This year we had a wonderful Christmas Eve

It is definitely my favourite day of the holidays

I love the magic

The building of the anticipation

The excitement

The preparation

We had planned to spend the day with very dear friends

But at the last minute they were unable to join us

I worried that the day would be flat without them

But it wasn’t

It was wonderful

A Christmas Eve to build on

For future Christmas Eves

Esther and William raced down the stairs

Knowing that today was the day

They could finally open door 24

On their WOW Advent Calendar

This was the first year that Esther and William have understood Advent

The Christmas countdown

The period of preparation and planning

They adored their advent calendars from WOW

I will definitely be buying them again next year

They opened each door carefully each day

Collected all the pieces

Played with the pieces throughout December

And then finally on Christmas Eve

They opened that last door and set up the entire scene

They loved it

And they are still playing with all the toys they collected now

The WOW Calendars were one of my best buys for Christmas 2015

They added a little extra magic to every Advent day

Breakfast was exciting as we talked about all that we needed to do that day

I switched on the computer and loaded up NORAD

So that we could see Santa taking to the skies and starting his trip around the world

It was so exciting

We kept refreshing the screen for updates

Checking where in the world Father Christmas was

And how many presents he had delivered

After getting dressed in fittingly festive fashion

We started the day with a trip to the next village

It is a beautiful village with lots of quirky little shops

And a rather fabulous bakery

There is a small cafe that we like there

And at Christmas it has a dancing Father Christmas that the children love

Daddy stationed himself in the coffee shop

And I took Esther and William (and Bea) one at a time

To buy a Christmas present for the other

They had a budget of £10

It was really lovely having such special one to one time

Something we do not do often enough

Both children were beautifully behaved and a pleasure to spend time with

They loved shopping for their twin

And Esther insisted on buying a present for Baby Tilda’s memory garden too

Esther came with me to the bakery to choose gingerbread and cakes

William came with me to the grocery store

To stock up on final provisions including some lovely crusty bread

We went home, put the Christmas music on

And tidied up the playroom ready for Father Christmas

We had a lovely lunch of sausages and crusty bread

We helped Esther and William wrap their presents to each other

Daddy took Bea for a nap

And we took the opportunity to stuff his Scruffs Stocking

We had chosen for him some outdoor working gloves, a warm woollen hat and some trainer socks

To help Daddy get running again in 2015

After lunch we made reindeer food

The fairies left us some of their magical fairy dust

Outside their Fairy Door

We had just enough to make enough food for all the reindeer

We had a lovely time out in the garden

Searching for candy canes that Daddy had hidden all around

Esther and William were allowed to swap their candy canes

For chocolate Santas and coins

When they came in from the cold

They ate their rewards and drank hot cocoa

While watching The Snowman

As we always do on Christmas Eve

Before the bath

We went outside to Baby Tilda’s memory garden

It looked so beautiful with all her Christmas lights

We had sparklers and spread out the reindeer food

We shouted Merry Christmas Baby Tilda

Up to our angel in the sky

It was lovely to include her so much

On the day before Christmas Day

After the bath it was time to put on Christmas pyjamas

Share some Christmas stories and some songs

Carefully Esther and William helped us to put out carrots for Rudolph

Mince pies, whisky and milk for the big man himself

And then two very excited children

And a very emotional mummy

Climbed the stairs to bed

Hanging up their beautiful stockings with such care

Esther and William listened to the audio of The Snowman in bed

And they did not make a single sound

Not a sound

They closed their eyes

And drifted off to sleep

Knowing that only if they slept would he come

Only if they slept

Would Father Christmas come

We were sent a hat, gloves and socks for Daddy’s stocking from the kind people at Scruffs