Christmas 2014

This Christmas has been lovely. It's the first one where C had understood a bit more and also E's first ever one!

On Christmas Eve, I let C open his Christmas Eve box early in the day then we went to Chris's mums. His sister is a hairdresser so she gave C a haircut so he'd look smart for Christmas. When we came home we had dinner then the two kids had their baths and we watched C's Handy Manny Christmas DVD.

After they went to bed, 'Santa' worked his magic. I bought Chris Jon Richardson's Nidiot stand-up DVD so we ended up watching that before heading to bed ourselves at 4am. C and E woke at 6.30am so that maybe wasn't a good idea! 

I came downstairs first with E so I could get the camera ready to take photos of C. Chris was saying "shall we go downstairs? I wonder if Santa has left you any presents?" C's whole body was tensing and Chris said that you could just feel how excited he was. When he came into the living room, his little eyes lit up. He was delighted. He opened his presents first as obviously E didn't know what was going on. He was even painting at 8am! 

After breakfast we were all feeling pretty tired so we had a nap then visited Chris's family again before coming back home for a delicious Christmas dinner. It was a very relaxing day and I loved it. C was so happy.

Hope you all had a lovely Christmas!

What's in Our Christmas Eve Box?

I knew this year that I definitely wanted to do a Christmas Eve box for C after seeing them online last year. As E is only 3 months old, she doesn't need much so if she had her own box it would be pretty empty. Instead, I decided to do one "family" Christmas Eve box.

I think I'll give it to them after we've come home from out post-dinner walk but before bathtime.

Inside, I've included:

In The Night Garden onesie for C - I picked this up months ago in BHS for £16. It's a bit more than I'd usually pay for PJs for him but I know his little face will light up.

Christmas bodysuit & jeggings for E - I won this in a Facebook competition (it came with the bib that is included in this box too). 

Mickey & Minnie Christmas pyjamas for myself - Chris's mum actually bought me these so I thought I'd pop them in.

Pop-up Santa's snowy surprise story book - I picked this up in Home Bargains only today for £1.99. (C has plenty of other Christmas stories in his bookcase so no doubt they will be read too.)

Chilly the Snowman Activity & Sticker Book and Christmas Jumbo Colouring Book - These were £1.99 in The Works. C loves stickers and colouring so they should keep him entertained before bed.

My First Christmas teddy - I won this in Tired Mummy of Two's Christmas Tombola and I was so happy as it's perfect for E!

My 1st Xmas Bib 

Santa wash mitt - I bought this in Primark for £1.50 just to pad out E's items!

MAM Santa soother - I actually won this last Christmas in MAM's advent competitions! I knew keeping it would come in handy.

Handy Manny Christmas DVD - C adores Handy Manny and it's one of the few kids shows that Chris and I can tolerate so we'll all watch this together.

Cadbury Hot Chocolate - This will be C's first ever hot chocolate. I hope he likes it!

Snuggle socks for myself - Chris's mum got me these in addition to the PJs!

Rudolph Chocolate Lolly

Chocolate Gold Coins

Marie (The Aristocats) dressing gown for E - E's first ever dressing gown! She's going to look adorable! This was only £6 in Matalan.

Candy Canes

Santas Magic Key

Plate & mug to leave out for Santa

I know I didn't fill it spectacularly but AT 2 years old and 3 months old, I reckonsed that they didn't need very much at all! I hope C will be chuffed with it and get him very excited for Santa coming! 

The Kids Visiting Santa 2014

I love taking the kids to see Santa. My mum took me every year and I wanted to do the same with my children so they always have the photos to look back on. 

C has developed a bit of an attitude lately. I'm not sure if it's down to the fact that there is a new addition to the house or that he's in the midst of the dreaded Terrible Twos! 

He finally behaved long enough to be allowed to see Santa - hooray! This year he is old enough to understand more. Every time he sees a picture of Santa he recognises him and shouts "ANTA!" so I was hoping he'd be excited to see him. 

Standing in the queue was fine. He was happy and looking forward to it. Sitting on his knee was a whole other story. He began to whinge but I think this was partly because 'Santa' was a stranger and partly because he thought we were leaving him. They took quite a few photos but because he was so upset we had to settle on the best of a bad bunch! 

E fell asleep in the queue - typical! and would not wake for us. She screamed bloody murder every time we tried so she had to have a sleeping photo. 

All in all, the trip wasn't a complete success but at least I have my Christmas 2014 photos!