You know when my boy was little, like parents everywhere I used to get so giddy on Christmas Eve, and those few days over the Christmas period were precious. There’s nothing quite as magical as a little person who believes so completely in Santa Claus. I’m not saying I don’t enjoy Christmas now, of course I do but it’s different. Our family is small, just me and my son, and my mum…to be honest, apart from entertaining the Queen in our living room, Christmas day is just like a normal Sunday with a bit of tinsel thrown in for good measure.

I miss the build-up, you know? Writing letters to Santa, that really fizzy feeling on Christmas Eve…the little traditions we’d created as a family, like always saving sparklers from bonfire night so we could light up the sky to show Santa where we lived, and going to bed in new pyjamas on Christmas Eve. So many special memories. My all time favourite Christmas memory is from the year that my boy really got the Santa Claus thing for the first time, I think it was probably the Christmas before his third birthday and he was so excited.

Having bought and decorated the tree, I was doing that thing where you have a slight re-ordering of the baubles after the kids have gone to bed, since most of them were at three-year-old height and it was a bit sparse at the top. It seemed a bit wobbly, so I went out into the garden to find a really big rock to prop against the base, you know just to steady it a bit. It looked odd, so I wrapped it in Christmas paper…perfect. Except the next morning I found my boy, surrounded by torn bits of Christmas paper with big fat tears rolling down his cheeks, looking at the rock…but Mummy, I asked Santa for a train set…

So these days, it’s mainly about the Christmas dinner, and laughing a lot. My skinny strategy this time has been all about saving points so I could take my foot off a bit, just for today. I did a massive food shop yesterday even though I’m feeding just three of us but the one item conspicuous by it’s absence this year was the Christmas pudding…I didn’t buy one. And because I didn’t, there was no Baileys fresh cream or rum sauce either. I’m the only one who really likes it, and therefore the one who eats it…all of it. You don’t want any..? Oh ok, well it won’t go to waste…and it never did. It went to waist instead…mine!

Chocolates…again, I didn’t buy any of the ones that I usually stuff my face with, like after eight mints, matchmakers, black magic…there are chocolates but nothing that I would cross the road for you know?

I’d like to say that I exercised same restraint with the rest of Christmas lunch…hell no did I chuff! Give me a break, I’m not made of wood…those points I’ve saved up were royally spent on goose-fat laden roasties, pigs in blankets, bread sauce and stuffing. Hallelujah it was glorious. I shall be in a food coma until the middle of next week.

And I survived! I made it work for me, and I don’t feel like I missed out 🙂

I hope wherever you are and whatever Christmas has brought for you, that you’ve made some awesome memories with your special people. Both of mine are snoozing on the sofa right now and I’m just about to go walk off some of those pigs in blankets with the enthusiastic assistance of my furry friend here…lots of love to all of you, and I’ll see you on the other side 🙂

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