Forgive me for stating the obvious but Christmas is just around the corner. I don’t know about you but with 10 days to go, I’m beginning to feel the stress, despite it being one of my favourite times of year. End of term tiredness combined with pre-Christmas over-excitement is a pretty heady cocktail of emotions and I cannot wait for the bell to go at 3.20pm on Friday. I have had to wake Cheeky Chap every morning since the middle of last week, we’ve almost been late a few times and there have been tears from us both most days in the last two weeks.
Really though, Christmas is one of my favourite times of the year and I love the various traditions that we have in my family. My sisters and I are known for being the first to wake up in our respective homes despite the young children. Over the last few years, we have started our own tradition of having a girlie evening in together. We will play Christmas music while eating some food and then watch a Christmas film. One of the greatest pay offs of continued sobriety has been the relationships I’ve managed to repair with them.
Oh Christmas Tree
Of course there is the tradition of selecting the tree and decorating it while playing Christmas music in the background. This year I was so tired on the day we had promised Cheeky Chap that we would get our tree, that I asked the husband to go out and get it himself. I won’t be doing that again… I love to have my Christmas music playing wherever I am in the home and have been known to start playing it too early for the husband’s liking. For me, there is nothing like blasting out the Christmas music to get me in the festive spirit if I feel the stress is beginning to overwhelm me. What I would really like one day is a proper multi-room speaker system in the home, similar to the Panasonic Bluetooth Speakers, it would save me from moving my radio around each room as needed!
I always seem to have this image in my head of it being fun to decorate the tree but this year I found it incredibly stressful. Whether it was because the tree that the husband came home with is quite possibly one of the worst trees we have ever had and looked like it was already dying before it was even decorated or because I wasn’t feeling one hundred percent, I don’t know.
Elf on the Shelf
We also have our own Elf in this house. I honestly don’t think I’ve seen a Christmas tradition that divides people more than the Elf on the Shelf! Our elf, Eric, was sent back to the North Pole for a day recently though. He decided to kidnap Cheeky Chap’s beloved elephant Ernie, held him hostage in a vase and when Cheeky Chap saw him he burst into tears, declaring that Eric had ruined Christmas and had to go home. I’m pretty sure that a severe case of end of term tiredness was the main culprit of the tears as Cheeky Chap normally has a wonderful sense of humour.
Eric isn’t usually a naughty elf and he certainly doesn’t create much mess. After all, I have enough on my plate without having to clean up behind him. He isn’t here to spy on Cheeky Chap or to report back to Father Christmas. Eric simply here to add a little Christmas magic and to hopefully make Cheeky Chap laugh.
Do you have any Christmas traditions? Let me know in the comments.
This is a collaborative post.
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