Don’t Mention the Tree!

Christmas Eve at High Winds

Hello! I hope you all had a great Christmas. We had nine for Christmas dinner which by our books was a very small gathering and counts for a quiet Christmas as it was  just us! It was a much needed break as the last two months have been really busy with a constant stream of visitors, church ministry, travelling and more. Our guest bedrooms have been in constant use. It was funny sitting down to dinner with just the family, we kept wondering who was missing!

So what is Christmas like at High Winds? Well, I love Christmas and have a weak spot for opening presents. The first year I moved out after getting married, Martin and I turned up at my parents house at 6am ready to open presents! They weren’t best pleased. If you know my parents well you will know they are not early morning people. (I’m not either unless it is Christmas or my birthday.) So I started a new family tradition a few years back – we celebrate Christmas on Christmas Eve.

This year Martin and I took our children on a train ride to meet Father Christmas. That was lots of fun. Then in the evening we got dressed up and had a little family party with a buffet, games and of course my favourite – opening presents.

Our presents wouldn’t fit under the tree this year. Actually there is a bit of a story about the tree. The boys were sent out on a mission to find a tree, address, satnav and saw in hand. They had very specific instructions as to where to go to find the most superior tree that they would get to cut down themselves (adding to the manly adventure). They followed the satnav half way and then followed the road signs. They of course ended up at the wrong place, so they didn’t get to use the saw and came home with an asymmetrical tree with droopy branches that didn’t do a very good job of keeping the baubles on (add a cat and a toddler into the mix and there is no chance of the decorations staying put). It also came all the way down to the ground meaning we took over half my Mum’s office to pile up the presents instead.

After the initial telling off, we all had a good laugh knowing we had given a special wonky tree a very loving home, and it didn’t look too bad after it was all dressed up.

We enjoyed a big roast dinner on Christmas day with all the trimmings, followed by the Queen’s Speech, playing with toys, helping Benjamin to whip up a cuddly toy bunny on his new sewing machine and the highlight of my evening – watching the Royal Ballet’s Swan Lake with my feet up after the kids had gone to bed.

So a wonderful Christmas was had by all – but don’t mention the tree!

The magic of Christmas never ends because its greatest gift is family and friends