That was Christmas...Hello 2015!

After an absolutely wonderful Christmas surrounded by the people I love most in this world, I am now ready to face 2015 with positivity and determination.  I made a conscious decision to keep the laptop packed away over the holidays and concentrate on nothing more than having fun, making memories and enjoying the time spent with my family.

I was so happy to have all three of my grown-up children home over the holidays. Having all five of my children together is definitely one of my greatest pleasures.  It makes me feel complete. I love the dynamic of the relationships, the laughter and the love.

Adding my gorgeously cute little grandson Ted to the mix adds to the fun.  I was overjoyed this Christmas, to feel that little Ted had really bonded with his McDonald family. He was so happy and comfortable in our house, giving us hugs, saying our names and playing with us. He reminded me so much of Joe when he was a toddler, especially when he decimated the chocolate Santa tree decorations, searching for them among the baubles and proudly declaring that he had 'chocwot' every time he found one!  Ted also bonded beautifully with his Great Grandad.  Watching them having fun together was so heartwarming.  The oldest and the youngest member of the family united through the power of play!

We continued with  lots of festive family traditions this year.  From doing lots of arts and crafts activities in the run up to Christmas to baking lots of festive treats including our gingerbread house.

Choosing the tree that would be brought into our home for Christmas is a serious business and this year we found the perfect tree in our local garden centre and enjoyed a warming hot chocolate in the cafe afterwards.  We decorated it together using the baubles I have collected over the years, each one holding memories of Christmases past.  The children also get to choose a new bauble each year.  This year, Disney princesses and felt covered deer were added to the eclectic collection.

The gifts were spread out this year with a present each on Winter Solstice that paid homage to Ian's Scottish ancestry.  We bought McDonald tartan inspired presents for everyone, which included a shirt, a scarf, pyjama bottoms and a nightshirt.

As usual all the Christmas dinner prep was carried out on Christmas Eve whilst the South Park Christmas CD was played!  I also made a hearty, wholesome vegetable soup for our lunch.  Something healthy before the onslaught of Christmas Day excess.

Christmas Eve gifts included matching onesies for the girls and Minion pj's for Freddy along with a new mug for hot chocolate, slippers, Christmas pants and socks along with a new teddy to hug, all wrapped in a festively decorated box.

The kids designed a plate to leave Santa's snacks on and Freddy sprinkled reindeer dust in the garden.

Christmas stockings were left on the children's door handles ready to be discovered and brought into our king size bed in the morning to be opened.  The door to the living room was covered in wrapping paper for Freddy to burst through to discover all the goodies that Santa had delivered.

But before the unwrapping commenced we sat down to a breakfast of freshly backed croissants and Buck's Fizz to set us up for the day ahead.

My mum and dad joined us on Christmas day which was a real honour and made the day so special. They loved their presents and I managed to make my wonderful dad shed a tear or two of emotion when he opened a framed family photo montage that I made for them. I love doing nice things for my parents and sharing Christmas Day with them is right up there in those things I enjoy.

Dinner this year was a vegan feast including a homemade nut roast.  I looked at so many recipes but couldn't find any that really ticked all the boxes. So I made up my own recipe incorporating all the elements I liked, tweaking it to suit our needs.  So the Lentil, Cashew Nut and Chestnut Roast was born (recipe to follow soon.)  It was a huge hit, especially with my dad who ate tonnes of the stuff!  I served it with a vegan 'sausage' and chestnut stuffing, which was like a main course in its own right, and all the usual Christmas dinner trimmings (including vegan pigs in blankets).

This year we had a Big Christmas Challenge after dinner, which I had spent weeks working on.  It included questions on 2014, news, films, music, Christmas traditions, carols, anagrams, picture quizzes etc plus each family member wrote 5 questions based on their own 2014 experiences to test everyone on.  It was a lot of fun and kept us all busy in the post dinner lull!

We got to do Christmas all over again two days later when Joe, Jade and Ted visited for the weekend. My parents came back again too to see them all bringing four generations together under one roof. Ella's boyfriend Frank also came to stay and we enjoyed another roast dinner and even more presents.  We discovered that Frank is one of the most thoughtful gift givers ever and that he makes my daughter so happy...definitely a keeper!

Thankfully, the illness that has plagued me for the past 8 weeks did not spoil my Christmas in any way.  I battled through and refused to let it get  the better of me.  I'm still not 100% better yet, but feel revitalised and ready to take on 2015!

