Merry Christmas!!!

Well, it's almost time - and there is still so much to do!

There are those last few presents to buy, there's the wrapping to do, the cards to write and send, the food shopping - you know, all of those last minute things? 

Still, it's a nice feeling when it's all done and we finally get to relax and enjoy the festivities with a nice glass of Baileys... Ahh, Baileys! Christmas wouldn't be Christmas without it!

Christmas will be a little different this year because my eldest has now flown the nest. 

Up until now, every Christmas morning we would hear the kids excited whispers at around 6am as they discovered their present filled stockings! 

We have them well trained though; They would always bring us in a cup of tea with their stockings, before sitting at the end of our bed and opening the little presents inside - one of which, would always be a tangerine. It's funny how those little things that you remember as a child carry on for your own children!

Next, I would hurry downstairs and turn on the fairy tree lights, Paul would make another cup of tea and then we would all sit around the tree and take it in turns to open some more presents. 

I imagine that this year we will all do exactly the same as we have always done, it's just that for the first time, Adele won't be here with Charlie in the morning... :0(

When they were really young, they used to get so excited that Santa had 'really been'! This magic was very much fueled by the fact that every year, Father Christmas would spell my Daughters name wrong!

One year he even knocked the fire-guard over and left big boot prints on the floor. And then there was the year that he must have been running late because instead of arranging the presents nicely around the tree, he literally emptied his sack down the chimney and all of the presents were spilling out from the chimney breast! 

...And what child doesn't get exited when they realise that the mince-pies, brandy, milk and carrots that they had left out for Father Christmas and the Reindeer's the night before, have all gone!

Christmas when I was little was always full of magic. I used to be so exited by the fact that when I was asleep, a jolly man in a red outfit would land on the roof in his sleigh and leave lots of presents! So I tried to make that magic last as long as possible for my own children too.

Right now, I am sitting in my living room by the little orange fairy lights of the Christmas tree, which the kids put up together on Sunday afternoon. It looks so pretty! And since it's such a busy time, this will be my final post of 2010, so I wanted to make it a little festive. 

I enjoyed everything about this painting, from thinking it up to setting it up, right up to the last brush stroke.

Before I go, I just want to take this opportunity to thank all of you, my bloggy friends and followers SO much for all of your lovely comments throughout 2010!

My next post will be in January and this is when my usual, more regular, weekly bloggy activity will start again. 

In the mean time, have a FANTASTIC Christmas and I wish each and every one of you a very creative and wonderful 2011!!!!