Christmas Day

Opening their stockings

Lily is almost always the first one awake in this house and never more so than on Christmas morning. We have a 'not before seven' policy which means they are given short shrift if they show up before seven in the morning. I heard little feet trotting down the corridor several times from half past six (and Lily says they were awake much earlier than that!) as Emma kept coming to check the time on Mark's alarm clock! On the dot of seven, two excited girls and a sleepy little boy who had been woken by aforementioned girls appeared in my room with their stockings. It is hard to be quiet when Father Christmas has filled your stocking whilst you were sleeping! We always have the stocking opening in our room before going downstairs to open the presents from us.

Much excitement (and mess!) ensued downstairs with the present opening and the Podlings were all pleased with their gifts. As usual, I didn't take many photos later in the day, but we had a really nice, relaxed Christmas. Mark's parents came over in the afternoon to spend the day and enjoy Christmas dinner with us and we had a really nice day together. Another wonderful Christmas to add to the store of family memories.

Someone was pleased with his chocolate Santa!

Waiting for Daddy to come downstairs.

One very excited little boy!

When I told him they were all his!

Waiting to start!

Lily is Harry Potter mad and her favourite present was the complete Harry Potter wand collection.

Carnage!

We are not big fans of traditional Christmas cake, so I made a Christmas Victoria sponge instead.

The Night Before Christmas

The Podlings on Christmas eve (Tom opted not to be photographed) 

Christmas Eve is so magical, far more so than Christmas Day. The excitement, the anticipation and the sense of magic in the air as the children go off to bed makes it one of the best days of the year for me. As usual, we went to church for the children's Nativity service and then we went back to Mark's parents house for tea and the Podlings got to play with their cousins Grace and Poppy. Then home and into new pyjamas. I am so in love with the nightdress I chose for Emma this year. She is unicorn-obsessed (she was raised by unicorns apparently), so was over the moon when I found this very special nightdress for her. We laid out a mince pie for Father Christmas and a carrot for the reindeer, read 'The Night Before Christmas' and then sent a group of very excited children off to bed.

Alex had a final reading of 'Lucy and Tom at Christmas' by Shirley Hughes before the day itself. It had been his favourite story book for all of December and I always have to read it as 'Emma and Alex at Christmas'. I love Shirley Hughes' books and it is a testament to her charm that although I had to read that book every day (often more than once) for an entire month, I still love it!

It was many more hours before Mark and I got to bed. Thanks to a nasty stomach bug tearing through the family the week before Christmas, I was behind with my wrapping, so it was a late night for us. It is always worth the effort though when the children wake up on Christmas morning and see all the pretty parcels waiting for them. Magical!

That nightdress though! It has a smocked panel of unicorns and has dainty lace at the frilled collar and cuffs. It is so traditional and pretty.

Ready for Father Christmas. 

Christmas Day

This year we had our second Christmas in our own home. We have always alternated spending Christmas with Mark's parents and my parents, and now that we have four children we don't really fit in my parents' house anymore, especially with the associated paraphernalia of Christmas. This is the second time my parents have come up to spend Christmas at our house and we had a really lovely day. We had a really relaxed approach to the day, not putting any pressure on ourselves in order to ensure that everyone had a pleasant Christmas.

Lily, my early riser, having been told that if she showed up before seven she would have to go back to bed, showed up in my room at 7.02am! Having been up rather late the night before with last minute preparations, it was rather a struggle to open my eyes! The girls came in and opened their stockings and then we went downstairs where the girls sat staring wistfully at their presents piles! Once Nanny and Grandad came through they were allowed to start opening, and they didn't need to be told twice! Tom woke up a little later and Alex later still, so we had a staggered present opening, but everyone seemed very pleased with their gifts and we had four very happy Podlings on Christmas morning.

My Dad was an absolute star with Christmas dinner. He had prepared a lot of the vegetables the day before and when it came to cooking dinner, I was his assistant. It certainly took the pressure off me and we had a delicious traditional turkey dinner with all the trimmings. I couldn't have done it without him and I was very grateful for all his help.

I completely failed to take any photos later in the day, so there is no record of the prettily laid out table, or Emma in her lovely red needlecord smocked dress, or the other Podlings in their Christmas jumpers. I have memories though, and they are wonderful! 

Waiting to start opening their presents!

Emma asked for Sylvanian Families for Christmas. I was so excited! They were one of my favourite toys as a girl and the girls still play with the ones I had. It was a pleasure to get Emma some of her very own and I was surprised to see that the toys are even more charming than they used to be. Something that can not often be said about the toy industry!

Sleepy Alex!

You can just see Alexander's Christmas jumper here...it has snowflakes and red double decker buses on it! It is his favourite jumper now and he wears it as often as he can!

The Night Before Christmas

Taken after church on Christmas Eve

Christmas Eve was lovely. We like to go to Mark's parents' church on Christmas Eve as they always have a lovely nativity service for the children. Any child who wants to can dress up to help to tell the story of that first Christmas so long ago. Lily dressed as a shepherd and Emma as an angel and very sweet they looked too. After church, we went back to Mark's parents' house for tea before heading back home.

It was late by the time we got back, so I needed to get Alex in bed fairly quickly. I put him in his new pyjamas, but there was no chance to get my usual Christmas Eve pyjama photo of all of the Podlings together. Alex and Tom had matching checked pyjamas for Christmas Eve, but Tom declined to be photographed in them! The girls also matched each other in pretty floral pyjamas and were more co-operative in the photo department! After putting Alex to bed with his stocking, the girls sprinkled reindeer food on the lawn before coming inside for hot chocolate and shortbread. We put out a mince pie and some milk for Father Christmas and a carrot and a bowl of water for the reindeer before heading upstairs to bed. I read them 'The Night Before Christmas'  from the copy my sister and I had as a child and said goodnight to three very excited children. They settled down surprisingly quickly, knowing that Father Christmas won't come to fill their stockings until they are asleep.

I love Christmas Eve! There is so much magic in the familiar tradtions, the anticipation of the children and the overwhelming beauty of the story of the birth of a baby boy in a stable two thousand years ago. 

"For unto us a child is born. Unto us a son is given" Isaiah 9:6

Off to bed for sleepy Alex