This year, Christmas Day was a special one for us, not only as it was Lily’s first one, but also it was the first time we hosted it at ours, with all the family coming to us! My husband did all the cooking, while I did all the cleaning up and decluttering in the weeks beforehand. It was exciting doing the food shop and getting everything ready. And with Tyler being at school, he has learnt so much more about the season that he was really excited for Christmas Day, mostly to open the presents under the tree, but also he has been singing Christmas songs everyday. On Christmas Eve he put a pie, milk and a carrot out for Santa and his reindeer, and then he went to bed himself as he couldn’t wait for the morning!

And when the big day came, the emotion in Tyler’s voice when he saw everybody he loved was in his home, his Nana and Grandpa, his Ajee, Uncle Zu and Aunty, I thought he was going to cry. He even rubbed his eyes, saying in a broken voice “Everybody is here!” And Lily was happy having people around too.

I really loved having my family in my home, it was really, really special. My brother and sister stayed over, which made Tyler’s day, and we stayed up playing party games while Tyler and Lily slept. That’s what Christmas is about right, having fun with your family.

The rest of the week has been lovely, just having my husband home and being a family, not having to get out of our pjs till late, eating whenever, going out whenever. Nothing was planned, we just did things spur of the moment, and that’s with a baby too! On Boxing Day we drove to Saville Gardens and went on that Edwardian Carousel. While we were there, we found a pop-up cinema with bean bags on the floor and a screen set up. It was really cosy and it was free, so we watched a mini Madagascar movie. Both Tyler and Lily loved it!

On Tuesday we took Tyler on the X74 bus to High Wycombe as he has been wanting to go since seeing this bus everyday when we walk to school. It took about 45 minutes and we had lunch in Frankie and Benny’s there. The next day, Tyler wanted to go on the Windsor train, so he went with his daddy and they had a father-son afternoon, while Lily and I went sale shopping. I got some right bargains in Zara and Gap! On Thursday we had another train day and went to meet friends in Canary Wharf before going on the cable car and DLR. And today we just chilled at home having a movie day and playing with toys and eating pizza.

And that leaves the last day of the year, I can’t believe 2016 has come to an end. I must admit I wished most of the year away – half the year I was pregnant and couldn’t wait to meet Honey Nut, I was crossing the days off my calendar to start my maternity leave. And then she arrived, and yes she is amazing, but I was wishing the newborn days away as they were really hard. Tyler started school which I found really hard to accept, feeling like it was the end of an era, of all our fun days out, not seeing my parents as much as we used to, worrying that he would grow up and be different. There were lonely days in the early weeks, when I hadn’t made any new mum friends yet, and I was scared that this was what life would be like now.

But now on 31st December 2016, I feel the happiest I have been in a long time. I love seeing how much Tyler loves school, his teachers and all his little friends. Lily is 6 months, sitting up, eating food and is so much fun. I’m looking forward to catching up with friends old and new in the new year. We have the holidays and weekends to have days out, so school has definitely not been the end of fun days. I haven’t made any resolutions for the new year, just to keep on looking after my two little ones, make time for my husband and family, aim to get Lily totally on the bottle so we can have some nights out. I’d like to focus more on my blog, make sure I post regularly on my local area, write about interiors as well as the baby stuff. And I suppose I should add Lily to the drawing on my Mummy Stylist header!

That’s all I can think to write now, just going to enjoy the next few days before my husband goes back to work. For now, our tree is still up and it’s nice having family time. I hope you’re still enjoying this holiday time too 🙂

Sabrina x