The Most Wonderful Time Of The Year

This post was written by Cara Dearing

I’m not a big fan of the cold weather that winter brings and those miserable gloomy days make me feel glum, however there is a reason why winter is the most wonderful time of the year – yes you guessed it! Christmas!
Its not about the presents, at the age of 33, the thrill of writing a Christmas list left me many years ago.
Perhaps for me, it’s the fact that I have children, so the Christmas magic is still there but I was just as excited about Christmas prior to having kids. I think the only year I haven’t been excited is when I was pregnant with the twins, my due date was late January but due to some complications in the pregnancy the doctors had prepared me for having them ‘any day’. I manged to hold out until 28th.
Perhaps it’s that I have Christmas week off – the practice is open over Christmas (excluding the public holidays) but I always book Christmas off from a childcare point of view and because of the twins’ birthday. The prospect of a chance to recharge my batteries is always appealing although my husband still works so its not a nice family break and the alarm still goes off at 6am – not that you need an alarm with young children!
Perhaps it’s the excitement I get the first time I walk into a shop and see the Christmas decorations but after that few seconds of delight I then moan that ‘it’s far too early’.
Perhaps it’s the Christmas decorations in the house that get me excited but I have OCD so the idea of glitter and tinsel spread around the house fill me with dread.
Maybe it’s the works Christmas party, or maybe not as the lead up is stressful with the ‘What dress’ dilemma!
Maybe it’s the food, I am a self-confessed foody and Christmas is the perfect excuse to eat, but it’s always overshadowed by the number on the scales.
Maybe it’s that I love to listen to the ‘proper’ Christmas music on Classic FM, but the kids don’t appreciate it and want to listen to their Christmas music – which isn’t the music you come across on Classic FM!
It’s not that everyone is that bit kinder this time of year – because they aren’t, Christmas time for some is miserable. If its miserable for you because you have toothache, or because your dentures fill you with Christmas dinner dread or because all you want for Christmas is your two front teeth then we can help improve your Christmas.
Perhaps it’s the Carol service at the church that we attend every year without fail but surely its not just that, why has the love of Christmas not left me yet?
I believe it’s the little things and the traditions that keep me excited for this time of year, a combination of all the above and more – the smell of Christmas, the party games, the Christmas eve excitement, the traditions from my childhood that I am now repeating for my children and they will do the same with theirs. I believe it’s the honest escapism back to my childhood where life was much simpler and innocent, where I believed in the magic of Santa.
As an adult I know how lucky me, and my family are if we are all here this time again next year, as life is fickle and I’m eternally grateful for another year with all my family and friends celebrating the ‘most wonderful time of the year!’