with no drama and no hours spent in the kitchen (preparation is key!). We enjoyed a few glasses of fizz and had a family movie night, watching the 4yo’s Santa gift Turbo. It was a special day.
What were your favourites moments?
ah i love the community fair idea. No wonder you feel so settled! how lovely
It was an amazing event – things happened all over town :)
What a lovely post, it looks like you all had so much fun! What a wonderful surprise to have your Mum with you for Christmas.
Thank you. It was the most amazing surprise!
How wonderful – a dozen reasons you had a lovely Christmas!
Thanks Kriss, it’s been wonderful :)
What a lovely way to look back over the Christmas break Sara. How wonderful that your mum came over as a surprise! And I love the gingerbread house. So now you have snow will it stay until spring or is it like here where it’ll melt away within a few days? xx
Thanks E x Having my mum here is lovely :) We’ve actually had quite a bit of rain too, so the snow comes and goes. It’s set to get very cold, with some snow, this week though – with temps of -10C during the day the snow will stick around for a while! Last year, the snow started in early Feb and didn’t completely go until late March!
Gosh some great #magicmoments there. I love the pictures and you even had snow! I totally agree it is the small things that truly make Christmas magic. Love the sense of the whole community being involved too.
Thank you, we’ve had a lot of special moments x
What great moments! I love the look on the wee girls face on number 11!
It was accompanied by a ‘wow’!
What a lovely Christmas Sara-it looks and sounds wonderful. So glad you enjoyed it and I hope you have a fantastic start to the New Year xx
Thank you Iona xx
What a lovely post and a lovely Xmas you had! xx I am in total awe that you made that Gingerbread House! Total skills ;) x lol! #magicmoments
Thank you! I may have had a little help with the gingerbread bit, but I had a lot of fun building and decorating it :)
Lovely post – so wonderful you had a great Christmas!
Thank you xx
Yay to having a surprise visit from your mum…must have been the best Christmas present ever. Happy New Year to you x
#MagicMoments
It really was! Happy New Year to you too xx
What a lovely post – I have total snow envy! It’s just wet and miserable here!
#MagicMoments
I was kind of over the snow until it rained all day today, now I think I’d like it back :)
Some great moments, love the horse feeding. #MagicMoments
So did the kids! It’s been a lovely time all round x
awww honey how absolutly fantastic that you mum was there to celebrate with you … amazing honey!
Thanks for linking up with #MagicMoments
Thanks Jaime, it was pretty special xx Thanks for hosting x
It looks like you all had a wonderful Christmastime! I particularly love the look of your chocolate and peppermint cookies and the gingerbread house; it sounds like there is a great sense of community where you are :) Stopping by from #Magicmoments
Thank you :) I felt very lucky over Christmas xx
What a wonderful looking Christmas!
Your gingerbread house is fantastic (I didn’t get round to mine this year) and I think that’s actually the real Santa you got in that picture! ;) xx
I think it might be, he’s quite impressive isn’t he!
You look like you had a fab time – love that your Mum came over for a surprise visit and your Gingerbread house is amazing. Happy New Year to you all #magicmoments
Thank you – we really did. Happy New Year to you too xx
A Lovely post! It looks like you had a fantastic Christmas