Christmas traditions

A few weeks before the beginning of December Theo asked me whether I could make the advent calendar similar to one a few years back when I filled little bigs with chocolate and festive activities and outings. I must have been the year before Rohan arrived because I definitely don't feel like I could've managed it these past two Christmas's, especially not when we ended up moving house four days before! But I'm glad that he remembered it and wanted it again instead of a shop bought one, considering he had a lego one last year I was pretty pleased that my bodged together one held fond memories for him!

I haven't quite gone all out Instagram and fashioned one out of a branch, foliage and string but instead found a fairly non-offensive felt calendar with fill your own pockets (that's ok right?!) then I went about filling it with activities to do and spend time together, because really in this crazy time of year, even something as simple as going to a cafe, making some hot chocolate together  or playing a board game can be a real treat, and I think these are the things that Theo held on to from those years ago and that made me feel pretty happy. I love how Christmas traditions are created and evolve over time and are passed on to your own children from your childhood memories.

Last weekend we had our first activity which was to go and pick our tree. We've not really created a solid tradition with this yet, getting it from a variety of places over the years but this year we decided to go to a cut your own for the first time. I had those visions of walking amongst the rows of trees happily deciding which one would be ours to take home, and actually it was pretty much like that, except for the weather was pretty miserable, Rohan wasn't that keen on being put down and it was harder than I imagined to find the right tree! But in the end we did, or well Theo did! We think he did a pretty good job selecting our tree, called Jane (they are all named!) and luckily we made it back to the car before it started raining again and Rohan had had enough! So I thought I'd share some photos of our little trip out and hopefully we will come back again.