Family Christmas

Merry Christmas everyone and I hope you had a wonderful festive period this year. We had a small family Christmas as usual. As some of you may know from our many years of blogging we love Christmas for so many simple reasons. We love our simple but fun and mostly free Christmas traditions and find that it’s the time together we enjoy the most. With young believers in the house, Christmas is still such a magical time. We count down to Father Christmas’s arrival and bake delicious Christmas treats like I said a proper family Christmas.

That came in particularly well this year because in the September prior we were lucky enough to have moved into a bigger property from a 2 bed to a three-bed house. This meant that funds were tight for Christmas this year as we had lots of extra moving-related costs. That was on top of the excessive cost of living rises last year. Like most, we made the most of the time of year whilst keeping costs down and ended up having a really wonderful Christmas.

Decorating the House

Our Christmas always starts with decorating the house and this year was no exception. Thankfully we still had enough to decorate the lounge and purchased a couple of extra Christmas decorations to finish it off. Due to moving to a larger house what we did have had to stretch further.

Then my mother-in-law decided to clear out all of her old Christmas items. I made sure to rummage through and found a sleuth of pretty decorations for our dining room. This included a tree with all the trimmings and a number of cute decor items. We love to reuse around here!

All the kids got involved and we had Christmas songs playing in the background. It was a lovely way to start our festive season.

Christmas Light Switch-On

The next step of our festive journey was to enjoy our town’s local Christmas light switch-on. We enjoyed the stalls and the children enjoyed a go on a small lucky dip. There are mulled wine stalls, food stalls and even fair rides for very small children.

Once the lights had been switched on we hurried home for hot chocolates.

Family Christmas and A Visit to See Santa

This year we were very lucky indeed with our visit to Santa. Whilst I was scrolling on Facebook I noticed that a shopping centre, Emery Gate in Wiltshire, close to us has its own Santa. Not only was the visit free but Santa had an elf with him and the children even received a gift each.

It makes you realise that the true spirit of Christmas is real when you and your babies can enjoy this for free. A huge well done to Santa, his team and all those at Emery Gate because the Children were so excited to see him. It was a lovely Christmas gift for them.

Baking Gingerbread and Mince Pies

We must have baked around 100 gingerbread people this Christmas season! It was getting to the point that nobody was even letting them cool before clearing a pan of them. Being relatively cheap for all the ingredients it’s a great way to spend time together and enjoy the joys of a family Christmas.

We also made a few batches of mince pies. It was more to assemble them as we bought premade pastry and filling. It was more putting together and cooking but they were still lovely. We left one of each for Santa this year as requested by the youngest

Whitehall Family Christmas Displays

Another tradition we love to enjoy is the Whitehall Garden Center Christmas displays and this year was no different. We ended up going twice this year once during the day and another in the evening. Just so we could really enjoy the ambience of the lights.

Our favourite displays this year were the replica village, Santa’s Lounge and grotto. The model village is also another particular favourite. We are very lucky to have such an amazing festive show nearby and for the price of fuel to get there. Another brilliant day out for the whole family.

Pre-Christmas Snow Day

This year, just like everybody else, we thoroughly enjoyed the snow day we were blessed with just before Christmas. We made snow angels, had snowball fights and built a snowman.

Finishing our day with more hot chocolates, more homemade gingerbread and some classic Christmas films.

Family Christmas Light Drive Around

The last tradition that we enjoyed this year was an annual drive around our town to look at all the lights on people’s houses. The boys get into their Christmas pyjamas and all take a blanket to wrap up in. We drive around for an hour or so and then home for, you guessed it, hot chocolates and treats.

As I said we truly enjoy the simple things in life and as they say the best things in life are free. Walks in a natural winter wonderland or a movie snuggled under a blanket! Do you have any Christmas traditions? What is your favourite? Let me know in the comments below and be sure to follow over on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest for extra content.

Lots of Love,
Tahnee xxx