Crimblemas times and other festive tidings.

Christmas this year held a mixture of emotions for me.  On one hand it was the first year that Spike had a real sense of the build up to it and got excited, what with being in nursery and taking part in the nativity.  Spike really is so lucky to be in such a fantastic Nursery now.  They really do all that they can to make everyday as special as they can for the children.  I think childhood should be as full of as much magic and wonder as possible and this year he was really tapping into it all.  However, This was also a time of changes for us.  First Christmas not living in Llangybi, first Christmas Spike getting picked up by his Dad to go and stay with him for a few days and also the longest time I've ever been separated from Spike.  He, however has had a whale of a time and THAT is what is important.

Spike met Father Christmas in nursery and also Mrs Christmas came in and made Gingerbread men with them. One day they had to clean up reindeer poo in nursery as Santa's Reindeer had made a terrible mess and also they had a fab end of term Christmas party.  This year I also got to go to Spike's first nativity play.  I was the mum filming the entire thing whilst also singing along to all the songs and doing all the actions.  Spikey was SO GOOD! No melt downs, or freezing and thankfully no planking.  He sang and danced and clapped his way through the entire thing. I was busting with pride.

                                       

This was Spike's costume for the Christmas Nativity. He was one of the 3 Kings/wise men.  Spike however was adamant that he was a Knight. Infact the only was I could get him to agree to wear the costume and attend the Nativity full stop was if he could be a Knight. So I crocheted him a Knight helmet rather than a crown and prayed the teachers wouldn't mind.  No one said anything so I think I got away with it.  I made the costume itself out of a pillow case and some scrap fabric that my Grandmother gave me.

Sam here is helping me write the Christmas cards.  A friend sent me a link of advice for people spending their first Christmas as a single parent.  One of the items that really struck a chord with me was establishing some new traditions.  I suppose it gives you something to focus on and work towards and also a new sense of identity.  I wanted our traditions to incorporate our extended family as much as possible so it was kind of perfect for us that in the week running up to Christmas we had the cousins Tomski and Umska to hang out with us EVERYDAY!

                   

  

Here they all are doing Christmas Crafts! Tomski made a star to go on the top of our tree as we didn't have a topper and people generally seemed a little displeased with me unceremoniously plonking a toy dalek on top.  We did salt dough ornaments, glitter stars, reindeer's and robins.  We sang Christmas songs and had a new Film to watch and goodies to eat on Christmas eve in our new pyjamas.  A Christmas eve box is definitely a little tradition that I will continue.

This year I made the boys a stocking each. They can hold about half a dozen small toys plus some chocolates and an obligatory Clementine in the toe.  Despite sharing a selection box between two of these stockings for the boys I am befuddled to tell you that neither one of them touched any chocolate over Christmas.  If Spud didn't look so much like me and Spike wasn't so weird (like me) I would be seriously wondering whether they had both somehow been switched at birth.  Anyway, back to the stockings.  I love them, they're so traditional looking and I'm thinking that each year I can add  bit to them, like the Boy's names, some snowflakes etc another little tradition to add to our festive season.

We trimmed the tree all together.  We never had a tree in Llangybi as our living room was quite an odd shape which made festive feng shui far more bother then it was worth. Especially considering we spent the actual main part of Christmas over my parents anyway. Last year I did feel a bit glum about no decorations so I crocheted some sparkly snowflakes to hang in the windows and from the beams.

Christmas Morning! Thanks to our wonderfully generous family and friends the boys (as usual) had lots of lovely presents to open. We have been on pretty meagre rations toy wise since leaving Llangybi so it's been nice to be able to reclaim play time some what.  As usual the kids tore into the presents quicker than I could note down which present came from which relative but they've all been a massive hit!

Spud with the train that his lying Aunty Hannah said didn't come apart.... it actually comes apart into approximately 10,000 pieces. Luckily those pieces are then building blocks that can be made into a tower and so forth. *shakes fist at Aunty Hannah*

This was their main present from me. Trains + Dinosaurs = two happy boys.

My beautiful sister with Spud on Christmas morning. We all hung out and exchanged pressies in the morning and nicked bits of bacon off the turkey as it rested in the kitchen.  Then Ruth went home to have dinner with her family and after dinner Mikey went over his Dad's.  It was all different and strange but still very good.

Hope you all had a good Christmas and a Happy New Year!

xoxo