creating Christmas * day 23

Christmas Eve boxes and Christmas presents

There is nothing quite so magical than a gift that is wrapped and waiting to be opened.

I have often thought it would be nice to afford to use those expensive gift wrapping services found in large department stores. It is always quite a time consuming activity, but I do like to spend time wrapping my gifts, though I am not very good at it, unless it happens to be in a box. I buy large white tags for the grandchildren and some of those sticky Christmas pictures, then write who it is to and from in large letters.

They have a small gift each from granny and grandad as we take them all to the pantomime as part of their Christmas present. I usually print down a picture of the panto we are going to, stick it on a card and make a voucher to give them.

The little gifts I bought for my two daughters are carefully wrapped in tissue and I would normally place them in their stockings, but this year’s gifts are rather too large and I had to buy a gift bag to use instead. After going from shop to shop I failed to find one that was just the right size and have had to make do with what I could get, never mind….. I am sure they will like the contents just as much. To go with these little bits and pieces I picked up some lovely gold pillar candles in Sainsbury’s in their ‘seasonal’ clearance sale for £1.88. I bought one for myself too as they seemed such a bargain.

Our family have been doing a Secret Santa for many years now – although we call it our ‘Not so Secret Santa’ as we each produce a wish list for the person buying the gift for us – though we have no idea what the person will choose from the list so it is almost a secret!

Our Secret Santa gifts have been carefully wrapped – DH was buying a gift for our younger daughter and my Secret Santa is for my mum. I got her two pairs of pyjamas (though the medium, supposedly size 12-14, do look very large to me), a Hamish Macbeth mystery book and a bar of ginger chocolate.

We began Christmas Eve boxes when Little L was young and of course there are four children now. I buy them each a pair of Christmas pyjamas, this year it is white tartan for the boys and red for the girls. I also put in a small Christmas craft for them to do (either from The Works or Hobbycraft), a puzzle or game and my elder daughter adds in a book.

So on Christmas Eve there is plenty to keep them occupied and of course they can’t wait to get into those pyjamas early.

Master Freddie made these crackers himself for the boxes ages ago, in fact I bet he has forgotten all about them. I managed to poke a Santa chocolate in through the end for good measure.

Of course, there will be the cake to add the decoration to when we all arrive at my younger daughter’s house tomorrow. She will be making us a very simple tea of baked potatoes, cheese and beans – feeding a house full of 10 people with four hyper children will not be easy. I am hoping we will all get to a nearby church crib or Christingle service at some point.

We like to play a game together on Christmas Eve with the children, and this year I have got a Christmas Jigsaw – only 50 pieces so they can all join in. I always wrap the game and at some point between teatime and bedtime DH will sneak outside by the back door without anyone noticing, go around to the front door, ring the doorbell and leave the ‘present’ on the doorstep with a tag saying ‘from Santa’s Elves’. Of course all the grown ups say ‘I wonder who that can be?’ and the children rush to open the door and are amazed to find a present on the doorstep – another magical moment for the grandchildren.

And once again, another day over and another day closer….and time for bed. There will be a lot to pack in the car tomorrow – DH will not know if he is coming or going, and there might be a few strong words as the time ticks away and, as often happens, we should be on the road but are still running round attending to last minute bits and pieces.

There is always that long list of questions going through your mind, you may know the ones – did you turn off the shower room fan?, adjust the heating controls?, put my slippers in the car?, remember the nut loaf from the freezer? and most importantly, have we got all the presents?

And after all that, and many check lists there will always be something we have overlooked.