love it, love it, love it (My Perfect Christmas)

Member Name: freud

Product:	My Perfect Christmas
Date:	26/10/08 (107 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: relaxing & pure heaven

Disadvantages: only lasts 1 day - then hubby back to work...

I'm almost 56 but I still behave like a kid at Christmas - ever seen the Mr Bean Christmas episode? - that's me - jumping up & down with excitement on Christmas morning!

The best thing about Christmas for me is that 25th Dec is the ONE day a year my hubbie has off work (he's self-employed) so it's great for my daughters & I to have him to ourselves.

My daughters are now aged 22 & 17 so the early rising in our house doesn't exist for us anymore so I'm always up first so I can do some preparation in the kitchen & enjoy the moment.
My Mum died 5 years ago & I miss her so much but she was a Christmas-lover too so I think she'd be smiling down on us all.
I take this quiet time to count my blessings as I take nothing for granted.

As long as the house looks overdecorated & Christmassy I'm happy. The tree & other decorations go up on 10th for my daughter's birthday & the presents are beautifully wrapped (in 1/2 price January sale) wrapping paper awaiting their big reveal.

Christmas celebrations begin my daughters surface - even at their ages they still like their Christmas stockings which are full of items I've bought throughout the year & include some practical items & some jokey ones.

We always have warm rolls with Lurpak - a family tradition going back years - and eat them in our pjs with just the tree lights on.

Present-opening follows but I always make sure I have a list of who's given what so that 'thankyou' letters are sent.

I love hearing the family laughing & joking whilst I'm in the kitchen - it warms my heart!

We generally eat whenever we feel like & only get dressed if we want to as Christmas Day is just us.

There are the lovely phone calls from the rest of my family & then it's time to watch some festive films such as Mr Bean & vintage DISNEY Christmas ones - again, part of our traditional day.

Lunch is a traditional Christmas roast with all the trimmings followed by Christmas pud.

As well as buying all my wrapping paper, gift tags etc in the January sales, I also try to buy really good crackers, so we wear our silly hats & tell the daft jokes & discuss the novelties inside.

We usually reminisce about family & friends, past Christmasses, future Christmasses etc. by candlelight & generally just 'chill'.

The dishes go in the dishwasher & it's back to film-watching as generally we can't find anything good on TV that suits us all.

We like Wallace & Grommit, Creature Comfort-type things - at this time (early evening) we are usually falling asleep so nobody really cares.

I feel sorry when I hear that many people get very stressed at this time of year & a bit guilty that I have such a relaxing day with my family.

I'm making the most of it now because before hopefully there will be grandchildren & I'll be up at 5am with little ones & Christmas will be totally different but just as enjoyable!

Summary: the BEST time of year for me