Midweek Musings: Christmas, Christmas, Christmas!

Just a quick one this week - to wish you all a very happy Christmas!

We're spending Christmas week down at my folks', and have already enjoyed two family Christmas get-togethers and far too much cheese! Daph is being spoilt rotten by my parents and all the visitors we've had. And I've been getting some lie-ins as Granny looks after Daphne for me ;)

It was funny trying to decide what to get Her Majesty for Christmas, as obviously she's still so little and doesn't have a clue what's going on, and also, I seem to be continually buying her stuff anyway. We did buy one of those peculiar Mamas & Papas Baby Snugs for her as she loves sitting up so much, and were going to wrap it and put it under the tree but then it seemed daft not to get it out and use it when she is desperate for it!

We also bought her a projector light show for her cot, which has worked really well at entertaining her for a bit while we groan when she's decided 6am is the time that the day should start.

Oli and I always do rather OTT stockings for each other, so I'm looking forward to that! He also said he's bought Daphne a few bits which will be a nice surprise for me :) And he already surprised me on Saturday by giving me this beautiful handmade decoration as a reminder of Daph's first Christmas! Again, I cried. Ridiculous.

I'm going to have a little break from blogging now as no one wants to read posts over the Christmas holidays. But I'll be back in the New Year (soz). Thanks to everyone who reads my ramblings, and thanks even more to those who leave comments! It's so nice to have an outlet when I'm not working - although I will be starting a new freelance job in January (eeek!) which is very exciting - more on that in the New Year...

Hope you all have an absolutely wonderful Christmas break, filled with friends, family and the aforementioned cheese! See you in 2016!

Afterthought: this post is severely lacking in snark. Must be the Christmas spirit getting to me.

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Daphne's Christmas tree

Like most people, I bloody love Christmas. Despite living in a compact flat, every year I've insisted that O and I get a massive tree and go to town decorating it. It has to be real, of course (THE SMELL!). And every year if I'm honest it's kind of a bit of a pain in the arse getting it back from the garden centre, up the stairs, and into position without it being wonky or either of us wanting to yell at the other. I seem to remember last year being a particularly stressful affair - as I recall the net machine in Homebase was broken, it was pouring with rain and when we got home we realised a huge chunk of the tree trunk had to be sawn off because it was too wide for the stand (which took hours and nearly ruined my carpet), .

However, I usually have selective amnesia about how stressful getting a tree can be, and within five minutes of it being up and decked and covered in twinkly lights, I'm all oohs and aahs and wasn't that worth it.

But this year we have a baby. And having a baby seems to have made our flat even smaller than ever. Mostly because of the proliferation of baby gubbins that has taken over the living room. Also, Oli starts rehearsing a new show this week and then will be away for most of December, and I'm off to hunker down at my parents' house in the Surrey wilderness while he's gone.

So this year, we decided to go small. Get a tiny tree. In a pot this time, so that we can keep it alive and bring it out every year. We thought we'd make it Daphne's tree, so that every year she can have it in her bedroom, and decorate it how she likes. Apart from this year, of course, when she's too small so Mummy gets total control.

Mummy decided that, to go with the tiny tree, we needed a whole new batch of decorations, and we went with a woodland theme... little birds, hedgehogs and bunnies, and plenty of berries. All from our local garden centre, at the National Trust Morden Hall Park (sidenote: well worth a visit if you live in SW London!)

I love it. It's titchy but so cute and still brings lots of festive cheer to the living room, sitting quite happily alongside all the brightly coloured plastic that keeps Daph entertained while I'm writing these groundbreaking posts. Part of me wonders why I didn't go down the tiny tree route before - it's so much easier and cheaper and really does look adorable.

I also scattered a few tiny little touches around the room which are slightly more 'grown up'.

All I need now is the ubiquitous White Company Winter candle, and my Christmas decor is complete...