And it's all over for another year. Another whirlwind Christmas done in the blink of an eye - even more low-key than usual this year.
I'm not gonna lie, I have wonderful intentions every year, in my mind I will start shopping and wrapping early, insuring that everyone gets a gift. We will go to Christmas markets, Winter Wonderland and see the Christmas lights in London.
Our flat will be beautifully decorated with rustic garlands and lots of twinkly lights.
On Christmas morning we will open presents whilst listening to classics like Let it Snow, with a fake log fire burning via our TV screen.
I will decorate the table and serve a traditional dinner and pudding.
In reality though, I don't really even start thinking about Christmas until the beginning of December, I am in awe of those who have bought and wrapped all the gift by early November. You see I am a December baby, my birthday is 1 week before Christmas and I tend to not stress about things until my birthday is over.
If you have read my post about what I really do all day - you will see that I became self-employed over a year and a half ago, in that time I have become busier and busier, working 7 days a week and continuing to work lunch shifts at the school 3 days a week. I don't work a full day every day, but I am sat in front of the computer for at least a couple of hours every day. This is a good thing as it means I have started to earn more money, so haven't been so stressed about present buying this year.
I was still working on Christmas Eve this year which doesn't bother me as I always did in my old job at the newspaper. I have also been working today, Finley said poor Mummy is always working. Although I feel lucky that I can work from home.
We went for a modest pile of gifts for the kids, they got about 5 things each from us. Not huge things either, but things I knew they would appreciate. They didn't wake up until 8.00am either!
Lee's car broke down a few days before Christmas, he needs a new starter motor so we have had to put that on hold at the moment as it will cost around £200. This shaped Christmas for us, we couldn't do the usual rounds of visiting relatives, so Christmas day my Mum picked me and the kids up and we went to my Nan's house, she is 92, must be the first time she has had all of the family there in I don't know how long but we opened some presents with her and stayed for a while.
We came home early afternoon and I started cooking our roast, we have chicken and gammon every year here. I really don't see the point in spending loads on a turkey which won't get finished. We had all the trimmings though and ate off of our laps in front of the telly as our dining table is now my work desk, but it was fine. I didn't even take any photos this year!
My eldest spent most of the day in her room on her phone, face timing her friends, but she was happy. The other two drew and painted most of the afternoon and we watched a couple of films.
As I say, it was very low-key and relaxed. One year I would love to be more extravagant, maybe even go out for dinner, or my dream would be to stay in a log cabin, but for us it was perfect as it was.
I really hope you all had a great Christmas.