Dec 6th

Callum turned on the lights of the Santa Train by himself this morning and played for ages with the flashing snowman ornament I bought him this year! He chose the blue one for himself this year and a red one for Connor!
He loves opening his advent train boxes each day only trouble is he wants to open more than one, he's usually pretty good at putting them back but can't quite manage to put the lids back on!

He's been busy making christmas things at playgroup too but he can't bring them home yet! As there his 1st christmas things from playgroup I want to keep them for his album so I'm going to get him to paint some christmas pictures with the sponges he received in his advent calendar on saturday to give to his Grandparents!

Dec 5th

Have you put your tree up yet? We put ours up tonight, well I should say my darling husband put it up and did most of the decorating! We've got some special baubles on ours that remimd us of special times and places we've visited (look out for a post later this month showcasing some of them).



Here's Callum putting his special named Santa from his 1st Christmas on the tree!

What special things do you have on your tree?

Dec 4th

Have you seen this film? I put it on yesterday for Callum to watch and watch he did. He was fascinated by the train and the huge tree and then by Santa! I wasn't sure he'd sit for very long but it must have captured him as he watched the whole film and then was quite happy to watch part of it again later! He seems really excited about Christmas and Santa this year! When we talk to him about it being Christmas soon he says 'why', typical 2 year old questioning everything! 
What's your/your kids favourite christmas film?

Dec 2nd

For me it begins to feel like christmas when I first hear a particular advert on the telly, can you guess which one?

So you can imagine my excitement when I found out the truck was coming to the Trafford Centre, We just had to go and visit. Luckily the queue wasn't too long and we got to have our photo taken by the Coca Cola Elves in front of the truck. 

There were opportunities to take other pictures and have a sample of the well known drink! Think we could have done with a hot drink though as the cans were so cold and it was cold enough outside! 

So what makes you feel christmassy? 

Christmas Journal

This year I am doing my own version of Ali Edwards December Daily!
Day one for us is the boys opening the 1st day of their advent calendars! Callum has had a train since his first christmas and opened no.1 to find a Bob the Builder figure and a white chocolate snowman. Connor has got a fabric advent tree with pockets and he had a chocolate button wrapped in silver foil(his first ever chocolate) I think he liked it!
Photos to follow........

Christmas Cards

Now's the time of year when everybody is buying cards from the shops or if your a crafty type you may be thinking about making your own if you haven't already. Since our first son was born we've made cards for close friends and family with him dressed in a Christmas outfit, This year we have 2 sons so to make the process easier I plan on using Tiny Prints.I'm loving this design in particular, as we're planning on the boys being a snowman and an elf!

So have you made/bought your cards already? Do leave me a comment if you've made them as I'm after some inspiration for those people we don't send a photo card too!

Christmas Traditions

I've been thinking about Christmas for the last few days (I think it's allowed now we're half way through November) and deciding what activities I think would be good to do with my 2 young sons especially the 2 1/2 year old! Since he was born we've had a couple of Christmas traditions, we go and watch the Christmas lights switch on in the local suburb, visit Santa at the local Christmas fair and visit the Manchester Christmas Markets!


source
My mum has been saying that she'd like to visit the markets but hasn't been able to, so today Mum and Dad are making the trip up to come and see them for the first time. We'll go again with Daddy in December!

So what traditions do you have/did you have when your children were small. If you don't have children I'd love to know what makes the festive season special for you!

Foodie Christmas Countdown

If you've not got an advent calendar and love food go over to this website and enjoy opening your own advent calendar and learning some new recipes along the way

December already

Wow, can't believe how fast November has flown, I've got a few projects on the go for December;

I'm hoping to keep a December Daily album starting today with the first day of advent calenders
I also hoping to keep up with the new blogging targets i have set myself so a day late
here's my monday munchies for this week

German Lebkuchen
these always remind me of christmas and the german market in Manchester which i look forward to going to again this year,
You can find the recipe here . I saw this recipe on another blog but can't for the life of me remember whose it was so if you posted this recipe leave me a comment so i can link to your blog.
If you've got an interesting christmas recipe to share leave me a comment with a link to your blog and i might feature it in the next few weeks