Well that’s Christmas over for another year. How is it that there are months of build up and in one day it’s all done and dusted? Presents delivered, turkey eaten and a whole new toy shop to house somewhere.

Our Christmas has been wonderful, if exhausting! This year Molly was old enough to appreciate the whole build up to Christmas. She loved writing her letter to Santa and opening her advent calendar. She chose presents for the grandparents and wrote cards to all her friends. She was beyond excited for the big day and the excitement was rubbing off on Alice too.

However, as is always the case with little’s you just can’t plan. I was meant to be writing a post about how Christmas was perfect but as is often the way illness struck. Unfortunately last Wednesday Alice started developing a cough and a bit of a temperature and a few hours later was a very poorly little girl. She gets a lot of chest infections so we popped to the doctors for a check and ended up being sent to hospital for monitoring. Not quite what I had planned for Christmas Eve Eve! Luckily we were sent home later that evening so Christmas Eve was a mad panic to catch up on a missed day of jobs. My relaxing day of film watching got pushed to the wayside. I did however manage to get to the local church nativity play with Molly which never fails to get me in the Christmas spirit with some carols and a hilariously sweet play from the children. It was then round to the neighbours for mulled wine and mince pies but Alice quickly ensured I headed home with her crying and general winging. Fun times.

The excitement at bedtime was amazing. Molly left a mince pie for Santa and a carrot for Rudolph (which I managed to nibble away at later for authenticity). Luckily she went down to bed easily after a story of ‘The Jolly Christmas Postman’. Alice was a different story and I was up most of the night looking after her so woke up Christmas morning shattered having had only one hours sleep. She was up first and the poorly pops didn’t even notice her stocking which was such a shame. Edd decided to wake Molly at seven rather than let her sleep in. I think the excitement was a bit too much for him! The girls, and me, were thoroughly spoilt and, despite our best intentions, Santa may have bought one too many toys.

I was off cooking duty this year, which given Alice’s illness, was a blessing. So after a nice quiet morning we headed over to my sisters for lunch. Luckily she is only 20 minutes away as not sure they would have sat still for any longer. The girls were over the moon to see everyone, quite possibly as there were more presents, and had an absolute blast. Lunch was delicious even if I did almost fall asleep in the turkey! As lovely a day as it was most of it passed in a blur of tiredness but as us mums do I powered through somehow. The girls had an amazing time and Molly is so sad it is all over. Luckily Alice had little moments of energy so was able to enjoy some of the day and managed a few mouthfuls of dinner. I think it caught up with her though as she slept the whole of boxing day! Molly meanwhile has survived the last few days on a diet of crisps and chocolate.

Despite the illness, lack of sleep and general poorliness it was a thoroughly magical day and so many memories were created. I’m now looking forward to a few days of relaxation and hopefully catching up on a bit of sleep.

So how did you all find Christmas this year? Any funny stories or disasters to share? Did anyone else end up with a poorly little? Or did it all go past in one big happy blur.