Our Christmas tree is now down and the decorations are all neatly boxed up and ready for next year. Being me they have all been put away tidily and labelled so when we do the tree next year its exciting and fun and not stressful unravelling lights and looking for the right decorations for the trees. Being organised is me, I like being organised it makes life simpler and easier.  In reading my latest version of the Simple Life Magazine I came across this word. meraki in an article about translations, I love it and it describes so much of what I do and how I am in everything but especially Christmas

My last job of Christmas is to complete my Christmas book, a way of putting all my notes and plans together. I note down our decorations, menus, gifts and special activities and add copies of recipes, our Christmas card etc.. It’s a nice memory activity and it’s interesting to compare Chrstmases over the past 6 years, it also saves duplicating present!  In the book I also jot down my favourite memories of the Christmas and I thought I would share these here today. When I wrote this year’s down it struck me that it’s not a list of expensive presents and activities but the simple things which made Christmas 2015 special.

In no particular order here are our special memories from Christmas 2015.

1. Tommy the Elf. I have become more creative in the scenes this year as I love doing Tommy and the fun he brings every morning. His daily letters are fun to write and sum up all the excitement and sparkle of Christmas.
2. Advent calendars. Chocolate calendars can be quite stressful with Little Man as he tries to sneak his chocolate out and the calendar ends up being placed up high. This year, Little Miss surprisingly chose a picture calendar which was beautiful and so much nicer than the chocolate version, definitely one to encourage again next year.
3. The Christmas Tree festival. This was a new activity for us this year and we loved it, Christmas trees, Christmas crafts, a dress up nativity scene and a café. It was a really special and beautiful event.
4. The Nutcracker ballet. Whilst this is still on my bucket list to see at London, I would love to try and see it annually after the success of this year’s theatre trip.
5. Homemade Decorations. After inspiration from Pinterest we had a go at the button decorations and it was really rather nice to have our decorations on our tree. I like that our tree reflects us. I do fancy learning crochet so that I can have a go at crochet decorations next year!
6. Christmas Jumpers and Hats. I was really pleased with our selection this year, Little Man’s reindeer jumper was gorgeous and he got great wear from it. It was lovely on the last day of school to go into his class and see all of the pupils in their Christmas jumpers, so cute. Little Miss’ class didn’t embrace the idea so enthusiastically, perhaps it’s an age thing!
7. Santa Letters.  My Mum did an amazing job writing and sending the letters from Santa this year.  They were so personal and thoughtful, she is a very special Grandma.
8. Christmas cookies. This is always a quiet (ish) activity for December 23^rd and the cookies are put on the tree to give a gorgeous smell. It’s one of my favourite things to do and I have photos from the last 6 Christmases showing the children baking and decorating.
9. Christmas Eve Cinema. We all went to watch Star Wars on Christmas eve and it was brilliant. The film was epic, but the atmosphere and excitement made it much more than a trip to the cinema.
10. Tracking Santa. We have tracked Santa for the past few years on the NORAD website but felt inspired to send an email this year. It was really sweet typing out what the children wanted me to write; that they had left a mince pie for Santa and a carrot for the reindeers, that they loved him very much and to fly safely. It was magical to receive a personalised reply within a few minutes.
11. Reindeer Ramble. I have come across some of the reindeers in our local country park on my recent runs but on Boxing day we decided to do the trail. It was a lot of fun and the atrocious muddy conditions just seemed to make it even more exhilarating and memorable.