Christmas has passed by with a flurry of excitement and panic but I can happily report that it didn't manifest itself in panic buying! I was full of trepidation as some of my family love to shop and it shows as every year they buy way too much and the other half of my family namely the children have grown up to expect alot, who can blame them!
Well this year it was all change and it felt like I had spent most of December trying to prep the children so they weren't disappointed. I decided that I would play host (again) but there were conditions to abide by. NO PRESENTS! If they wanted to buy a little something for the children then that would be fine but instead of presents for the adults we decided to allocate some meals. My dad was responsible for Christmas breakfast - and a feast it was with two courses which meant we had a late lunch and then had nibbles for tea! Perfect. My brother and girlfriend brought some drinks and a cheese board - perfect for Boxing day lunch with cold ham and turkey! I couldn't resist doing something a little different and as we didn't do presents I decided to set everyone a 'Christmas Challenge' which was shared around the table after lunch. My brother and girlfriend had a sealed pot challenge (thanks SFT for the inspiration!!) which was a golden syrup tin and treacle tin (washed out) with a hole made in the lids and then hot glued on to prevent them from raiding it!! I hope they can save up for something nice! My son wants to organise a charity bike ride - so I set him the challenge of doing so! My sister got the challenge of reading 12 books next year which corresponded with her present of nine charity shop books including the Lord of the Rings Trilogy and some good children's books my son and I have read. My challenge was to forgo all alchol for 2012! So I am quickly working my way through the left over red wine before Sunday!

I think it was a resounding success - and when the children waved off our visitors and turned to me and said, 'This was the BEST christmas ever', I know it was a success. Because if all truth be told they didn't even notice that they only had a quarter of what they had last year - and there was no grumbling at all! I have learned a very valuable lesson this year that it is not about the amount of money you spend - it is the time and effort you spend making sure everyone feels catered for. I am glad this year I was brave enough to change Christmas after all I have been threatening to do it for ages. Christmas will be a very different affair from now on and for once I am looking forward to it!

Till next time ~~~~ the (dreaded) NYR's !!