Eeking out Romjul

My favourite Christmas decorations from all I've spotted out and about - the Momins in the window of Brill, EC1R.

Oh hello there - sorry things have been a bit very quiet over here lately, we've just been enjoying a good old Christmas break. Christmas with a toddler that understands what it's all about for the first time is just so magical. Sat on the sofa on Christmas Eve, out of nowhere, this little exchange happened:

Arlo: thank you mummy
Me: for what?
Arlo: Christmas

Not ashamed to say I shed a small tear - it's been a really lovely break, and just what we all needed.

And in particular we've been having a wonderful Romjul (I've just found out what that means, and I love the concept - you can see more info here). We got back home from London the day after Boxing Day and since then we've been lost in a lazy, what-day-is-it / is-there-any-chocolate-orange-left / shall-we-have-an-afternoon-nap kind of time, and it's been wonderful. So more exciting blog-type stuff to come, I promise - for now, I'm off to eek out the last few days of Romjul.

Happy New Year everyone!

The elephant on the tree

Decorating our little Christmas tree last week was probably one of the best things that's happened to me all year. I say little, it's actually just about as big as it possibly could be, touching the ceiling so that our Christmas robin is perched on the side of the top branch rather than very top. Breakable decorations have been placed high up (out of little arms reach) with safer things at the bottom. A long standing tradition in our house is to buy a new tree decoration each year. This usually is something I find very hard to do, as I can never decide on just one! This year I wanted to get something Arlo would love, and when I saw this in a local shop I knew it was the one - a little pink elephant. Hand-stitched and made from bright pink silk, he's pretty fragile (there's already a bit of stuffing sticking out the trunk due to some rigorous cuddling endured when Arlo first spotted him) but I hope he'll become a tree stalwart that we hang up every year, reminding us of this Christmas. The year Arlo loved elephants, understood who Father Christmas was, and gasped at the tree every morning like he was seeing it for the first time. The year I got butterflies in my tummy just thinking about his face when he opens his presents (which may or may not also be elephant related. Clue: they are). I hope elephants really don't ever forget, because I want to remember this Christmas forever please.

Friday I'm in love... with a Christmas gift guide for a little animal-lover

I'm finding it a little tricky to find the perfect Christmas present for Arlo this year. I don't want to go mad and get him loads of stuff, I just want to find one great thing that will really make him smile on Christmas morning. One thing's for sure - it will have to involve animals in some way or another, because this boy is animal-mad. A few of the things I've been eyeing up over the last week or so include: 1 / 2 / 3 / 4 / 5 / 6 / 7