Look look look!

Isn't it lovely? This is my Christmas decoration from Snafflesmummy's Secret Swap. It arrived this morning, and the children couldn't BELIEVE that I had a present all for me (apparently Christmas is all about them, who knew?!). Anyway, it's from the lovely skirtsandwellies (http://skirtsandwellies.blogspot.com/) and it came jam full of little deer and chocolate Santas! Anything that involves chocolate is fabulous in my book.

Speaking of which, this is a very unfortunate time of year for someone such as I, who may or may not be attempting to eat in a low-GI kind of a fashion. Breakfast is normally a beautifully healthy bowl of porridge with grated apple, but by mid-afternoon I'm snarfing the Celebrations and Roses. It's an affliction! I've just had a few more Celebrations, because, well, it's the weekend and I went for a run this morning so I pretty much earned them. Or so I tell myself.

In other news, the Christmas tree is up, and the children are bursting with excitement. As am I. Excitement and chocolate.

Sibling rivalry

My children are going through a Fighty Phase.

Just before I sat down to type this, I heard an almighty roar from Tig. She was screaming because the Boy had turned all the lights off while she was sitting in her high chair at the dining table, leaving her in complete darkness while he scuttled off giggling into the playroom. I bashed my ankle very hard as I crossed the pitch-dark kitchen to find the light switch, too, so THAT didn't help the Boy's cause. Meanwhile Egg finds every possible opportunity that she can to remind the younger two that she is a LOT older, "practically an adult", and sneakily teasing them when she thinks I can't hear.

My punishment for the Boy for switching off the lights was to tell him that he won't get his long-awaited pack of Toy Story 2 stickers, which the Husband is bringing home for him tonight. He can have them tomorrow when he's demonstrated some good behaviour. Surprise, surprise, the reason I can type this in peace is that he's now being the Ultimate Big Brother. I can hear him saying "Shall we play with your babies, or shall we do a puzzle? You choose, Tig. We could play in your room!" It's all very sweet, but every so often he turns to me with a beatific toothless grin and whispers "Will I be getting my stickers now?". Little imp.

They'llbefriendswhenthey'reolderthey'llbefriendswhenthey'reolderthey'llbefriendswhenthey'reolder...And breathe.

Christmas is coming!

I loooooove Christmas. I could take it or leave it before I met my husband, but he has put the magic back in it for me (I vividly remember him turning up at my flat on our first Christmas Eve as a couple and unpacking the tree, decorations, and ready-wrapped presents he'd bought for me as he knew I wasn't planning to bother at all!). Since the children got to an age where they appreciate the festive season, too, I've become more and more addicted to the whole affair and now I'm worse than my husband for over-excited Christmas planning from as early as September.

Over the last two weeks the children and I have made our Christmas cakes (complete with very sweet wish-making from the two littlest children as they stirred the cake - eyes scrunched shut and lips moving frantically!); we have written our Christmas cards (or scribbled on them, in the case of Tig); bought lots of tins of chocolates and tubes of Pringles and squirrelled them away; and of course our DVD of The Snowman has made its annual appearance along with the pop-up Night Before Christmas book. I am aware it's only the second of December...

I've got all the shopping done, too. The most fun for me this year has been choosing presents for my best girl friends - unfortunately my excitement means I've had to buy them all variations of the same item in a lot of cases, as I knew they'd all love it equally, but at least I've managed to get different colourways to save confusion! It's better to buy them all the same thing, anyway. Saves arguments.

This photo was taken LAST Christmas, by the way. We haven't got a tree up. It always goes up the weekend after Egg's birthday, so that'll be the 13th this year. Also, Tig is a LOT bigger now than she was in this photo!