Me and Mine December // Me and Mine 2017

Today is not only the last day of the month, but the last day of the year too.  I feel like December crept up on us out of nowhere and I am left wondering quite how we got here.  2016 has been both a great and terrible year.  Whilst in the wider world we saw many deaths, Brexit and Trump, in my smaller world we saw first, third and fifth birthdays, we welcomed a new baby girl, we celebrated as Finn learned to walk, run and climb, Archie started preschool and Dylan went into year one.  

This year has been busy, it has been chaotic at times, messy, disorganised but always wonderful.  We have all grown and learned alongside each other, we have developed new relationships, expanded existing ones and my little family is bigger and better than ever.

December has been a mixture of festivities and outdoor adventures as we have made the most of the milder winter weather.  Christmas was celebrated many times over with different parts of our families and we will be seeing the new year in surrounded by our friends.  

As I mentioned, the end of this month has crept up all too quickly so this post is both an end of the month and end of the year round up.  

This Month Mummy is loving buying Christmas presents, the look on the children's faces on Christmas morning, watching the sunset at the beach and starting running again

Daddy is loving Cora being more interactive, time off over Christmas, buying a new computer and getting back to the gym

Dylan is loving Christmas crafts, Christmas tree chocolates at Grandma's house, his new 'colour with mum' book and doing treasure hunts around the house

Archie is loving snuggling up in his dressing gown, his new haircut, his Hulk Smash hands and having his big brother around more.

Finn is loving being allowed chocolate now (the real stuff), dancing to everything and anything, pushing his new dolly and pushchair around and watching Blaze

Cora is loving her first tastes of food, bouncing in the jumperoo, sitting up to play and blowing raspberries on the back of her hand.

I have put all of our me and mine photos from the year together too - I love seeing how we have all changed and grown as my bump became a baby, as Finn found his feet, Archie lost his hair and Dylan learned to write.  

 I can't wait to see what 2017 has in store for us.  There is so much I want to do, so many places I would love to go, so many books I want to read and things I want to learn.  2017 will be the year Cora turns one, Finn starts to communicate more, Archie will start school and at the end of the next year we will be applying for Dylan's Junior school place!

Goodbye 2016, you have been wonderful.

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Our Christmas

There are people with their Pinterest perfect Christmasses - all colour schemes, co-ordinated place settings and beautifully wrapped gifts under the tree.  And then there is me, writing this sat next to a Christmas tree covered in a mismatch of baubles and after Finn has pulled the beads off for the hundreth time they have literally been thrown back at the tree.  The presents were in all sorts of paper, using up what we had last year (and the year before) and all four children had their own paper so that I didn't have to write labels for each gift.

Our Christmas is beautiful though, the excited faces, the wonder in their eyes, the beauty of generosity, the love of family and friends and the table stacked full of delicious food.  No matter how much or little is under our tree, my children have all they could ever need - Love, support, strength, people who love them, food, drink and a home.  They aren't yet at the age where the value of gifts matter, a colouring book can be as great as electrical toy, chocolate coins are the ultimate stocking filler and their wish list is short.  

Every year we spend Christmas morning at home, enjoying time as our little(ish) family of six, we open gifts, we eat breakfast, we pack our favourite toys and we head over to my Mum and Dad's for the day.  They cook lunch and dinner and we stay the night.  We put the boys down in the evening and stay up late playing cards and eating cheese boards.  On Boxing Day we see the Bloke's family for more food, family, gifts and fun and then we usually head back to my parent's house for a quiet evening together.  Family is the focus of our Christmas and we are lucky to have two great ones.

One of the best presents is that my Mum and Dad take the children in the morning when they wake and let us have a leisurely lie in - these things are worth more than money can buy!

This year was magical, it was Cora's first Christmas and she got her first tastes of food.  In typical baby style she was more interested in the wrapping paper than what was in it.  Finn got to have his first go at opening presents and he wasn't content to stick to only his own.  Archie was more aware of everything that was going on and insists that his best bit of Christmas is 'everything', and Dylan totally gets it all, he loved everything he recieved, he was excited and thankful.

