December felt like it disappeared in a flash – I blinked and missed it. It’s been a month full of exams and illness, plus the fridge-freezer decided to break down in quite dramatic fashion five days before Christmas as well, with no engineer available to come and fix it until the evening before Christmas Eve – a full 96 hours later. This resulted in a lot of food having to be thrown away (which I feel awful about, but it really wasn’t safe to eat) and a slightly stressful mad dash to the supermarket early on Christmas Eve morning. It all worked out ok in the end though, as things usually do.
It’s also been a month of celebrations – there have been two birthdays, one of which was a pretty big milestone – so those, along with all the usual Christmassy festivities, balanced out the challenges. Mostly.
Here are all the little things I’ve been loving lately throughout December…
READ
Beach Read: by Emily Henry. Contemporary romance is not usually a genre I tend to read all that often, so it took me a little while to get into this book – several chapters to be honest – but once I did, I was invested (even if the enemies-to-lovers trope was a little bit predictable at times). I wanted to find out how it ended and found myself picking it up to read a few more pages whenever I got the chance. It took me about a week to finish, a fairly easy read that I didn’t need to think about too much, but still enjoyed. This author has written quite a few books – I liked her style of writing so I might borrow some more from Ella to give my brain a break in between more challenging reads.
‘Beach Read’ by Emily Henry
WATCHED
Panto: Going to the pantomime at Christmas has been a family tradition since the girls were small – we go every year without fail. It was ‘Jack And The Beanstalk’ this year, although only the girls and I went to see it as Neil was really ill with Covid. He was far too poorly to leave the house and there’s no way we would have put all of the other families attending the show at risk.
As always, it was a brilliant performance – there were mishaps a-plenty (mostly intentional although some were definitely unintended!) and the Giant was amazing. I’m honestly still not sure if it was an animatronic or whether it was actually a person inside a costume.
The girls felt a little awkward at first and Ella even whispered to me “Mum, we’re waaaaaay to old to be here”, but they were soon giggling uncontrollably – the best thing about going to the panto with teenagers is that they actually understand all the innuendo implied in the jokes now. I hope that we keep up the ritual over the next few years while they’re all still living at home.
‘Jack And The Beanstalk’ at Stafford Gatehouse Theatre – brilliant as always!
HEARD
Myles Smith: Lola and I listen to the radio in the car on the daily journeys to school and back. I’ve noticed two songs in particular – ‘Nice To Meet You’ and ‘Stargazing’, both by Myles Smith – being played quite a lot. I like them enough to have added them to my ‘Favourites’ and ‘Good Mood Music‘ playlists on Spotify. They’re upbeat, and a perfect antidote to the incessant Christmas music that I’ve been tuning out all month as it’s been being played in our house since before Halloween.
MADE
Photobook: Ella was gifted some quite big presents as it was a milestone birthday. She got tickets to see one of her favourite music artists perform live; a selection of books (18 books for her 18th birthday!); jewellery, clothes; spending money and more… I wanted to give her something really special and personal to mark the occasion as well, so I made her a photobook full of photos from the day she was born right up until now.
I spent hours & hours over the course of many evenings in the months and weeks leading up to her birthday putting it together. I went through literally tens of thousands of images I’ve taken throughout her life – from my camera, my phone and my archives – chose my favourites and then collated them all, arranging them as best as I could in year order. I also included a few special holidays (like our trips to Disney in Florida, Italy, Boston, Spain and the Isle of Wight) and events like flower girl duties and Year 11 prom interspersed throughout as well.
It was an immensely emotional process and I cried many tears over happy memories, people no longer with us, funny stories, silly expressions, hugs and smiles and nostalgia at how she’s grown up over the years. It was a big project but it was 100% worth it. I caught her flipping through it and getting a bit tearful in her bedroom later that evening. I really hope it’s something she keeps forever.
Ella flipping through her photobook
So many memories…
WORE
Sparkles: You know how some families stay in their pjs all day on Christmas Day, and some people like to dress up all fancy? We are a total mixture of the two. One teenager resolutely remained in her pyjamas (even for dinner), one was half in pjs and half in clothes, and one opted for her comfiest casual outfit. One of us (me!) wore a sparkly jumper and one donned a Christmas jumper.
AND FINALLY…
Ella’s 18th birthday!: As previously mentioned, Ella turned eighteen at the start of December and it still hasn’t really landed with me that she’s now officially an adult. She was the one who made me a mum – I can still remember her kicks and wriggles from when she was in my belly, and can still feel what it was like to hold her for the very first time – and now she’s grown up into this strong, brave, smart, funny, generous, loyal, kind and beautiful girl who I am just so incredibly proud of.
It’s a cliche I know, but it really does feel like she was a toddler not that long ago, and then I blinked and now we’re here. The high school and college years in particular seem to have gone super fast. She has so many adventures ahead of her and she’s not who she’s going to be yet – the next year is going to be full of changes and even though I still think of her as my baby (and probably always will, for all three of them!), I know she’s ready to take on the challenge.
Sophie came up to stay for the weekend to celebrate with us and we went out for dinner to mark the occasion.
Her main present was two tickets to see her favourite music artist perform live – this was her reaction and I’m so glad I caught it on camera
Me and my baby (and yes, she’s taller than me)
Heading out for a birthday dinner
Christmas: We had an extra guest with us for Christmas this year… Covid. Neil got it first and was really poorly with it, then Mimi tested positive on Christmas morning – she just about managed to do the day with us but then spent the next three days in bed really quite unwell. It seems to be a particularly nasty variant this time around.
The girls were all thrilled with their gifts, and they were very grateful for everything they received from ‘Santa’, family and friends. I was given an excellent book haul that I can’t wait to dive into. Lola and I were victorious once again in Ella’s Annual Christmas Quiz (we’ve only ever lost once!), and dinner was proclaimed to be “the best one yet” even though the Yorkshire puddings were a *teeny* bit too crispy.
Covid in the house also meant that we had to postpone my parents coming up for mini-Christmas with us, so that’ll most likely happen in January instead. It spreads the festivities out a bit, even though I felt sad not to see them.
Opening their Christmas presents 🙂
My rather excellent book haul. I cannot wait to get stuck into these!
That’s it – the final chapter of the year is closed. 2024 has been a doozy – full of good things and memory making moments, and also full of challenges and change. And now we’re about to start a brand new year full of possibilities and adventures.
I hope that you found plenty of little things to love throughout December and that 2025 is everything you want it to be and more.
With love,
Chloe x
