Christmas Eve is the day I look forward to the most. There's such a lovely atmosphere around and the kids are always so excited for the days ahead. It's a day where I can really ramp up the Christmas celebrations.
For the past few years, we've been going out for breakfast on Christmas Eve. It's been a great way to start our celebrations before coming home, making sure everyone has a bath/shower and is dressed in their Pyjamas before the end of the afternoon ready for watching Christmas films and reading stories together. They're also ready to go to bed shortly after 7:30pm.
A few years ago I started putting together a Christmas Eve basket and it's been one of my most favourite things to do for the kids and something I hope I'll always get to do even when they're in their teens. I bring it out the night before and it's the first thing they see when they come downstairs on Christmas Eve. I more or less include the same things each year but it's become a little family tradition that the kids have grown to love.
These three books are a must have, you can't not read "The Snowman" before watching the film. "Santa is coming to North Wales" is another great book as it names local places and the kids love that Santa is coming to the places they know. I was convinced that "The night before Christmas" was a poem that Phoebe made up for Joey on Friends, turns out it's an actual book.
Mark says I repeat the same story each year of how I was given "A Muppets Christmas Carol" as a Christmas present and was heartbroken when Kermit the Frog sang "after all there's only one more sleep till Christmas" when I watched in on Boxing Day, I had almost another year until it was Christmas. Ever since then I've only been able to watch it on Christmas Eve. "The Snowman" is the last film we watch before putting the kids to bed, it calms them down.
I start collecting Christmas Chocolates from the middle of October and stash them away. I've only taken a photo of one of everything for the blog post, but there's actually three of everything in the basket (one for each child) There are no arguments because someone has eaten all of Smarties.
We have a silly amount of mugs in our kitchen and Mark was not impressed when I told him there were three more to add to the collection. I saw the "Santa's Little Helper" mugs in John Lewis last week and thought they were the perfect size for the girls. They're a bit too small for Osh so he has a regular mug. I got the Hot Chocolate and Marshmallow cones from the school Christmas Fayre last week, they were made by Martha's best friends Mum.
Even before I started making a basket, I have always brought them new Pyjamas to wear to bed on Christmas Eve. I loved having them as a child, it just made going to bed that little bit more special.
I loved the look of these Lush Bubble Bar's when I saw them, being on a stick and having a teeny gold bell attached - they just looked Christmassy to me. The girls love anything from Lush and I know that this will go down a treat for their Christmas Eve bath.
There's a little over a week until Christmas Eve now and I can't wait. For the past few years, I've enjoyed Christmas Eve more than Christmas Day.
I hope you enjoy having a little look through our basket, if you think I've missed something please let me know. If you are thinking of making one for your kids/ a child you know - I hope you found this post useful.
GM
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