Jenny Cole: My Christmas 2013

Monday, 30 December 2013

My Christmas 2013

So, after all that preparation and excitement, Christmas has now been and gone. I hope you all had a lovely time over Christmas whatever you were doing, and managed to relax a bit and spend time with those you love.

I had a lovely Christmas with my family, so I thought I’d do a little post to sum it all up, as I know I always love reading about how others have celebrated and what Santa brought them.

It began with Christmas Eve. I spent the afternoon down at my Church with my Dad and sister, where we hold three Crib (Nativity) Services, which are always packed out with the local community. I’ve been going to them for as long as I can remember and I can’t think of a better way to spend Christmas Eve, reminding myself of what Christmas is all about. This year I spent my time dressed as an angel for the Nativity scene, looking after some little angels. Other years I’ve been Angel Gabriel and even Mary – who said Nativity plays are just for children?! After this, I came home, got into my new Christmas pyjamas and hung my stocking at the foot of my bed, reading for Santa to visit.

My personalised stocking

Christmas Pyjamas from M&S

When I was younger, Christmas morning usually started in the small hours of the morning, waiting excitedly until we were allowed to go into my parents’ room to open our stockings. These days, with us all being older, things are a little more leisurely and we tend to get up at about 8am to open stockings. After breakfast, we donned our Christmas jumpers and headed to Church for a short Christmas morning service.

My brother, David, and I. His jumper is from Next and mine is from New Look

Our day was a bit switched around this year, as my sister had to work at the stables in the afternoon, which is when we would normally open our Christmas tree gifts. So, after Church, we all settled down in the lounge and opened our presents. I was very spoilt, but what I really enjoyed was seeing the rest of my family opening the gifts I had bought them. We even got Alfie and Freddie a couple of bits to open.

Freddie sporting his new coat

We moved our Christmas meal to the evening, so we could all sit down together. My sister got home at about 6pm to the yummy smells of my Dad’s Christmas dinner, and we all sat down together to enjoy it. My friend then popped over with her husband, and we exchanged Christmas presents and had a little festive tipple. Then, with our tummies nice and full, we went back to our usual Christmas Day traditions and settled down in front of the TV to watch Doctor Who and a few other Christmas specials.

I feel extremely lucky and grateful for all the beautiful gifts I received, but also for having such a special family to spend Christmas with. I thought I’d share a few of my presents with you all to end this post.