Christmas is a time to spend with family and loved ones. The Christmas season is full of holiday cheer, fun traditions, seasons greetings and for the little ones, Father Christmas. 2016 was the first Christmas I ever spent away from my mum, away from my family, away from my usual routine. It was nice, lovely as we had Emily, but it was strange to be away from the usual routine, what I had been used to from childhood to adulthood.
Every Christmas was the same. Christmas eve down at the pub, wake up with a bit of a hangover on Christmas day, have breakfast with mum and my sister, get ready, head down with Christmas presents down to my aunt’s house, family joins and the fun begins. The evening would generally end in the early hours, with friends joining my family and having a giggle and a laugh.
Last year I was fully prepared for something different. Emily was due the 10th December, before I gave birth on the 1st, I had done all our Christmas shopping in September. I had to. My family live in SW London, my mum was visiting for my birthday and I needed to make sure everything was ready for when she arrived so she could take the presents back to London with her. I was a bit of a panicker throughout my pregnancy, not that I was any better pre-pregnancy, and the idea of forgetting Christmas presents full stop worried me whenever Emily arrived. Once she arrived we didn’t have to worry about rushing to the Post Office to get presents and cards to everyone in time for Christmas. Thankfully her being so small the day arrived with zero stress. We didn’t buy anything for her, she received plenty of gifts from family and friends but next year she’ll be old enough to be interested and hopefully she’ll fit into a proper Christmas outfit that I can make her wear.
Emily was 24 days old by the time Christmas day came round and spent most of the day sleeping in her cosy toes, being fed on demand and having as many cuddles as she wanted. The only time she wasn’t keen on the whole festive spirit was when we put her in her cot to sleep and she figured half way through our Christmas lunch that I wasn’t there to feed her or cuddle her when she wanted. She got her way though.
Christmas Eve before
Christmas Eve as a new parent
Christmas Day before
Christmas Day as a new parent
Christmas this year will be different, she’ll be sitting up, crawling around, possibly walking by then and we’ll be constantly having to watch out for her around the Christmas tree. As a newborn I suppose we’ve been lucky at Christmas that she’s so little that we can have a tipple whilst she sleeps, another bonus of not breastfeeding, and chill, but it will be interesting to see what happens this year. We’ll just have to wait and see.
Missy, Me & Him 