Why this Christmas had been my best

I always loved Christmas when I was a child, waking up Christmas morning with my Dad excitably whispering through the door to wake up because Santa had been, the smell of the turkey cooking which would often be put in the oven in the early hours so you could smell it when you woke up, cooked breakfast and family dinners. The magic of the whole day. As I grew up however the magic slowly died (I think it does for everyone really) not that anything we did changed, Christmas as you get older just becomes stressful shopping ,deciding what to buy and where to be. So I knew when I had children I could begin to pull that magic back.

My daughter turned 3 at the end of December so this past Christmas she really got into Christmas and really got excited about it. She understood the idea and concept of Santa Claus and presents and we did the usual things to build her excitement. Telling her Santa will be leaving her presents under the tree, singing carols together and we left out a mince pie and carrot for Santa and the reindeer on Christmas Eve. I even made Santa’s footprints on the floor leading from the front door to the Christmas Tree with John’s shoe and flour from the kitchen, which in turn built my own excitement since I had struggled feel festive since Quinn had been in hospital the week before with Croup.

On Christmas morning we woke before Quinn which is very unusual, I think the excitement was already getting to her and she was tired. Creeping into her room to wake her I suddenly felt the excitement my Dad felt, excitement for her.

She was so excited by the snow footprints Santa had left although a little nervous at first in case he was in the house (she’s a bit frightened when she sees him in person). Once she realised he wasn’t actually there though she followed them to find all her presents waiting for her under the tree. Commence the present opening frenzy. She was so excited by them that she turned into a little whirlwind, opening one present and then going straight onto the next before evening taking a look at what she had previously opened but I guess that’s just kids, they go back and play with all the presents later. At my parents’ house she had more presents before dinner and she was so good, helping to pass out the presents to everyone else.

Normally she doesn’t really eat a roast dinner but we gave her a Christmas dinner anyway and she did well to eat what she did considering the excitement of the day and she even joined in on the toast before eating. This she loved and kept on shouting cheers and Happy Christmas to everyone throughout.

I will never forget the look in her eyes that day, pure happiness, wonder and excitement which is all I could have wanted. I have such a bad habit of building up a picture of events in my head that reality just can’t live up to but this past Christmas truly was my best and I just know every Christmas from now on will be exactly the same. For me Christmas is about Quinn now and any other children we may have in the future, their joy because that brings me joy and what more could we ask for as parents.

Happy New Year everyone, I truly hope you all had a wonderful time and wish you all well in 2018.