Christmas decorations

We had fun this weekend putting up our Christmas tree, making paper chains and writing cards, as well as visiting Father Christmas himself.

Our largest nearby town is Milton Keynes where there is a huge mall which always has a fabulous Christmas village set up in the hall amongst the stores. There was a Santa's Grotto, Christmas market and a beautiful carousel, as well as Christmas displays and entertainment set up in little cottages that you can walk through. Of course there was a brass band playing carols too :) Very festive.

A photo of a photo (excuse the quality) from Santa's grotto

Lucy went to visit Father Christmas and did a great job of waiting in line and walking into his little grotto which was decked out like a cosy sitting room with a lit fireplace (fake of course) and cosy armchairs. She wold only sit with him with Daddy there too, but did a great job of having her photo taken and saying thank you for the gift that she got....a pony soft toy that you can decorate and colour in yourself (perfect distraction during tea at the cafe afterwards).

The carousel was a hit too and we had a couple of rides which were lovely. It was an original carousel that had been renovated so it had lots of charm and character. It was even a double-decker! Joe took the first ride and me the second with Lucy, and each time she picked a horse to ride (over any of the carriages or other animals), as she is such a horse lover.

We bought our tree on Sunday at a nearby garden centre and got a lovely Norway Spruce which we put in the sitting room. We all joined in decorating it and the end result is lovely...not quite the House Beautiful perfect tree that I had in my mind but it's a family tree full of Lucy's handmade decorations, memories and heirlooms. It was strange to be getting all of the decorations out, as only a couple of months ago I had sorted through the box prior to our move, and gone through everything. It felt like only yesterday that last Christmas had come and gone as usually there would be a year between the unpacking of the decorations. There were also lots of memories of America in the box - gift decorations from friends and from Lucy's first Christmas. It feels incredible that here they are in our house in England. The move we have made still seems surreal in many ways.

Our multi-coloured tree

Lucy has had a great time with Christmas crafts and sing-alongs at school in the past few weeks. She is properly excited about what is coming and regularly asks if today is Christmas. The daily advent calendar ritual gets her racing down for breakfast in the morning thanks to the surprise shaped chocolates, but she still doesn't grasp that only when she gets to window 24 will it be Christmas Eve!

Christmas definitely gets more and more fun as she gets older and is increasingly aware of the delights that Christmas holds!

Lucy in the Disney Store's princess castle