Thursday 29 December 2011

So that was Christmas....


Months of shopping, weeks of preparations, days of stress...


And now it's all over!

Don't get me wrong, now I have children I love Christmas, the sheer joy on their faces as they get to grips with each and every exciting part of the day makes everything worthwhile. But each year the build up gets bigger and this year having moved house just a few weeks before meant that there was even more to do than usual!

I can't hide the fact that as I sat down tonight to eat my frittata made from the very last of the Christmas veg, in my living room that is finally clear of wrapping paper, after spending the day finding space for piles of clothes and toys (you would think we had ten children not two!) I let out a rather large sigh of relief!

We had a lovely family Christmas, dinner was at home with just the four of us, but the rest of the day was spent visiting hubby's family while the little ones opened present after present! Ben was rather giddy from the start 'helping' everyone else open their presents (whether they asked him to or not!!) but Elizabeth started off quite confused by the whole thing and gradually got into the spirit joining her big brother in ripping paper from every parcel in sight!


Although they were both spoilt rotten (and I wished people hadn't gone quite so crazy with all the presents) it was lovely to watch the happiness on their little faces and also the joy that they were bringing to to the family members giving the presents, some of who we really don't get to see enough.

My husband is so lucky to still have both sets of grandparents, watching them play so agelessly with my children made me serenely happy and heartrenchingly sad at the same time. Christmas is a time that makes us think of those who are not here with us more than ever. What I would give for my grandparents to have met my little ones and to have sat with them on Christmas day unwrapping presents, singing pattacake or playing trains. But Christmas is a happy time so instead I turn my thoughts to the many Christmas Days I spent 'helping' my Nanna serve up dinner, or putting on a panto for the family with my cousin and the cat! I look forward to my little ones entertaining us like that in years to come!

After a few days of overeating, falling over toys and watching cheesy movies, I actually enjoyed doing a bit of proper housework today. It felt quite good to get back into a routine with hubby back in work and I rather enjoyed having the little ones to myself again, they had so much attention from relatives this last week I feel like I've barely seen them!

So it's almost back to normal, in a few days the decorations will be down and that will be that for another year!

1 comment:

  1. I totally understand what you mean, I breathed a small sign of relief too....and our decorations are already down!

    Happy new Year!

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