Here is Alfie aged four enjoying the lights at Mousehole on Christmas Eve 2014. He took the Little Acorns teddy along for the trip too.
Christmas is edging closer and closer and whilst this fills lots of people with joy, it can also be a time of dread for many. You only have to open a social media app to be presented with festive photographs with cheery faces and an air of complete and utter contentment. Please remember that we don’t photograph the tears and tantrums and that not every aspect of someone’s day is picture perfect; you are seeing the very best bits. And it is lovely to see what others are doing but it isn’t difficult to start experiencing feelings of guilt or worry that your Christmas experiences are not good enough. I felt the same experiences this weekend when the realisation that an event that some social media friends had attended, was out of our budget. But please remember that making memories isn’t about who can spend the most money and go to the most festive places; when I think back on my childhood Christmases, it’s the people I spent the time with that I remember the most.
One of our parents last year posted a list of things to do that are completely budget friendly and given the fact that so many of us are ‘feeling the pinch’ this year, I felt it appropriate to share it once again:
Visit your local garden centre – they are always amazing at this time of year and a browse of the decorations including the trees outside (there is usually lots of room for your little ones to walk around outside with the trees and tire themselves!) and the Christmas music in the background will A) Kill a few hours with the small people and B) Give you all the Christmas feels!
Christmas lights are put on by others but enjoyed by you for FREE! Make a packed lunch tea and go for a drive around the lights local to you.
Make some Christmas decorations! All you need is a couple of pieces of paper, green paint, a paintbrush, glue and sequins. Paint the children’s hands green stamp on to the paper and cut out, glue the hand prints together in a triangle shape to make a tree and let your small people glue and stick the sequins on as decorations.
Christmas movie night: One bag of sharing crisps costs £1, one bag of sharing pop corn at £1.50, a choice of a Christmas film and everyone has a bowl each of the snacks, favourite pyjamas on, a blanket and a snuggle!
More Christmas lights but this time drive to your favourite lights wrap up warm, park up and have a wonder around the village/town and take lots of Christmassy pictures of your small people and the lights!
Letters to Santa – sit together with some Christmas music in the background and write your letters to Santa (if it’s stressful for your small children to write their own, take the pressure away and ask them to tell you what they’d like to say), lots of free services online reply if not ask a family member if you can send to their address and then wrap up warm and walk to the post box together talking all things Xmas! Children will love posting their own letter! You could reply and post back to yourselves to receive the very exciting letter back.
Christmas is so authentic and enjoyable when the pressure of what you’re giving becomes about the memories you’re making with giving your time and not the cost.
I remember reading this list and thinking how lovely all the suggestions were and how wonderful that they wouldn’t cost a huge chunk of my monthly income. So please remember to take the pressure off of yourselves because comparison really is the thief of joy.