I didn't take many photos this year, I was too busy enjoying the moments, but these are the ones I did take, little moments from our Christmas.

Dylan's favourite gift this year

Fourth baby life

We Facetimed my sister who is in France

 
I am sad it is all over and we have so many new toys to find homes for.  We also have a kitchen side stacked full of tins of posh biscuits though, so it isn't all bad!

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That Festive Feeling

Christmas is coming - the Coca Cola adverts on TV tell us that, the Christmas music in every shop I walk into, the twinkly lights, the trees and the multitude of letters from school informing me of Christmas fairs/plays/shows/parties tell me that.  The bigger boys are excited, they sing the Christmas pudding song as they walk around the house, they draw pictures of Santa and his elves and they write list after list.  Finn and Cora are still blissfully unaware but I am sure it won't be long until Finn starts to pick up on the excitement.

One of my favouite parts of Christmas is the build up and whilst it can be argued that it goes on a bit too long now (I refuse to start before December 1st), the anticipation is magical.  All the activities add energy to what would otherwise be a pretty miserable month of earlier nights and colder days.  Christmas spirit seems to infect everyone, we group together, we think of others, we plan ways to make other people smile.  

As I type this, I am baking a pudding ready for 'Christmas 1' with the Pogues classic number playing in the background.  My little sister is heading off to France for 5 months over the winter so we are having a full Christmas celebration before she goes.  Roast turkey, pigs in blankets, Christmas crackers, silly jokes, party hats, the lot.  I can do nothing but accept it is already Christmas as early as December 4th.

Our house hasn't had the full treatment yet, I am reluctant to provide Finn with something else to climb on and I dread to think how long our tree will look pretty for before three small boys mess it all up.  We don't send or receive many cards and the tinsel is still packed away.  We are organised on one front though, our stockings are hanging over the fireplace ready for the big man in red to come and visit.  The children were each sent a personalised Christmas stocking from Arty Apple and they were so excited to open them up and get them ready for Christmas eve (the real one on the 24th, not Christmas 1 eve).  

Whilst Dylan and Archie are spoiled for choice when it comes to personalised items, I think Finn and Cora are going to find it much harder and it is lovely to have something like this that we can bring out every year.  At the moment this is as far as our decorating has got, but I know after our Christmas 1 I am going to be feeling more festive and ready to bring out the rest of our decorations.

Whilst the rest of the world is enjoying a normal Sunday and getting ready for Christmas, we will be celebrating it early, enjoying the desserts that are *definitely* going to turn out as good as the pictures online and enjoying an important family day whilst we are all around.

If you want to grab a personalised stocking, sack or bib ready for the big day then you still have plenty of time to get an order in! Check out the Arty Apple website

Thanks to Arty Apple for the stockings - we love them! So soft and well made and perfect for four small children hoping for some gifts on Christmas morning.

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A Little Christmas Message

This year is Finn's first Christmas and whilst that is incredibly special, Christmas with a 4 and 2 year old is even more exciting.  Finn will be clueless as to why we are all so jolly, where his stocking appeared from and what is really going on.  Dylan gets it completely now though, he knows the story of baby Jesus, he knows that Father Christmas lives in the North Pole and delivers presents to boys and girls, he knows Christmas is about friendship and giving and family as well as gifts and his excitement is contagious.

Those two big little boys of mine have been patiently counting down with their advent calenders, discussing what they hope Santa will bring, planning what they will eat and dreaming of the man in red and his reindeer.  This year they both 'get it', although at 2, I know it is only going to get more exciting for Archie.

Finn's first Christmas is so special, he will be dressed up, spoiled by family and eat at the table with his paper hat on alongside us (if he hasn't eaten it already), but it is his big brothers that will really make it what it is.

Our Christmas is all about family, and we are fitting in as much of that over the two days as we can.  My uncle is celebrating his 70th birthday on Christmas Day so there is even more to celebrate this year.  We will give modestly, love generously and eat greedily.  

To everyone who reads my online ramblings, who follows our story or who knows us in person, I wish you the merriest Christmas.  I hope your day is special whatever you choose to do, whoever you decide to spend it with.  

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