In the run up to Christmas, while reading my regular dose of Reluctant Housedad, he linked me to Kate Takes 5, a writer I’ve stumbled across a few times before. Always witty and amusing, she doesn’t do things by halves, she does them in lists of five! She is the lady of the Listography Linky and this last one was all about what exactly makes Christmas “Christmas” to you.

Image credit: Tetra Images/Corbis

Of course, whether celebrating it as a Christian festival or not, there are many aspects of the celebration that make it special for each of us. There are some things that, even if we lost our memories and didn’t know the date, would help us know it was Christmas. Here are mine:

1. Preparation | It’s not quite planned like a military operation (yet!) but I’m working on it. There’s the Christmas checklist at least. Well. Let’s be honest, with a family birthday in late November, how the hell else is it all going to happen in time without multiple meltdowns over something as trivial as whose turn it is to take out the rubbish…?!
2. The Little Chaps | What would Christmas be without the Little Fella in Bethlehem? Our own boy wonder makes it all pretty meaningful too.
3. 37 Days of Christmas | How else would we get through Winter without 37 days of twinkling lights, beautiful carols, Christmas parties and other festive reasons to keep going until the first snowdrops appear? Like I said, with a family birthday in late November, Christmas cannot and should not begin before 1st December. Of course, it also has to be unwrapped and boxed away by 6 January without fear!
4. Losing a little Control | Its all about learning to let go and not to take yourself too seriously when you’re a perfectionist and control freak like me! It’s like a New Year’s Resolution each year – but definitely one worth keeping 😉
5. Over Indulging | When I was a kid it was all about the food. From the obligatory Cadbury Christmas multipacks in our stockings (which my mother still provides!) to the wondrous roast goose banquet and sumptuous puddings (yes, that’s plural!) she used to cook for us to eat, and her delicious Christmas Day soup (made from goose stock with all the leftover veg and served with a plate of stinky blue cheese and biscuits and, later in life a glass of the most delicious red stuff, at Christmas there was a taste sensation around every corner when I was growing up! Once I met Mayfair Dad it became about over indulging each other with our time and the best gifts we could afford and it became a little less about the food. Now its all about indulging ourselves in as much family time with the Little Chap during the holiday week as we can without being total recluses from family and friends. For me, it’s also about being over indulgent on the happy memories as I send Christmas cards to old and dear friends.

Wishing you all peace on earth & goodwill to all! Enjoy the rest of the holidays.

Mayfair Mum x

© Mayfair Mum, 2011