Counting down to Christmas

I can't believe it's the 1st of December already. Since the children went back to school after half term the time has just flown, and they finish for Christmas at the end of next week. We aren't going away this Christmas apart from a short visit to family before New Year, so we will have two weeks at home before the big day. It will be nice to have some time to relax, and we also have some tasks to take care of like visits to the dentist and the optician. We'll also be making our yearly gingerbread houses and definitely doing some Christmas crafting!

The children were very excited to open their Advent calendars this morning. We don't go overboard at all, they have a simple chocolate one each (and I have a Maltesers one). Last year we bought a train Advent calendar in the sales after Christmas which they are sharing, and it looks as though it's going to be very sweet, we got a little wooden engine today. I'm hoping that it can come out year after year.

The Elves on the Shelf are back of course and their arrival was very highly anticipated. The magic of Christmas is definitely still alive in our house! 

One year when the children were smaller I had a very stressful last couple of weeks of term. My husband was away at all his Christmas parties and we had multiple things on every day - swimming galas, school fair, pantomime, carol service and so on, as well as the regular music lessons, meeting up with friends and other appointments. I really struggled with it, and ever since I've been very mindful about the things that I commit us to at this time of year. Luckily now that the children are older and at the same school there are fewer things to worry about, and we are only doing the things that we want to and will enjoy.

So I'm looking forward to a fairly relaxed festive season with lots of family time!