Tweet

a guest post from Liz at Cambridge Mummy.

Why do I love Christmas?

1. Because it brings home to me, on what it means to be a Mummy. Being a Mummy at Christmas is a big thing to me, because there was a point where I really didn't think I'd ever be a Mummy, or even find someone who I want to become a parent with. So now that I've been blessed with becoming a Mummy, Christmas is a very special thing for me.

I love Christmas because I get to see the magic, joy and thrill of the build up to the day itself. I get carried away, to an extent, through my children. I get to go to nativity plays - to feel my heart swell with pride whenever one of our boys so much as looks as me - to see their happiness at me being there to see their one line or one phrase in the play. This year, they are both christmas trees. We've got to judiciously use a glue gun in the morning, or rather, Lovely Bloke, needs to, to transform green sweatshirts into christmas trees. And they've got brown trousers to complete the look. I know that it won't mean much to other people, but to me, it's a special thing, to be part of their lives, shaping their experiences and helping them grow to be even more cool, caring and lovely young men.

2. Because it's a time for family. I also love Christmas because it's a time when I get to see the love my parents and wider family have for each other. I get to snooze on the sofa in the afternoons whilst my mum and dad play games with the boys. I get to see my husband's face when he gets socks and pants from the people who he begs every year, to not buy them for him. And family, by the way, is not just people that we're related to by blood - for us, family is also the very special friends who make life better, in every way….

3. Because it reminds me of some of my best memories of my childhood. And finally, I also love Christmas because it brings back some very strong memories for me of my own childhood. I remember wanting to be up early every morning that the tree was up, because I'd be able to get dressed and put my school uniform on in the glow of the lights. I did that for years, even as a teenager! And now, I still love to sit in the dark, with just the glow of the lights….

Why do you love Christmas?

Image courtesy of -Marcus & Feelart- at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Tweet

Nothing.

No maids a milking.

No rhymes, no posts, just a tired mummy after a bit of a sleepless night.

So on our eighth day of Christmas we bring you the wish of a Silent Night .....

Image courtesy of Simon Howden at FreeDigitalPhotos.net

Tweet

a post by the lovely Becky (still rhyming)

Becky blogs at family budgeting about living creatively on a family budget and we are delighted to share her guest post today.

I want to share with you a little secret I learned and Christmas. I think it’s a secret that needs to come out!

Basically we need to spend less and chill out a bit more.

If we close our eyes an think back the Christmas memories that warm us are not ones that involve expensive gifts or huge amounts of effort sustained by our parents every day throughout  December. So really listen up…now you are a parent you don’t need to spend too much money or wear yourself out with effort.  I’m going to tell you why.

My best ever Christmas gift was my tiny tears doll. She was the only gift I got that year from Santa and I loved her with every bit of me. I still have her. One present really can be enough.

My next best gifts?  The following year mums friend Mary knitted tiny tears clothes and then there was the momentous year Tricia (my older sister who I always thought hated me) made me a dolls house from a cardboard box. (I had far more expensive gifts but have no real recollection….these are the ones that mattered to me.)

In terms of Christmas time it’s not expensive pantomimes or trips to see Santa I I recall my best memories were of going to the crib service, always getting a selection box, and delivering our toys to Dr. Barnardos. Dad use to insist we gave away three toys each to  children who might need them before Santa came to see us and we loved this ‘special job’ He had done this as a child and my children now choose 3 good toys to give away too just before Christmas.

I recall Boxing Days at granddads writing treasure hunt poems for the snowman to deliver after lunch. We did this every single year. My little family do this now too.  I adored putting up decorations with my mum and her telling me stories about my grandma and now I do just the same with my children. Precious times. But these weren’t frenzied must cram them in, photograph them , blog them, share them traditions they were gentle and well spaced and lovely and in between was lots of time to relax and play and be.  Christmas was a holiday.

We would have a nice lunch but it wasn’t complicated and extravagant. Our crackers were always rubbish but we giggled and they banged!

I like to go and see the kids carols at school and I love it when carol singers visit. My memories aren’t about big events, plush advent calendars and expensive gifts. But I do recall playing with wrapping paper under a big table and helping mum stir the pud. We’d watch special films together on the TV like the wizard of Oz. and eat too much chocolate. We relaxed, playing monopoly for hours.

I had magic Christmas's and my parents didn’t overspend or try too hard to make them magic. So they weren’t stressed or frazzled. They were fun and happy and relaxed.

Our little artificial tree had the same baubles every year and it was perfect. We never did get to Lapland and the Santa we saw was always on at the community centre not the posh garden centre. That was fine too.

Don’t strive for perfect, get uptight, stressed or in debt. Kick back a bit, enjoy your family and friends. Little treats and traditions mixed with twinkly lights, special telly and cheery songs we all know are magic enough. And for those that believe in it the Christmas story , all on it’s own, is just the greatest gift.

If you keep your Christmas simple on every level  it will be RICH  in pleasure and it will indeed be memory making. 

Tweet

........ my beautiful first baby! Not mine but the very lovely Jayne's from Mums the Word. Here is today's lovely guest post about Christmas.

Back in 2007, my life was very different to how it is now. I’d been married for just over a year and I was working full time in an Accountants office, doing book-keeping and accounts. We lived in a flat which was small but plenty for Husband and I and our day-to-day lives were average for a married couple in their early 20’s. We enjoyed spending time with friends and were still firmly in the Honeymoon period of our relationship.

Sometime in November, I started having sporadic periods of sickness and horrible waves of nausea. A guy I worked with was a pipe smoker and I had to ask to be moved away from him in the office because just the smell of his very strong pipe tobacco would have me rushing to the loo to throw up and I could barely keep anything down. One lady I worked with kept joking that I must be pregnant, but I was adamant that I wasn’t as I’d been told it would be very hard for me to conceive with the various health issues I’d suffered in the past.

By December, the sickness was worse and I thought I must have developed a stomach ulcer. I went with my colleagues to my works Christmas do and was unable to eat anything that was put in front of me. I had to power on though as I had a job to do, as well having offered to host my Mum’s side of the family at our house for Christmas Day.

By the night before Christmas Eve, however, I was so ill that I was bringing up blood and Husband over-ruled my stubbornness, insisting on taking me to A&E. A few hours and some tests later, in the early hours of Christmas Eve, Husband and I were waiting for the inevitable “you need a camera down your throat” conversation because of my ‘stomach ulcer’ when my doctor peeped his head around the curtain. He looked nervous.

“Err” he started, oh-so eloquently “Mrs. Crammond…did you know that you’re pregnant?!”

You know that expression “You could knock me down with a feather”? Well, in that split second when I glanced at my Husband I understood exactly what that meant.

Finding out I was pregnant the day before Christmas was the best gift I’ve ever received. I still hosted my relatives for dinner, although cooking with hyperemesis wasn’t the easiest thing I’ve ever done! Sausage was born the next August and our lives haven’t been the same since. I never thought I’d get to be a Mum, so to me she’s our little Christmas miracle.

Skip forward six years and I’m currently pregnant with our second child. That means another Christmas of staying away from the pudding (I’m diabetic) and definitely avoiding the port and lemon, but knowing that just after Christmas I’ll get to hold another little miracle makes it all worth it.

Well, I say that now, but I might not be so amiable when everyone else is enjoying the pate and Baileys on the 25^th! That’s okay, I might make them all do a second Christmas, just for me, in March!