Christmas this year has been an understated affair.

Sort of.

Lots of things got crossed off the list early on, while we continue to get to grips with being a family of three. Then baby!W got his first cold, and there was lots of snorting, and not sleeping, and fretfulness on all sides, which meant even more things got crossed off the list. (Next time he will be old enough to have a bit of Vicks in his life, but this time around he was officially too little, which meant there wasn’t very much we could do – and most of that was poo-pooed by the doctor I went to see, when he got a bit of a fever. *sigh*)

However here is a short list of things that did happen and that made me really happy:

• I made our christmas cake*, one to take to my mum’s for christmas, plus half sized versions for my grandma (who loves this cake), and my sister (who couldn’t come home because of work.)
• I got all the christmas cards and thank you letters written, and managed to print and send photos to everyone who wanted them. (It was touch and go towards the end, but it got done, and made me feel great.)
• I made gingerbread, and took a pan of it over to friends of ours who had twins two weeks ago. (The best presents we got from our friends when baby!W was born, was time, and food, and that makes me want to pass that on whenever I can. I couldn’t make them dinner, but I could make them something that they can cut up and stuff into their mouths when things are insane and they are fit to drop. And so I did.)
• I listened to Sufjan Stevens christmas boxset, and the soundtrack to Charlie Brown’s Christmas alot. And I learnt (most of) the words to ‘The Friendly Beasts’, which became this year’s go-to carol of choice.
• I abandoned the stocking I was knitting baby!W (for this year – I want to get it finished for next christmas), and didn’t force myself to rush to finish the scarf I knit W, and therefore didn’t get totally stressed out by them in the run up to christmas day. W got his scarf as an extra present yesterday, and I realised that baby!W won’t know or care either way this year, so the only one who has to make peace with not finishing the stocking for his very first christmas is me, and I’m ok with that.
• I got this post written before the end of the year. Hurray!

*Our Christmas cake is Nigella’s Chocolate Fruit Cake, which I’ve been making for the last two years. I love it so much, and I don’t think I would feel fully christmassy without it.