Mummy Mondays – Christmas Traditions for our Children

I’ve always loved Christmas – it’s such a brilliant time of the year where everybody come together and worries are temporarily forgotten.

Since becoming a Mum, Christmas has become even better. These days the run up to Christmas for me involves watching Arthur Christmas on repeat, putting together a gingerbread house (that none of our family even like eating because the kids like decorating it with sweets) and stuffing a chocolate orange into my mouth when nobody else is watching.

Today I wanted to share with you some of the traditions we have started doing with the children each year to make this time even more special for them…

Christmas Eve Box

This tradition is one that a lot of families have nowadays. Ever since Cameron was tiny I would wrap up a new pair of pjs, a new book and a Christmas film for him to open before bed on Christmas Eve.

Now there’s the three of the kids, I tend to put these things all together in a wicker basket, along with snacks and treats and this is our version of a Christmas Eve box.

After they’ve received this, we get them into their pjs and snuggle up in front of the film before bed.

Christmas Baking

I swear I mention baking every other post at the moment. This is something I really enjoy doing with the children at Christmas time.

This year I’ve been really organised and I picked up all the things we needed in advance to avoid last minute panicking nearer the time, and so that I would have everything ready if we wanted to have a spontaneous baking session.

Breakfast with Santa

Instead of visiting santa in his grotto, we’ve been going to a special breakfast with santa each year on the morning of Christmas Eve and it’s so magical.

I’m really excited for it this year as Benjamin is old enough to receive a gift and will be a little bit more involved than he was last year.

Lego Advent Calendars

For the past couple of years we’ve treated the children (and Ed) to Lego Advent calendars.

They are fairly expensive (around £20 each), but the children absolutely love them and enjoy putting them together each morning with us.

We still get them a chocolate one too, as there’s something pretty amazing about starting the day off with a little sugar rush, but I think this will be a tradition we’ll continue for many years.

Elf on the Shelf

This is the first year I’ve taken part in the Elf on the Shelf craze and my word I regret it so much!

I am kind of hoping the kids just forget about it by next year as there’s no way I can put myself through this again.

The elf itself is totally creepy, and scares the hell out of me when I’m home alone with it, and the effort that it takes to put it into a new elaborate position each evening is just not worth the hassle!

I was ready to throw in the towel by day 3 but unfortunately by this point Carly had developed an attachment to the damn thing….

Christmas Crafts

Each Christmas Eve, after we’ve returned from our breakfast with santa, the kids settle down with some craft kits I pick up from wilkos, and they make little tree decorations, door hangers and wooden spoon angels for us to proudly display around the house.

Opening Presents in their PJs

This is mainly a necessity, as I generally buy a new outfit for the kids to wear on Christmas Day and wrap it up for them to open with the rest of their presents.

I do love chilling out in our pjs on Christmas morning though, bacon sandwich at my side and glass of Buck’s Fizz in hand – the perfect start to Christmas for me.

Do you have any Christmas traditions?