Christmas was definitely pretty chaotic and hectic this year, but it was tonnes of fun and filled with hundreds of happy moments that we will remember for years to come.  Family means everything to me and spending the festive season with my loved ones was a simply perfect end to the year.

How To Divide Your Time at Christmas!

Jade, my lovely future daughter-in-law and mother to my baby grandson Ted, has written me this guest post about what Christmas means to her and how she plans to juggle her time with the festive demands of big families!

"Christmas comes this time each year...

It only comes once and it flies by quite fast so it is often hard to squeeze in everything you want to do over the holidays. The most important part of Christmas to me is spending much needed time with friends and family.

With Joe and I coming from quite large families there is always lots of fun to be had in December but it can also be quite a stressful time, especially with a baby in tow. 

To make those few festive days less stressful we have always divided our yuletide celebrations evenly between each of our families. We alternate spending Christmas in Shropshire with Joe's family and New Year in Northampton with mine and swapping each year.

With Ted being born so close to Christmas last year we wanted to be close to home so stayed here with my family but this year is the McDonald's Christmas and it is set to be one to remember...our first vegan Christmas! 

My side of the family also have a little gathering in the run up for to the Big C where we meet, exchange presents and often take a trip down memory lane as we remember our Grandad whose birthday was on Christmas Eve. 

But that's just it, Christmas is about traditions, sharing memories and celebrating. Turkey dinners and presents are a bonus but for me it is about family. 

I am sure Wendy will share some of our festivities with you and I will be sure to let you know our first year with a toddler plays out! I am predicting lots of squealing with excitement, eating way too many sweets and perhaps even a few wobbly steps...but enough about me I am sure Ted will love it too! 

Now to end this guest post with an old phrase I know Wendy loves...

Over and Out Blog Jockeys!! :)"

What Christmas Means To Me

My daughter Megan has done me the honour of writing a post for me to publish here on my blog, about what this Christmas means to her.  After reading it, I'm feeling ready to rise to the challenge and help make this year the best Christmas ever!

"Christmas was always super exciting as a kid, for all of the obvious reasons. Santa, presents, more chocolate than you could manage to stuff into your ever- filling belly and those smoked cheeses in a log shape which for some reason became a Christmas family tradition. But as I’ve gotten older, the prospect of Christmas has only excited me more. I get at least a full week off work and I get to spend it having some real quality family time. Although many things have changed this year, including the fact that I will no longer be welcoming smoked cheese logs or Ferrero Rocher into my festive diet due to my new found Veganism, I already know the great feeling I’ll get waving goodbye to rainy Manchester and razzing my little old Peugeot down the M6, singing at the top of my voice to Mariah and WHAM!

One of the things I love most about Christmas in the McDonald household is that every year is different and every year is somehow just that little bit better than the last. I’ve loved going away for Christmas and I’ve also loved being at home. This year will no doubt be the biggest and best one yet, with four generations all under one roof in the comfort of the McDonald home!

The biggest challenge this year will be the food. From meat eating older brother Joe to Vegan me, it was going to make for an interesting take on the traditional Christmas dinner. But, with mum being super supportive with my quest to battle my health problems and ditch the dairy, she’s suggested a Vegan Christmas all round. And I couldn’t be happier. Instead of feeling glum because of all the things I can’t have this Christmas, I have felt really inspired to embrace the new things that I can have. I’ve been on a food and recipe finding mission to ensure we can indulge on the big day. Who knew how delicious dairy free ice cream and chocolate could be?! I’m looking at you Swedish Glace and Booja Booja!

I simply cannot wait for the big day when Santa rocks down the chimney and I get to, once again, have the best Christmas I’ve ever had with my hilarious family. No pressure Mum!"

This is a guest post written by Megan, part of a series of seasonal guest posts I will be featuring over the next few weeks :)

Christmas Eve Pyjamas - Our Festive Tradition

One tradition that we have at Christmas, is the giving of festive pyjamas to the children on Christmas Eve. Little ones will be happy to go to bed in their new pj's knowing that Santa will arrive once they are sound asleep and they will be waking up to a Christmas stocking at the end of their bed.  The kids always jump into our kingsize bed on Christmas morning, where they take turns to open their stocking presents, still wearing their brand new nightwear.  It's a tradition that we really enjoy and I love seeing my children on Christmas Eve all dressed up ready for bed in their Christmas pyjamas knowing there is just one sleep until Christmas Day!

