Blog : Little Lilypad Co

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The Little Lilypad is a lifestyle blog mostly written by a mum to two beautiful, cheeky and entertaining daughters. It is sometimes written by the Man on the Pad or by one of our baby bloggers. Occasionally we accept guest posts too. There is frequently talk of sustainable living, saving money, lifestyle and travel. It is hopefully helpful, sometimes funny and always honest.
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  1. On the twelfth day of Christmas .....

    Posted on

    my true love gave to me ...... the hope for another year of believing.

    We hear a lot about the magic of Christmas but I didn't really appreciate the magic until I saw the total belief and excitment for the anticipation of Father Christmas. It sounds like a terrible cliche about the wonder in a child's eyes but the toddler is suddenly very aware of Christmas this year and every day asks if it is Christmas yet. She doesn't understand that she will get a ridiculous amount of presents, she just loves the twinkling lights of the tree, the Christmas carols and the excitement that her big sister encourages as they open their advent calendars every morning.

    The tween is 9 years old. This is apparently way past the age when children no longer believe in Father Christmas.

    Christmas

    I read a study recently that said parents across the UK are pulling the plug on the high-tech age in an attempt to keep things traditional when it comes to giving their children the type of Christmas that that they remember.

    Customs such as writing letters to children from Santa and singing carols are on the up along with getting the whole family cooking together, a new survey from the Enid Blyton Estate reveals. In fact, despite the evidence that children are getting wiser to the fact that Santa may not exist, earlier on in their childhood, this is not affecting the light and hope that Christmas brings. (which is something at least)

    The study – commissioned to mark the launch of Enid Blyton’s Christmas Stories, The Famous Five Annual and The Magic Faraway Tree 75thAnniversary Edition (I loved the Faraway Tree as a child) – found that children, on average, stopped believing in Father Christmas two years earlier than their parents did. The average age for children to stop believing is now six years old, whilst for their parents,  it was eight years old.

    However, almost half of the children surveyed in the UK aged 7-11,  still believe in Father Christmas thanks to the fact that 90% of adults are going to great lengths to keep children believing in the magic of Christmas.

    I don't remember when I stopped believing in Father Christmas.

    I don't want my girls to ever stop believing in the magic.

    I know that they "have" to.

    I know they will be ridiculed in Senior school if they are still believing at 13.

    But for now, I would like to keep disappointment at bay and want another year of believing. 

    Can I ask Father Christmas for that please??

  2. On the eighth day of Christmas ....

    Posted on

    my true love gave to me, a post from the gorgeous Kelly. (I love how that rhymes).

    I think that the gift which gives more than anything else at Christmas time is the song that starts Christmas for you. You never know quite when you are going to hear it these days since some stores and coffee shops start piping in the Festive Tunes at the beginning of the Academic Year but the Christmas Song is a key ingredient in feeling Christmas Spirit. 

    What I love is that everyone has a different song, and a different memory attached to it. 
     
    I was once delayed on a journey home to see my parents at Christmas. There had been heavy snow and the flight form Manchester to Heathrow had been delayed causing me to miss my connecting flight back to Cairo. Leaving me a stranded 15 year old. Ordinarily the airline would just put you u except I was one of hundreds of people in the same situation and the airline couldn't very well leave a minor and her younger brother at the airport overnight. 
     
    I vaguely knew I had a relative nearby and was able to provide enough information that the airline got in touch with her and after a few hours we were in a cab on the way to her home. On the way there the driver- who clearly found the whole thing the most exciting thing he'd ever been a part of- and kept repeating to me "It's like that song- Driving Home for Christmas". Then he'd hum a few bars of the tune, assuming I'd fathom what on earth he was on about. Fortunately for us all, the Chris Rea track came on the radio shortly afterward. And that was it. I got it. I got what he was trying to tell me and I gained my Christmas song.
     
     
    And 48 hours later when I finally made it to my parents in Cairo, I understood the meaning of Chris Rea's words. 
     
