December

My last month of being a mum to one.

My last month before becoming a member of the two-under-two club.

Christmas, too.

I’m overwhelmed.

It’s not a bad feeling. I’ve been a little negative a lot of the time lately, and I know I’ve bugged people. I’ve bugged me, to be honest.

I’m completely consumed by thoughts of the birth, the day when life changes all over again. I can think of nothing but how soon that day will be here. I still can’t decide where I want to give birth, or how, or with who. It’s the gross stuff on my mind. The stuff that comes as a shock the first time around because nobody tells you about it. The bleeding for weeks, and the baths without bubbles, the leaky boobs and the feeling of having no control over anything.

The house is soon to fall apart again. Those long nights watching box sets with a baby who never sleeps. Not getting out of the house for weeks on end.

I’m being negative again.

I was totally blissed out for a few weeks after having Iris, despite all of this. I felt happier than I’ve ever ever felt and I finally felt complete. It was a wonderful feeling, and I’m excited to feel it again.

I’m excited for Christmas too, more so this year than last year. Iris has no idea what it’s all about still, of course, but she’s able to enjoy it this year. She’s already gasping in wonder at the sight of Christmas trees and flashing fairy lights. She may just explode with excitement when we put our decorations up in a couple of weeks time.

My hips are sore and I’m tired, but there is a lot of Christmassy stuff going on locally in the next few weeks I’m determined my little lion won’t miss a thing.

December is here. A month for preparation and celebration. And hopefully some rest.

 

It’s Not Christmas, It’s November.

On Saturday my sister and her family drove over from Bristol to spend the day with us in Pontypridd, for the big Christmas lights switch on. Mainly they came because Mike and Sully were set to make an appearance, and my niece adores Monsters Inc! Can’t say I blame them. Their own town had Peter Andre turning their lights on. Boring.

I’d been looking forward to the day for a while, but I felt that the event was way too early!

I was wondering if it’s just me that feels like this. I absolutely adore Christmas. I truly do. I really get into the spirit of it and I am no Scrooge. Here’s a picture for proof.
The Christmas music in the shops, tinsel everywhere. The pressure to start Christmas shopping. The John Lewis advert and the Sainsburys advert, neither of which I’ve seen but I don’t need to. Apparently they’re all anybody can talk about. The Coca Cola advert. I hear that’s already been on. Worse still, the toy adverts causing children up and down the country to say I want that and make lists as long as your arm.

It’s just all about spending money, and I hate it.

I was relieved recently to find that I’m not the only one, and even kids find this annoying! The 9-year-old recently said, when asked what she’d like for Christmas, “Give me a chance, I’m not done with Halloween yet!”. When Christmas music started playing in Pizza Hut on Friday night, the same 9-year-old called out “SERIOUSLY?! Don’t they know it’s November?!”

I’ve bought one present so far. A toy for my niece that I spotted in a discount shop a few weeks ago. I only bought it because it was perfect and I was worried I wouldn’t find it at that price again. I’m not writing my Christmas cards for a good few weeks yet, because writing them now is just madness! I’m not thinking about the food or the wrapping paper or anything else. Not yet. In my family we never start Christmas until after my sister’s birthday on the 4th. Otherwise she doesn’t really get a birthday, and that’s just not fair.

Thankfully the big lights-on day in Pontypridd was strangely not Christmassy. I imagine there were a lot of people who felt differently, thanks to the fake snow and Santa’s Grotto. But to me it just felt like autumn. It wasn’t cold. The kids petted rabbits and guinea pigs, went on rides, ate candy floss, went on a climbing wall, looked around the shops, and had their pictures taken with Anna and Elsa from Frozen. It was a fabulous day and we all had a wonderful time. In the end we missed the lights switch on because we were buying pyjamas and pink wafers in a bargain shop. Ha!

Unfortunately my tiny niece never did get her picture taken with Mike and Sully, so it was lucky she bought little Sully along for the day!
She did enjoy seeing them on stage with some other characters though, and apparently that was good enough. The big kids didn’t mind as long as they could have candy floss and they were still busy talking about how well they’d both climbed! We’ve decided to take them to a proper indoor climbing centre soon. We’re always on the look out for fun stuff to do with them so it’s great when they come up with ideas.

Once we’d all had enough, and our hair was full of fake snow, we headed back to the car park to see the fireworks and escape the crowds. Fireworks say November to me, not Christmas! We missed the local firework display a couple of weeks again because of torrential rain, so it was great to finally see some! My little nephew was mesmerised by them, and even Iris seemed interested.
I’m so relived that it didn’t end up being a really festive day, and we were able to concentrate on having some fun instead of panicking about how much shopping we’ve got to do (and where we’ll find the money!). Now there are 13 days left of November. Any chance I can just enjoy them for being the last few days of autumn please?