Michelle Tant

In a few days I will be thinking about what to pin down as my new years resolutions. Never mind that every year they invariably fall by the wayside mid February (cough... January) but I like to remain optimistic and make them anyway. Starts the year off with an excellent sense of purpose I always feel. However today, we are in the middle of what is known to some as Crimbo Limbo. That awkward space between Christmas and New Year. No one really knows what to do with themselves, the kids are going nuts because nowhere is open for us crazed parents to take them and I can't (read 'wouldn't inflict on myself willingly) take the children shopping with me to bag me some bargains in the sales. So now seems as good a time as any to reflect on the past year. There's been some highs and lows as with any year. A big high goes to giving birth to my beautiful baby daughter on 1st June. Unexpectedly at home and what an amazing experience. And what a delightful child, so sunny ...

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I was worried about Wednesday. My husband was still working from 9am and then leading the carol service in the evening so wouldn't be home until late. All the friends I would normally meet up with were busy sorting out Christmas stuff. So *gasp* we would need to entertain ourselves. All day. Not really that bad, but I did have chores to do in the morning, but turns out the kids wanted to watch Wallace & Grommit so happily lay out in the sofa in the morning and I got loads done. To say I was surprised is an understatement. Those of you with kids will know how hard it can be to get the jobs done with children hanging round your ankles. At lunchtime I realised I hadn't bought any 'lunch' food as we won't be in much this season. So we went to the local shopping centres cafe. All three behaved so beautifully! They picked out what they wanted and sat down and we talked about whether we wanted it to snow again (yes because Jayden didn't get to make a snowman...

I have one last present to get. Though in fact I did already buy it on Amazon, I got an email saying they (amazon) hadn't heard from the seller about despatch. So I emailed the seller asking for a delivery update, no answer. Then another email a week ago, then one yesterday telling them not to bother. *sigh* Annoying particularly because this person is hard to buy for at the best of times, and now I'm just going to have to pick up a gift card which to my mind lacks imagination but I suppose means they can at least buy what they really want. I feel like I have loads to do before Christmas still though, and not all of of it particularly Christmas related either. Tidying and cleaning the house so I don't need to do it over the Christmas period much. Buy tea for evening tea at the in-laws. Buy meat for our Christmas Eve meal... I don't eat much meat so goodness know why this task falls to me each year. Wrap the last of the presents. Bag them up into 'who goes w...

I saw a question in Twitterland somewhere today - "What are you most looking forward to this Christmas?" and I immediately thought of one thing... then another... then another. Then I started to think that I must surely have a highlight but actually, with a family the size of the one I'm in, that's a very difficult 'one thing' to pin down. So here is a 'super positive happy Christmas bloggetty blog' of all my favourite (in no particular order) things about Christmas... Sound of Music style! * Making mutant mince pies with my children on Christmas Eve. I say mutant because baking mince pies is my baking nemesis. They always (and I'm not being dramatic) end up sticky, overflowing, misshapen messes. The kids love them and I tell people that the kids made them so I get away with it. * Decorating the tree at my Mums house with my 3 siblings and now my own family. This helps ground me again as a daughter, though now I squabble with my 5 year old...

This evening we put up our Christmas decorations. My husband put the lights up in the window while I put the lights on the tree and the kids bounced around the room clutching handfuls of hanging decorations waiting for me to finish so they can weigh the branches down with them. We then turn the room lights off and Oooh and aaah over the twinkling lights in the dark. We then eat together and my children go to bed excitedly knowing that their Christmas boxes will have a treat waiting inside for them in the morning when they wake up. The Christmas boxes started 3 years ago when my eldest son was 2. Rather than a shop bought advent calendar, they each have a small cardboard box which they each decorated with Christmas stickers and sparkly bits n pieces. Then each morning, a small 'treat' miraculously appears in the box alongside a small figure to add to the nativity scene. It culminates in baby Jesus 'arriving' on Christmas day. Come Christmas Eve, we, that is, me,...

My 5 year old is almost speechless with excitement about the possibility of snow. Naturally to him, all the snow means to him is making snowmen, snowball fights and a day off school. To say that the UK is ill-equipped to deal with snow is somewhat of an understatement. The country ground to a halt earlier this year when the snow came. The shops ran out of milk and loads of schools closed, including my sons. I'm fortunate in that I can work from home if necessary but my husband can't as he's a driving instructor. It's one thing to expose your pupils to a wide range of driving conditions, but its quite another to expose himself to mortal danger of being driven in dangerous conditions by an exuberant teenager who really wants to jump out of the car and throw snowballs at passing cars (apologies for the sweeping judgements in evidence here...). So tonight I am waiting with baited breath to see if there's an email from school entitled 'snow day' because ...

Today was probably the worst shopping experience I have ever had with my children in tow. I do tend to avoid it as it really is no fun for them, whether its food supermarket shopping or town shopping. As a child I hated it... following my mum in and out of shops on a Saturday morning was as far from my idea of fun as possible. So that's why I avoid it but of course sometimes its a necessary evil. I need to have the Christmas shopping done by the 1st December due to changing my mortgage provider I'm paying double that date then back to normal from 1st Jan. So December is going to be a bit of a squeeze. Thankfully I've been saving for Christmas but even so, it makes sense to know exactly where we'll be. I digress... So this morning I decided to take 6 month old baby Daisy and Reuben my 3 year old with me into town. I had my list. I knew what to get. I knew where to go. I had an 'in/out' extraction planned with military precision. I had snacks and drinks, hea...