    Every time I hear the song I thank the anonymous man who gave me the Christmas Spirit that year when I was a petulant teen.

    Kelly Innes
    Mother, Blogger, Girl Friday
    Multi Award- Nominated blogger, writing at: Domestic Goddesque, The Motherhood, BritMums
     

  3. On the seventh day of Christmas ....

    Posted on

    my true gave to me, a lovely post from Cass Bailey.
     
    If you asked me to give you one word that sums up Christmas, I would say without any hesitation that it's the word FAMILY (although my children would probably disagree and say presents).  Christmas is about family to most people I think but to me, even more so.
     
    This isn't going to be one of those sad, please feel sorry for me posts but ten years ago now, I was just putting up the tree ready for the first Christmas without my big brother and nine years ago at this time, I was heading towards the first Christmas without my Mam so Christmases haven't always been as happy as they could have been for us as a family.
     
    Those two Christmases passed in a bit of a blur and actually, having two children under the age of three made it very difficult to feel sorry for myself in any way or to take more than a few minutes to think about the empty chairs when we sat down for Christmas Dinner. These days Christmas is a much calmer affair with the kids being 9 and 12 so I do have the time to miss my Mam and my brother but I try and turn it into a good thing by remembering the happy times and the other day my 12 year old asked me what our Christmas tree was like when I was her age.  
     
    No matter how hard I tried, I can't remember it or anything about the decorations we had on it although I do remember our yearly family trek to my Nana's house to put up her tree.  It was one of the only times through the year that we all visited at the same time and just thinking about that made me smile remembering the arguments that me and my brother used to have about who got to put the star on the top and who got to wrap the tree in the practically threadbare tinsel that she'd had for years and refused to replace.  
     
    While we decorated the tree my Nana would be pottering about in the kitchen and as soon as we'd finished, she would wheel in her little hostess trolley filled with little crust-less sandwiches and cakes (always fondant fancies by the dozen and Tunnocks teacakes).  She would then bring our a giant trifle that she's made and without fail, she'd remind everyone of the time I'd said she was the best trifler in the whole wide world.
     
    Trifle
     
    Remembering this made me realise why family traditions are important, we did this every year as a family and despite the arguments it is without a doubt my happiest childhood memory including my whole family.
     
    I hope you all make some beautiful family memories this Christmas.
     
     

  4. On the sixth day of Christmas .....

    Posted on

    ..... my true love gave to me, a Christmas memories post from Richmond Mummy.

    When I think back to the Christmasses of my childhood, the memories are always happy ones and always the thing that springs first to mind is of the many, many Christmasses I spent with my Uncle Pat, Aunty Lou and cousins Claire and Steve and Jo.  
     
    We would alternate Christmas year-on-year, one year at my Mum and Dad's, with me and my sister enjoying the fact that we didn't have to postpone playing with our newly opened toys until Boxing Day, the next year at my Uncle and Aunt's, who always had the crisps and Quality Street in ample supply.  Essential Christmas snacking.
     
    Christmas snacks
     
    Wherever we spent Christmas, one thing was a constant, after the Christmas lunch me, my little sister Chrissy and the cousins, would take ourselves upstairs to begin rehearsals for that year's afternoon 'Panto'. And boy did we take it seriously! My most favourite Christmas Panto performance that we put on was a 4-person only cast of The Wizard of Oz, complete with my cousin Steve in the role of the scaredy-cat lion, dressed in my mum's old fox fur coat from the 70s.  It was quite a performance... 

    I'm sure all our parents struggled to keep their guffaws under wraps, I'm not sure we were ever the most polished of actors! It's one of the things I most look forward to seeing in my own girls as they grow up - when they start to put on funny little shows and especially at Christmas, I have a feeling if my own attempts of Christmasses past are anything to go by, I think I might be sniggering behind my festive jumper.

    Hee hee hee Merry Christmas xoxo