You know when people warn you "enjoy it while they’re little, they grow up fast!" and you’re like yeah yeah, well it happened! My girls grew up fast!! Don’t get me wrong, I love having grown up daughters. They’re smart, funny and are tall enough to reach the top of the tree! So here’s a nostalgic ramble about the Christmas traditions I miss now that my girls are very much grown ups living their best lives.
Letters to Santa!
Remember those letters, the ones that where kids would confess everything! Dear Santa, I’ve been good this year except when I pushed my sister and when I drew on the wall but that wasn’t really my fault, there were the doodles, spelling mistakes, and the100% belief that the man in a red suit could deliver a pony even though we lived in a terraced house with a tiny back garden. One of my favourite parts was when they wrote their letters at school. My friend worked there and was the one in charge of writing Santa’s replies. Bless her, she’d give me the heads up on what my girls were dreaming of that year because the letters they wrote at home and the ones they wrote in school never matched. At home they wanted a teddy or a Barbie but at school they were asking Santa for an iPad, a mansion and a unicorn that pooped glitter. lol
The Advent Calendar!
Back in the day my December alarm clock wasn’t my phone, it was my girls bursting into my room at 7am practically shaking with excitement. It’s day three they’d shriek like it was the most urgent newsflash ever. Every morning in December, that tiny cardboard door became the most important thing in the world.
Over the years, the calendars evolved. Chocolate was the main treat then there was the Roblox calendar, the Friends TV show calendar, one with crystals, and even a rubber duck one. We still do advent calendars now but it’s different. There’s no urgent excitement and sometimes they even skip days and play catch up. It’s a small thing, but it’s one of those traditions that made the countdown to Christmas feel the run up to Christmas extra exciting.
Baking Together!
You haven’t lived until you’ve baked Christmas cookies with kids and spent the whole time saying things like: please don’t eat the raw dough, no flour is not snow, how did you get icing in your hair already! It was messy but so much fun! They still like to bake now but won't let me be involved. Hmmf!
Making gingerbread houses!
Our gingerbread houses never looked like the ones on Pinterest, not one single year! They were sticky, they collapsed, the icing drooped, the walls slid and they were held together by nothing but sugar and hope! Those were some of the best afternoons. The girls would be so proud of their creations even if the roof fell off five minutes later. The house would smell of ginger, there’d be icing in someone’s hair, sprinkles rolling under the fridge and a smear of sugary glue on the table that would still be there in February. hehehe
Christmas Eve chaos!
There was a routine and it was adorable. Christmas Eve boxes filled with crafts to keep the girls busy, special PJs, hot chocolate with enough marshmallows to suffocate a small elf. We’d watch The Snowman on TV, track Santa on the NORAD website, leave carrots and mince pies out and sprinkle reindeer dust like we were in a fairy tale. The girls would be itching to go to bed but not to sleep. One would peek downstairs, whispering is Santa here yet . I loved that chaos, that excitement and the next morning drinking strong coffee to keep me going because of course they were up at 5am after I had only gone to bed a few hours before. lol
Elf on the Shelf Shenanigans
Ahh! The elf, the tiny plastic troublemaker who stole both my sleep and my sanity for several years. Starting Elf on the Shelf was one of my greatest parenting mistakes and also one of my greatest parenting successes. The first week was magical but about halfway through December I would run out of ideas. I’d be lying in bed at 11pm just dozing off to sleep and remember I hadn't moved the elf. lol but I miss it. I miss hiding that tiny judgemental creature in ridiculous places, hearing the girls coming up with their own dramatic theories about how she travelled around the house.
Handmade Decorations!
Oh, the decorations they made. Wonky stars, pipe cleaner angels, baubles that looked like they’d been through a traumatic event. My tree basically had the look of a charity shop window but it was perfect!
Being sneaky after their bedtime!
I deserve an award for the stealth skills I developed as a parent. Wrapping presents quietly, tip-toeing around the house and don’t even get me started on arranging presents around the tree like I wanted it perfect! I wish I could do that all over again. Stu, probably not as he would always get the big presents to put together on Christmas eve! The dolls’ house incident comes to mind: power drill at the ready, trying to assemble it without waking the girls. They weren’t asleep and curious little heads would pop up at just the wrong moment.
Christmas morning magic!
There was the rush to the tree, the squeals, the paper flying everywhere, watching my girls tear open presents, see the things they wished for or didn’t even know they wished for and feeling the sheer magic of it all. It isn't the same now that they are older. I miss it but things change and there are still surprises under the tree for them.
Now our Christmases are quieter. The girls are older, more independent, they don’t burst into our bedroom early on Christmas morning, don’t leave flour trails through the kitchen, they don’t build gingerbread houses that collapse within an hour but instead we exchange gifts calmly and reminisce about the old days, laughing at the chaos we survived and the magic we made.
What do you miss about past Christmases?
