A low key Christmas with my twins
This year has been rough for many of us, and Christmas has been no exception with ever changing government guidelines and restrictions. It feels like half the people I know have had to isolate over Christmas, and plans have been thrown into the air! Because of all the uncertainty, my husband and I decided to have a very low key Christmas so that it wouldn’t be a disaster if plans changed at the last minute. As luck would have it, we were able to go through with our original plans, and it was lovely.
We headed down to Canterbury to stay with my mum, and amazingly, my now two year old twins were complete and utter angels throughout the whole journey. When we arrived, we spent a few days before Christmas putting up a some decorations and a tree to get us all into the Christmas spirit. My mum needed to work on Christmas Day, so the plan was always to open a few presents and have a nice dinner on Boxing Day. Due to being low on car space for our journey down, we only brought one gift each with us, and a little stocking each for the twins.
Christmas Day came, and we left our presents under the tree and ordered pizza in. It definitely felt a bit weird, but was quite the novelty having a Christmas Day pizza, and I wouldn’t say no to swapping the annual roast for a slice of cheesy goodness again in future years! While my mum was busy working, we took the twins out for a Christmas walk around Canterbury Cathedral when one of the big Carol services was in full swing. This was quite lovely as it meant that the twins could safely explore a new environment to a backdrop of magnificent Christmas music that was drifting out of the cathedral.
After the twins had gone to bed on Christmas night, I laid out the few presents we had brought, ready to be opened in the morning. The stockings I had brought with us were mainly full of unwrapped toys that the twins already owned – I made a point of not spending lots of money on new things when they already have so many beautiful toys.
Our Boxing Day was lovely. The twins happily rummaged through their stockings, rediscovering old toys that they’d forgotten about. They had a look at the few new things they’d been bought, and enjoyed the general festive vibes. Come dinner time, my husband loves a roast dinner, so he was in charge of cooking. We took full advantage of supermarket Christmas food that was already prepared so we could enjoy a traditional(ish) roast dinner without the mess and time of having to prepare everything.
The twins sat beautifully for our little Christmas dinner and managed to eat an enormous amount of food. My mum enjoyed watching them discover new foods and get on with their general baby antics, and my husband and I were happy to be eating a nice family meal somewhere a bit different. We forgot to cook the veg and half the trimmings, Christmas music was being played through my tinny phone speakers, and the babies left trails of mince pie crumbs wherever they went, but we all loved it.
After dinner my mum and I took the twins off into town to see if any shops were open and my husband enjoyed some well earned quiet time after cooking. That was pretty much it for us, it was low key, but lovely!
I hope everyone who celebrates had a wonderful Christmas and even if your plans were changed, you were able to make the best of the situation.
Love and best wishes to all!