This christmas has passed in a blur of fairy lights and excitement. It always seems to. Such a big build up and then the days scurry by in a hurry and im left wondering what happened?! Centre parcs are continuing to run their blogger challenge and this month it is christmas and some of the things that we really love about the season. I was really struck when reading some of the advice from Centre parcs Winter wonderland expert, Nick Oot, that having fun and getting out into the open air is really important. The weather has been cold but dry and after all the excitement of present opening and food we got a good few chances to get out and enjoy the fresh air. Always makes coming back to snuggle under a blanket so lovely when you have a little bit of colour in your cheeks!
So my top 12, kind of wanting to play the top of the pops count down theme here…in reverse order..
12. Christmas movies – those old favourites that come out. Elf, Arthur Christmas and one of my favourites “nativity’ The kids sung some songs from that movie in the church christmas performance some years ago and so it always has a little special place in my heart.
11. Christmas Crackers – from the rubbish, corney jokes to the paper hats that split within seconds of making contact with a head. I love that crossed arm thing that people do to pull the crackers and the fact that they nearly always don’t ‘crack’
10. Fairy lights – we have over the years bought strings and strings of fairy lights and they all seem to stop working every year, takes me back to all those youthful christmases when we all had to sit twiddling the lights to see which ones worked or didn’t. Whatever happened to those type of lights?
9. Nativity plays – i have watched a fair few of them, having four kids who have gone through reception and nursery now. But i still love the innocence of the kids playing the parts. Im a traditionalist and like the more traditional rendition. Although one of my favourite nativities involved one of the three wise men getting out their mobile phone to see if the GPS was working!! 🙂
8. Coming off schedule – there is always an element of schedule to our christmas because I have to work and so we have to stick a little bit to it but i love the freedom of no school and no after school activities.
7. Those christmas adverts – you know the type, John Lewis have been making a name for themselves with their christmassy adverts. My favourite this year though was a sainsburys one.
6. Christmas dinner – my favourite dinner, i love roast dinners and all the trimmings that go with christmas dinners are so yummy. We even had it as our wedding breakfast!
5. Michael Buble – is it christmas without his crooning tones? I dont think so!
4. Santa and his little helpers – this year we did ‘elf on the shelf’ which the kids loved, finding him every morning became a great game for them. They loved the magic in it, we even played along on christmas eve night with footprints in the snow!!
3. Presents!! How can you have a list about christmas without mentioning presents!? I have to say my favourite part of it is all in the giving. I love giving beautiful presents. I like presentation so i tend to try and present them well as well! Maybe thats just me but im a sucker for a cute gift bag!
2. Caroles in the cathedral – this is something we do every year and as we dont go to the cathedral at any other time throughout the year it is lovely to be reminded of the just how incredible the building is..and we usually come across some friends there to! Its a lovely way to finish of christmas eve.
1. Family time – got to be the best thing about christmas time? Hanging out with family and friends who we value in our lives. 🙂
‘This is my entry to the Center Parcs and Tots 100 December challenge. If I’m chosen, I would like to visit Whinfell Forest, Cumbria’ .