Having children means that there is absolutely no opportunity for being bah humbug about Christmas! Their enthusiasm for this time of year is infectious, and it seems to start earlier and earlier every year, which makes getting it right all the more important…

So what is on my list?

 

1. Put up Christmas tree and decorations.

This has been done! I managed to hold Ben back until the 3^rd December (which gave my birthday cards at least two weeks on the shelf!)

We had great fun one evening putting the tree up. It needed some reorganisation after Ben had gone to bed – baubles down one side of the tree didn’t quite give the look I was after! It has taken me years to stop Hubby from covering everything in sight with Tinsel, now I have to train the kids. So far this year only the cat has been adorned!

2. Prepare for Christmas nativities

Ben’s performance takes place in the last week of term. We think the play is taking a traditional theme and Ben tells us that he is no longer a sheep, but a ‘visitor’ – is this a promotion? We have to practise all the carols on his sheet and send in his costume. Molly is a ‘snowflake’ in her nursery’s production. I just hope she does not melt and dissolve into tears, like her brother did when he saw us sitting in the front row of his first nativity. All a bit overwhelming!

3. Buy and wrap all Christmas presents

As I mentioned in my last blog, I made a start on this early to take advantage of all the sales and tempting offers in store, but I still don’t seem to be doing that well. I’m currently struggling with what to get for teachers, room leaders etc. It seems a box of chocolates doesn’t quite hit the mark anymore! Then there is trying to decipher from Ben what he really wants from Santa – it seems to change daily. Molly is easy, as anything from The Night Garden will keep her mesmerised, which just leaves the adults in the family… As you can see I’ve still got a way to go.

4. Write Christmas cards

I am in two minds about cards this year. Will a Christmas email suffice? Not sending cards would be better for the environment and my time! I need to make a decision soon as the first flurry of cards has already arrived. Whatever I decide, Ben has already put me to shame; he spent two hours tonight writing cards for all 30 of his classmates!

5. Food Shopping

Even though the Grandparents are cooking this Christmas, I still feel the need to buy Christmas treats. I blame all the TV adverts. To ease the guilt I’m pre-ordering healthy food now, for delivery in the New Year!

6. Prepare for Santa’s arrival

This has to be the best part of Christmas for any parent with young children. Plans are to make a ‘Santa Stop here’ sign, leave out some home made biscuits, along with carrots and brandy, and lay them all out on the landing with stockings before bedtime. Magical… 

The countdown to Christmas Eve begins!

Molly and Ben in front of the Christmas tree:

Molly and her Santa hat:

When I was considering what to write about for this week’s blog, I thought about all of the things we have been doing as a family over the last few weeks. With Christmas just around the corner, November has been an understandably busy month for all of us, but this year we have been making a conscious effort to spend less money. So with this in mind I thought I could share a few tips…

Last week my sister and my nephew came to stay for a couple of days. After attending a free baby and toddler event at the local library we went off for lunch. A great chance for the two of us to catch up and for the cousins to amuse themselves in a new environment! We decided to go to a local Tapas restaurant with a 50% off voucher I had cut out of the paper. In an effort to persuade people to eat out lots of restaurants seem to be doing this at the moment, particularly if you can go in the week. Tapas food is great for children as you can order lots of small dishes, giving little ones a chance to try food that they may not have had before.

There are a couple of websites I use to keep me up to date with the latest voucher offers. These two are worth checking out: www.moneysavingexpert.com and www.MyVoucherCodes.co.uk

With Christmas shopping in full swing it’s also worth using the above sites to see if any shops are running discount offers. I found a 30% off voucher for a clothes shop, perfect for new winter gear for the kids. I am also taking advantage of all the 3-for-2 offers on toys that are running at the moment. These are great to put away in a bottom drawer for last minute birthday parties.

On Sunday a few weeks ago we went to the V&A Museum of Childhood, in Bethnal Green.  www.vam.ac.uk/moc/collections/index.html Museums are great at this time of year as they are warm and are often free! Ben is doing a school project on toys through the ages, so this was perfect for him, not to mention providing a trip down memory lane for me!  They had free craft sessions in the afternoon, and an indoor sandpit and play area kept Ben and Molly well entertained for a good few hours – as you can see from the pictures. If you take a packed lunch with you, and avoid the museum shop, museums can  work out to be a really cheap day out!

Last weekend a few of our friends and their children came down to help me celebrate my birthday. We’d planned a trip to London Zoo, again armed with 2-for-1 vouchers (look out for them on cereal packets, on promotion in supermarkets or online at www.daysoutguide.co.uk).

And if you’re planning a family trip by train it’s always worth asking at the ticket office to see if any discounts are available. You’ll often find it’s cheaper than buying the tickets through the machines.

