Reasons to be Cheerful: A Happy Christmas

I really can't top Jo's post for cheerfulness but we had such a wonderful Christmas I have many reasons to be cheerful. I am also back hosting in January so watch this space!

1) Remote Family & Friends

The one thing about having spent 25 years living in the home counties is that most of my family and school friends are still down there. So a bit like the wise men the weekend before Christmas we pack up Christmas gifts and make the trek down south. 

My son and I exceeded our record for numbers seen in the weekend this year with a total of 20! Catching up with my brother and his family, my step daughter and my children's cousins was lovely if brief. Then a Sunday lunch with 16 of us based on friendships going back 30 years.

Check out my place name!

2) A Family Christmas

There were 11 of us for the main event on Christmas Day with extended family staying altogether. It was so relaxed being with everyone and my children had plenty of attention as everyone else was grown up. My daughter was put in charge of handing out the presents:

3) The joy of children

One of the greatest joys about being a parent is watching your child's face when they open up their gifts. My children were so excited by receiving the Lego they had asked for:

Plus a few surprises:

4) Festive Family Fun

I have already written about our lovely Boxing Day walk which all added to a very Happy Christmas. It was topped off by a trip to see Hansel and Gretel at the Brewery. Going to the Christmas production there has been a tradition for the last 6 years! This year it was an international theatre company New International Encounter and the production was partly in Norwegian. Here is a snippet:

5) Operation Tween Bedroom

Now we are back its all systems go to try and get my daughter's bedroom fully up to tween mode! We are using to Christmas money to complete the furnishings and fittings and its great to see books coming back down from the loft to compliment the new ones she was given for Christmas:

So why are you smiling?