Christmas traditions and finding my sparkle

The lovely Amanda over at Homely One kickstarted my Christmas spirit this year.

I have been feeling decidedly un-Christmassy. I don't know why really. I think it's easy for Christmas to get all just a bit too much. Too much stuff, too much waste, too much expectation.

But after reading Amanda's post about family traditions, I started thinking about ours and slowly, but surely, that Christmas sparkle started to take hold. I realised that there is a lot to love about taking the time to share special moments and create memories.

These are the things I cherish:

• Putting up the tree, accompanied by champagne and Frank Sinatra
• The obligatory Santa photo
• Taking the boys into the city at night to see the big tree, the Christmas windows and to pick out their 'special' ornament. Each year they get a fancy schmancy one and when they eventually leave home (sniff), they will have a lifetime of beautiful decorations to take with them
• Watching the Carols by Candlelight and singing our lungs out
• Going to visit the Christmas Lights - there are some crazy people out there who do the most ridiculous things to their houses at Christmas time and I'm in the front row. I love seeing how bonkers people get for Christmas; it's sweet really
• Working out what Christmas baking I'm going to do and then enjoying a couple of full baking days with the boys. This year, my SIL and the boys' cousins are going to join in too
• Baking the Christmas ham on Christmas Eve and making an occasion of the first carving
• Finding one new 'what to do with leftover christmas ham' recipe each year to add to the repertoire
• Ham sandwiches! 
• Christmas crafts with the boys. This year, I've planned for them to make Christmas button collages and we're going to attempt a piece of artwork for each set of the grandparentals
• Getting a porcelain photo ornament for each of the boys made

The things I do just for me, really, are:

• Buying all the Christmas magazines and reading them slowly across the whole month
• Putting fairy lights all over the house and garden and flatly refusing to let anyone turn the overhead lights on. Ever. Some have said I'm slightly nuts when it comes to fairy lights.
• Indulging in some late night bubble baths, with bubbles of the champagne variety and my 'Christmas' book

And the things that T and I do together are:

• Wrapping the presents at night by fairy light (stupid idea really - can't see a bloody thing) and Christmas Carols
• Writing the boys a Christmas letter
• Sharing one special gift with each other on Christmas Eve with some bubbly after the boys are all tucked up in bed asleep 

There, I feel better already. Hello Christmas sparkle!

pic from pinterest here