I hope you find this useful. I’m still working on avoiding ‘pester power’ when out I’m out and about with Ben – if I could do this I would save lots more money!

Ben and Molly on the tube:

Ben with his hand-made plane: 

Molly and me getting crafty: 

With our friends at Marylebone Station about to head home after a day at the zoo: 

We had quite a full day yesterday all worked around our children’s social lives! It started with Benjamin’s normal Saturday morning of two hours of football – this time an actual match against a local team of year twos. Ben had been practising his sliding tackles earlier in the week, so he came home covered in mud! Change of clothes no1!

Next we were off to a pirate party – a two-year-olds party where fancy dress was needed. Ben had a Pirate of the Caribbean costume and Molly’s outfit was pieced together from various items, and moustaches drawn on the two of them with my eyeliner pencil completed the look!

Two hours later we were back at home for change of clothes no3! We were all off to a Halloween party. This time we had Vampire Ben, Witch’s cat Molly, Werewolf Dad and Wicked Witch Mum! We all had a great time in a very spooky house eating pumpkin soup and blood-red pasta!

Both kids fell asleep in the car on the way back arriving home for change of clothes no 4 before going to bed!

It’s been quiet today, and due to the miserable weather Ben hasn’t even had one change of clothes – he’s stayed in his pyjamas all day! Nevertheless the washing machine has been on all day!

Found a great recipe online for homemade play dough at http://becomingdomestic.co.uk/2006/10/28/how-to-make-playdough-no-cook-recipe/ It’s kept both of them happy together for a while!

Pirates Ben and Molly:

Witch’s Cat Molly:

Proud Ben and his football trophy:

Gran babysitting Molly and the cat:

Playing with homemade play dough:

There are four years between Benjamin and Molly. Part planned on our part and part nature with its own ideas!

Although four years is not a big age gap in some peoples’ eyes, it is often a conversation I find myself part of, with opinions both for and against.
I had a chance to reflect on this over a very quiet family weekend when I had the luxury of giving both children a lot of time. (Often weekends can be spent entertaining, cleaning, ironing etc and can go past in a blur!)

Watching my 15 month old toddle around the house like a wobbly Bambi seems even more endearing when compared to my confident, athletic five year old. His toys are her toys and both can play in the same space as if the other is not there! On occasion Molly will ‘spoil’ Ben’s activity or Ben will suddenly decide that only what she has to play with will do and more often than not tears follow.

Molly is fiercely independent and very vocal. I often wonder if this is due to the gender difference, but for the last 15 months she has had the added benefit of watching her older brother. Suffering from ‘second child syndrome’, Molly has not been to the run of baby swim, gym or yoga classes that Benjamin had but instead she experiences time with her sibling and all that comes with it –something that Ben didn’t have.

The age gap can make certain activities as a family totally impossible. On Saturday we had to split up as Ben wanted to see the latest movie release which of course Molly would not sit through! But she got time with Dad at a ball park while I enjoyed the delights of High School Musical 3. It is great going out with Benjamin without the constraints of a pushchair, nappy bag and change of clothes! Instead I get constant conversation, pester power at its best and always a fun memory!

For me, the age gap has meant that I have been able to return to work between having the two of them, without having the added expense of both of them at nursery at the same time. Plus I have never had the wish to be free of nappies –as four years on, it’s all become a novelty again!

In our house no two weeks are ever the same so we try to manage our hectic schedules on a week-by-week basis – with the aim of getting through the week as best as we can! It is always a careful juggling act of completing the daily school and nursery runs, remembering school timetables and extra curricular activities, and – when the kids are dealt with – getting ourselves to work. There’s no time for either of us to get sick, which happened this week when I came down with a migraine.

There is nothing quite like trying to function in the morning – getting two children dressed, fed and out of the door – when all you want to do is go back to bed! I don’t know how I did it but I managed to drop Ben with a friend to be taken the rest of the way to school, and then delivered Molly safely to nursery. After stopping to get some medicine on the way home I retreated to bed.

At the end of the day I had to rely on a good friend (yet again!) to get Ben to and from his gym club. Being ill also meant that I was unable to do a quick shop – we were short of food in the house and Ben needed a pair of dressing up glasses for his Harry Potter fancy dress costume (for Book Week at school the kids had to come dressed as their favourite character – in the end two pipe cleaners did the trick!).

Being sick didn’t just affect the kids, when you work a reduced week being ill makes it even more difficult. I have enough work to do in 4 days without missing a day through illness, so it was pretty full on when I got back in the office.

Despite this there were a couple of proud moments for me this week – Molly has started to walk unaided with confidence and Ben was awarded player of the day at his Saturday morning football… so it wasn’t such a bad week after all!

Benjamin in his Harry Potter costume ready for book week at school: