Our First Christmas As A Family
- papertrailuk
- Jan 4, 2018
- 4 min read
Now that the chaos has calmed and normality begins to return I have the time to write up our first Christmas... and it was simply wonderful.
Christmas to me, before Callum, was all about the Christmas Eve drinks with friends in the pub and spoiling my nephews., but when we found out I was pregnant I had to retire both of these things. The boy's Christmas sacks were sent to Father Christmas to fill and instead we bought a very special replacement, a sack for our precious boy and I absolutely love it.
Christmas for us was about to get a lot more exciting, and this is how we celebrated it.
When it comes to tradition we decided that even though Callum is still very young and far from understands the magic of Christmas we would start setting our family traditions now and it all began on Christmas Eve.
Instead of a special Christmas Eve box that are all the rage, we are breaking the trend and gave Callum his Chistmas sack instead, filled with everything he needs to start the festivities. At the end of the day when he is older he will then hang it in his room for Santa to fill..
Callum's Christmas Eve Survival Pack:
New Christmas pyjamas
A cup for Santa's milk and a plate for his cookie. We also have a special plate for Rudolph's Carrot
Mr Snow to read at bedtime - this is my rather battered copy and I have read it every year on Christmas Eve for as long as I can remember
A key for Santa to get in as we don't have a chimney - when Callum is older we have decided that we will put it outside by the 'Santa Stop Here' sign maybe with some reindeer food
We didn't do this this year but I plan on filling a mason jar with the dried ingredients to make cookies which we leave out as Santa's snack
I seriously cant wait until I can share all this with an excited little boy on Christmas Eve.. this year was most definitely for us and not for Callum, and the cookies were delicious if I do say so myself.
When it came to Christmas presents we decided to be sensible and set a budget. We also decided to do the rule of four and buy him; something he wants, something he needs, something to wear and something to read. We did this each so that on Christmas morning Damion could open what I bought him and I could open what Damion bought and it worked really well. This is what we got:
My Presents:
Something he wants - a Liverpool FC vest for watching the game with Daddy
Something he needs
- a cushion to encourage tummy time which he hates
Something to wear
- a nice warm hat just like daddy's
Something to read
- Guess how much I love you
Damion's Presents:
Something he wants
- a bubble machine, who doesn't love bubbles!
Something he needs
- some colourful bowls, spoons and bibs
Something to wear
- a nice fleecy cardigan to keep him warm
Something to read
- the jungle book (this was my favourite as he picked it because I sang the jungle book to Callum all the time when he was tiny)
Christmas morning was lovely and dare I say even a bit relaxing filled with cuddles, kisses, smiles and of course the opening of presents. We even had time to have breakfast and get showered and dressed so I actually looked respectable and not the usual mummy mess you find most days, especially those when we don't leave the house lol.
And then the chaos began...
First stop was to drop off the dog and the gifts for later and then we did the rounds, trying to see most of Damion's family (he has 6 brothers and at last count I think 18 nieces and nephews so there is a lot of them to fit in). Then we went to my mum and dads for even more nephews and the Christmas feast. I'm making the most of someone else making it before I have to haha.
Whilst we devoured a traditional Christmas roast, Callum quite happily played on the floor (he still loves to lie down flat) and then even sampled some turkey and vegetables himself which he seemed to enjoy. I did attempt to give him a sprout but he wasn't impressed, clearly takes after his dad.
To sum it up the whole day was amazing from start to finish and I wish we could do it all over again.
After the big day we enjoyed many lazy days - one where we didn't even get changed out of our pyjamas which was absolute bliss, throw in a few dog walks and a shopping trip and the week was over in a blur. I did however keep my exercise up with a sweaty zumba class and a hard pt session (my legs ached for days afterwards) to work off those extra festive calories consumed - my guess being around 8000 in two days eeekk. Then for New Years Eve we kept it quiet with a Chinese takeaway (more calories I know but I couldn't use the 'it's Christmas' excuse for much longer) and a film with a few G&Ts to bring in 2018. Turns out it was a New Year I actually enjoyed for once so it could be a format for success.
Now sadly, normality has resumed with Damion returning to work, but I am still struggling to get up in the mornings.. just one more lie in please!!
Happy New Year Everyone.. we hope it's a good one for you all!!
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