Susanne Remic is a primary school teacher, freelance writer and parenting blogger. She writes at Ghostwritermummy and Maternity Matters and in between all of that she regularly wins mummy of the year awards for running around after her two children, aged six and 19 months. This is her pregnancy blog: an online diary of her third pregnancy as she strives to overcome two difficult births, one angel child and one awkward toddler. Join Susanne as she shares every step of her journey from bump to baby!
What are your Christmas traditions?
By Susanne Remic on 17 Nov 2011
When my daughter was really little, I decided that I wanted to start a Christmas tradition. I made a gingerbread house. It was a disaster, to be fair. My gingerbread turned out really thick and heavy and on Christmas Eve, after hours of painstakingly icing and decorating and filling it with sweets, the entire roof buckled on itself and collapsed.
That first year, my house was presented a little wonky and with a cardboard roof decorated with cotton wool. But it looked great.
The following year, I wised up and bought a pre-made kit. It stuck together perfectly so I really went to town with the decorating. On Christmas morning, I crept into the conservatory for the grand unveiling and found that the whole thing had collapsed through the night. Too many sweets.
The year after that, I enrolled the help of my daughter and kept the roof adornments to a minimum. The house held and, it seemed, so did the tradition.
Now, the whole family asks me if am still doing my gingerbread house and I have to admit that I love the fact it is a tradition. My daughter looks forward to helping me decorate it and it really sparks off the Christmas spirit in our family.
Even the year when my son was born, and I was but a shell of my usual self, saw a beautiful sweet treat of a house making centre stage on the Christmas table. Its one of those things I hope my own kids will carry on long after they have left home and had kids of their own.
So what are your Christmas traditions? I love the fact that the toddler has a birthday just twelve days before Christmas and so we have vowed to put up the tree in his honour each year.
I love that we will always look forward to the joy (and pain) of the gingerbread house. I love that the big one has taken to writing letters to Santa for herself and her little brother and I love that my husband always prepares a family quiz to keep us entertained. Most of all, I love that we managed to make some traditions all of our own.
I would love to hear about your own Christmas traditions...
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