Christmas Eve is my favourite day

It's the traditions that make Christmas special.

Christmas Eve is my favourite day around the festive period.  It is packed full of tradition and anticipation. It starts with a dog walk, to try to calm down our furry friend who knows that something is happening but can't quite work out what it is.  He goes off his food and paces around the house on high alert.  It's things like that that make me believe Santa is real.  Even the dog is on guard to protect us from a man in a red suit who might break in by sliding down the chimney and leave presents on the sofa.

Then, I make mince pies and finish my Christmas Cake, with carols and Michael Buble crooning in the background.  I'm pleased with this year's cake.

That is followed by a mamouth present wrapping session while watching a Christmas film.  This year it was a Muppet Christmas Carol.  And then I go to the allotment to dig up the vegetables before the Carols by candlelight service at the Church.  I'm not a very religious person but I do love the symbolism of the light of one candle being spread around the whole congregation and it is fantastic to belt out a Christmas carol or two (complete with descant verses) without any pressure of performance.

The second party of the festive party crawl then begins.  By the time we get to New Years Eve we will all be so sick of each other we will be desperate for the clock to reach midnight so that we can all go home.  The highlights of tonight's party were watching Santa on Norad.  We were all glued to it, wondering about the strange routes he was taking, whether the presents were delivered to everyone (even if they weren't Christian) and what happens about those on the naughty list.  Last night's party was more eventful.  The children were playing hide and seek and one may have been traumatised for life when the host decided she would pop into her en-suite bathroom for a quick wee.  (He was hiding in the shower.)

Now is the part of the evening I love the most.  Baileys and mince pie for Santa a carrot for the reindeer and everyone in bed, excitedly waiting to see what he puts in our stockings.

There's always time for a bow

Arthur Christmas is a good film.

It's the perfect start to Christmas with a mix of reasons to believe in Santa Claus and jokes for parents who have no greater expectation than to have an hour of peace and quiet. Even though my children are quite old now they still love a good kids film.  My daughter has always engaged with every film or play she has ever been to see, sometimes embarrassingly so. When she was nearly 3 we went to see the Wizard of Oz at the theatre and she was so determined that Dorothy could escape from the flying monkeys that she was impossible to stop shouting, "Run Dorothy, run.  You can get away!" Although, there was no shouting in this film I did hear a gasp of, "Oh no, they've forgotten her present."

The jokes were great.  I particularly liked when they said, "Alert, alert we've got a waker."  Now, I know that's not a joke but I misheard waker and found it very funny.  When you can identify with a cartoon character the film is a success and I identified with the Grumpy Grandpa Claus and the Wrapping Elf.
I too can wrap anything with 3 bits of tape and agree with the ethos, "There's always time for a bow."

This gave me inspiration for my Christmas cake and have decided to turn it into a present, complete with bow.  There is only just time for a bow in this case as I have to wait for the bow loops to set before I can finish it.