It’s never more apparent then at Christmas just how lousy a mum I seem to be. Social media has turned me into a scrooge!
Our Christmas tree decorations don’t have the date we bought them for our kids lovingly etched on the base of them using a Sharpie.
We don’t have a plate which has specific areas marked out for Santa’s mince pie or Rudolph’s carrot to go on.
The kids don’t receive Christmas eve boxes filled with melamine divider plates, Christmas pyjamas or hot chocolate.
There is no elf on our shelf!
Winter Wonderland, Santa’s grotto, German markets? No thanks.
A winter overhaul of my kids bookshelves? Errrr…..maybe next year.
Do I want the kids to help me make mince pies? No, not really.
My kitchen table doesn’t look like something from Christmas at Hogwarts on a permanent basis. It’s usually full of junk mail, odd Kinder egg toys and crumbs from breakfast.
My house doesn’t smell of a Christmas Eve Yankee Candle or a Jo Malone Winter. It usually smells of washing or bleach.
I love Christmas and I love to spoil the kids and see their faces light up when they’re just totally overwhelmed with happiness but where the hell do people find the time for all of the above. I didn’t even know what a Christmas Eve box was until I started blogging and then it seemed to be the ‘in thing’ to create for kids. I’m not having a dig at anyone ’cause each to their own right but buying Christmas pj’s and only getting use out of them from 24th December seems daft! I think, if I were to ever make a box up for my kids (God knows when I’ll have the time), I’d do an advent box and make use of the contents throughout the whole of December.
I saw pictures and a vlog the other day of a childs ‘Christmas book shelf’. What a lovely idea but seriously? Taking all the books out that you currently have and replacing with winter or Christmas themed books? I barely have the energy to pick up the books they have and put them back on the shelf let alone swap them out for others!
When I was a kid, we’d go in to the kitchen and choose a plate for Santa’s treats. We’d poor some milk, pop a carrot and a mince pie on the plate and leave it by the tree before bed. Now I feel like my kids are missing out because we don’t have a sentimental plate or wooden board with our family name etched on it which can be handed down through the family like an heirloom. The same with decorations. As a child my mum and dad had a box of Christmas tree decorations which were put on the tree every year. We might buy some new ones every now and then but I certainly wasn’t allowed to pick one and nor were my brothers or sisters. I don’t have a bag full of decorations which have 1984, 1985, 1986 and so on scribbled on the base. It’s not ruined my life.
Don’t even get me started with Elf on the Shelf.
I know I sound like a massive party pooper but I realised the other day when staring at my Christmas tree that I wouldn’t really know about any of these types of traditions if I wasn’t on social media. It kind of made me feel bad for a while, like my kids were missing out. I’d like to think we make Christmas a really special family time for the kids without giving in to every trend that, well, trends! We do a little bit of crafting, they might help decorate the tree, we might watch a Christmas film if they can both agree on one they want and we might read a Christmassy book if someone has ripped the pages out of it. I’m not going to kill myself for not finding the perfect pair of Christmas pj’s though. Santa will still come whether they wear their usual mismatching, ill fitting ensemble or matching fleece onsies adorned with fair isle print.