This Christmas, Freddy has been sent a really cool pair of seasonal pyjamas from Mothercare.  I was really impressed with the design of the older boy's pj's this year.  Mothercare has gone away from the cutesy image of Christmas and gone for something most boys will really love - a big truck a.k.a. a snow plough,  shovelling away the winter snow.  This makes them perfect for the whole of the winter season and not just for Christmas Day.

As you would expect from the Mothercare brand, the snuggle fit pyjamas are beautifully made using quality cotton rich material, which is soft and breathable. The snow plough design is appliqued onto the top, and the theme is continued on the trousers as a repeated snow plough pattern.  The design is really eye-catching with the bright yellow of the snow plough contrasted against the blue background.  The sizing is good with plenty of room for comfort.

The Snow Plough pyjamas are available for children from 12 months to 6 years and they are priced at £10/11.  There are lots of other designs available featuring robins, penguins, reindeer and other festive favourites, in sizes suitable from birth.

Look out for a 'buy one get one half price offer' on selected sleepwear until December 10th, and join me in my festive Christmas Eve Pyjamas Tradition!

Find out more at mothercare.com.



Keep an Eye Out for Mothercare's Calendar Competition

To celebrate '25 sleeps till Christmas' Mothercare has created an online advent calendar competition which will be featured on their Facebook page.  Fans get the chance to win up to £100 of Mothercare vouchers, which would be a lovely bonus at this time of year!  As part of the competition, Mothercare is looking for 24 children who are wishing away the sleeps until Christmas Day!  Entrants are asked to upload a photo of their little one sleeping onto their Facebook page by the 27th November.  24 will be selected to sit behind each door on the advent calendar which launches on November 30th and will win £30 of Mothercare vouchers with the chance of winning the top prize of £100 of vouchers.  So keep an eye out for this fun competition!

Christmas Traditions Inside the Wendy House 2012

We are now less than 50 sleeps away from Christmas.  Time to start planning for the big day!  For the past few years we have been away on holiday over Christmas.  We enjoyed having someone else do the cooking and washing-up for us, and having activities on hand for everyone to enjoy.  This year however, we are at home.  My grandchild is due on the 18th December so we don't want to be too far away when the baby is born.  So it's the perfect year to give the kids a wonderful Christmas at home and resurrect some of our family traditions.

One of the things we love doing in the run up to Christmas is a whole lot of baking and crafting.  Now Freddy is three he enjoys joining in with his big sisters making cakes or cookies, or getting crafty with glue and glitter.  It is messy but it's so much fun.

The children all get brand new PJ's on Christmas Eve so they can wake up with them on, on Christmas Day in order to pile into our king size bed to open their stockings first thing in the morning.  This is my favourite part of the day, our first taste of Christmas.  It's magical!

Ella will be playing Christmas songs on her guitar and we will all be singing along. Having a houseful of music is such a wonderful gift.  Freddy loves dancing when Ella plays and it is just a beautiful thing to witness.  

Santa will be tracked via NORAD and he will be left his usual snack and tipple along with a carrot for Rudolph.  One year we set up a 'secret camera' and caught Santa partaking in his festive port and mince pie. The children were delighted with the print out of our 'evidence' that we gathered, proving the Big Man had indeed stopped by!  We'll be rigging up the spy camera in the Christmas tree again this year.
 

Evidence that Santa stopped by!


We haven't had a real Christmas tree for the past few years because of Freddy.  I didn't think having the sharp needles around were a good idea with a toddler in the house, but this year he is old enough to appreciate a tree.  We go to a local farm, where a tractor ride takes you out into the field to choose the perfect tree.  I'm looking forward to introducing Freddy to this tradition.  We have some very special baubles that we have bought for the children over the years and they help decorate the tree.

Before me and Ian go to bed, we cover the opening to the living room door with wrapping paper from a big roll.  In the morning the children can burst through it to find the room magically transformed into a wonderland with pressies under the tree and festive goodies arranged on the windowsills.  However old they get, they love the anticipation and excitement of this tradition!

We always try to take time with the present unwrapping to avoid the frenzy of activity that always results in the kids not knowing who they got their presents from.  Gift tags not even looked at in the urgency to rip off the paper!  So, we make sure we stop and think of the person who gave us each present before we dive in.  It makes the children appreciate the value of gift giving.

