Too Much

I sit back and watch my kids get spoiled. It's not a good feeling. It's not that feeling of satisfaction knowing that so many people love my children. It's too much. It's gluttony, it's confusion. I seem to spend the year clearing out toys they never use, only to get to Christmas to fill up any space I've finally claimed, and watch them flit from one toy to the next because there's just so much, too much, to allow them to focus on one thing alone for any amount of time.

And so I find myself making a decision. There will not be a neverending amount of gifts under the tree next year. Family members and friends will only be "permitted" one gift for each child. Santa might be allowed two. (I'll have to think about that.)

I am of course grateful for gifts. People are kind, and generous. But I'm not being cruel, I believe I'm being kind. I believe my children be better children for it. They may even play more, ask to watch television less, be more focused, appreciate more.

This was a good Christmas. It was the best Christmas in all the Christmases we've spent away from family. And I believe next Christmas will be even better.

Literary Advent

Selfishly, I didn't want the children having a daily chocolate throughout Advent. There's enough excitement bubbling over from seeing the tree and decorations every morning, I didn't want to add caffeine to it.

So I bought and wrapped up a whole bunch of Christmas and Winter-related books for them. Threw in a couple of Christmas DVDs too to keep it different. They open one a day and get that book read to them at bedtime - or whenever else they feel like it.

A few of the titles:

Russell's Christmas Magic

How Many Sleeps till Christmas?

The Christmas Show

Father Christmas Needs to Wee

Peppa's Christmas Wish

Jesus' Christmas Party

The Smelly Sprout

Full list of suggested titles here.

Dear Santa

Santa has taken note!

Foam

We had some fun with shaving foam the other day. Adam wasn't too sure at first (he's going through that "can't have messy hands" phase) but Emily loved it, she spent an hour "washing" everything in the garden with the foam - including herself.

I love that the weather is now finally cool enough to enjoy the outdoors. The garden is seeing plenty of action, as are the parks and sandpits (and yes, I still hate sand). Ironically, now that the weather is probably perfect for swimming, we haven't been to the pool in weeks. I guess I'm in Wannabe Winter mode, even if it is really equivalent to a British Heatwave.

Watching Emily and Adam play together has become fantastic. Now that he's talking so much, I guess she feels that she can now communicate with him better, he's reached a new level and they do play together so well. There's also a lot of affection between them, they often sit on the sofa watching Frozen together (they both love it), arms around each other, snuggled up.

A few short months ago I remember wondering whether having two children really would get any easier. And then it did.