Christmas this year was a revelation.
We had the English extended family to stay. It definitely emphasised how much life has gone back to ‘normal’ and Covid restrictions seem a welcome distant memory…
The holiday season started with our son expressing some doubt about Santa Claus. As he is 12, this wasn’t unexpected, although he rapidly back pedalled when I mentioned that Santa doesn’t come to unbelievers.
There were also stern words about making sure the cousins (7 and 5) got no whiff of the sceptism. The newly hatched one (a few weeks old at this stage) probably has a few years until we need to worry about that!
The kids definitely embraced their elder status and did a great job of entertaining the wee ones. Very helpful when our hob cracked up under the pressure and stopped working on Christmas Eve eve. Luckily there’s not much you can’t do on a barbecue (including Christmas gravy) and, most importantly, the last minute borrowing of a kettle ensured tea supply was not interrupted.
The competitive spirit was also in full force, with the traditional After Eight game requiring a World Cup level tournament (won by getting a square peppermint chocolate from your forehead to your mouth the fastest using only the muscles on your face and gravity for those unfamiliar with the game!).
We could have done with some independent referees, as one son needed reminding the chocolate needs to start above the eye brows and there seemed to be a lot of rematches due to ‘photo’ finishes…
Unsurprisingly, the board games at New Year’s were similarly competitive, and somehow the evening didn’t wrap up until after 1am. Most importantly, no one was in a hurry to get up the next morning, which was definitely a change from years past, when the little blighters could be guaranteed to be up and at ‘em at 6am sharp!
Perhaps there’s some benefits to this tweenagery stage after all!
Tough Mother 