The rest of our day involves around playing with the latest games and watching the new DVD acquisitions, while surrounded by tins of Celebrations and Heroes!  It's just lovely to relax with the children and simply have fun without any pressure to do anything.

Christmas dinner changes every year as being vegetarian means traditional turkey is off the menu.  I don't know what I'll be serving up, but I know it's going to be good vegetarian fayre!  We also enjoy a special meal on December 21st to celebrate the Winter Solstice, so we get two festive feasts!

Chestnut Bourginogne Pie with a trio of Mashes and Sprouts!

On Christmas Eve we prepare all the vegetables so I don't have to spend too much time stuck in the kitchen on Christmas day.  Prepping everything together with the kids while we sing Christmas tunes is a highlight of the whole Christmas period.

Just thinking about all these traditions has made me feel very excited about Christmas 2012.  Freddy will be able to really enjoy everything this year and Megan will be coming home to spend some time with us. Plus my baby grandson will be born resulting in an impromptu trip to Northampton at some point!  I'm definitely starting to feel festive!

I'm linking up to Circus Mums Christmas Traditions Linky!

Christmas Traditions Inside the Wendy House

Today is the last day of term.  Once I have picked up my girls this afternoon for the final school run of 2010, it will officially be Christmas Inside The Wendy House!  I never peak too early, for fear of burning out before the 'big day'.  Tomorrow we're off to Manchester to collect our prodigal daughter (plus 3 sacks of washing!) from university.  It's always wonderful when the big kids come home for Christmas!

This year I am intent on rekindling some of our family traditions that have slipped a little recently.  Freddy is now old enough to have a little understanding of the magic of the festive season.  We've got out all the Christmas board books, DVDs and cuddly toys, giving him a whole new world of playtime.  The tree remains a source of amusement for the little fella.  The constant battle to keep the baubles on the tree and not under the sofa continues!

Because we have a whole week before Christmas Day, I'm looking forward to getting crafty and making a whole host of Christmassy artwork.  There will be lots of baking...veggie pies, muffins, gingerbread.  Kizzy has her chef's hat and apron and is always thrilled to get in on some kitchen action. 

I'm feeling really inspired by the Thinly Spread blogpost!  Father Christmas Bread sounds like a wonderful idea.  I'll definitely be trying that!  The children will have their new PJ's on Christmas Eve so they can wake up with them on, on Christmas Day in order to pile into Mum and Dad's big bed and open their stockings.  Ella will be playing Christmas songs on her guitar and we will all sing along.  Santa will be tracked via NORAD and he will be left his usual snack and tipple along with a carrot for Rudolph.

Last year we set up a 'secret camera' and caught Santa partaking in his festive port and mince pie.  7 year old Kizzy was delighted with the print out of our 'evidence' that we gathered, proving the Big Man had indeed stopped by!


Evidence that Santa stopped by!


Before me and Ian go to bed, we cover the opening to the living room door with wrapping paper from a big roll.  In the morning the children burst through it to find the room magically transformed into a wonderland with pressies under the tree and festive goodies arranged on the windowsills.  However old they get, they love the anticipation and excitement of this tradition!

We always try to take time with the present unwrapping to avoid the frenzy of activity that always results in the kids not knowing who they got their presents from.  Gift tags not even looked at in the urgency to rip off the paper!  So, we make sure we stop and think of the person who gave us each present before we dive in.  It makes the children appreciate the value of gift giving.

The rest of our day involves around playing with the latest games and watching the new DVD acquisitions, while surrounded by tins of Celebrations and Heroes!  Now I'm tee-total (the reason for that is another blog post in itself!!) alcohol doesn't figure in my day, but we try to devise non-alcoholic cocktails so I don't feel left out!  Last year we perfected the 'Orang-utan'...orange juice, cranberry and lemonade!  This year I've bought some alcohol free ginger wine and am looking forward to a nice warming tipple and a few cocktail concoptions too!

Christmas dinner is still not confirmed.  I know it's going to be good vegetarian fayre...just not sure what yet!!  This is one of last year's festive feasts.

Chestnut Bourginogne Pie with a trio of Mashes and Sprouts!

Freddy is going to love it this year and I can't wait to see his delight when faced with colourful wrapped presents and the excitement of Christmas!  Last year he was just a baby...this year he'll be the focus of our enjoyment.  Seeing it all through his eyes...I can't wait!

Freddy last year!