Our Christmas 2019 ♥

Funnily enough, as someone who really loves taking pictures, Christmas is the one time of year that I don't really take many at all. In fact, on Christmas Day I never have the camera out at all, except for the one on my phone and even then captures are sparingly taken.

I guess when it comes to Christmas I want to be present in the moment and not hiding behind a lens for once.

This Christmas wasn't how I expected it to be at all. Having moved to a home which we loved and which we actually felt comfortable in (having lived in two rental properties we never really felt at ease in a home before), we were really looking forward to Christmas - our first as a family in the country. I was delighted at the prospect of the boys experiencing Christmas in my childhood home and opening their Santa presents in the very same room I did all those years ago and although that moment was quite magical, our Christmas was marred by Jacek and the boys being ill.

Tyler had to take the last two days of term off school and missed out on collecting his Christmas arts and crafts from the classroom. He was the most ill I have ever seen him and my usually energetic boy went days without eating and couldn't really move out of bed or off the couch for very long.

Two days after Tyler became ill, Beau then became ill too (I knew it was coming, no one escapes sickness when it comes to siblings). Both boys had fevers, weren't eating, couldn't be outside for long due to lack of energy and were generally quite miserable.

Thankfully we still got to enjoy our annual traditions of decorating a woodland Christmas tree and the Christmas Eve box.

I tried my best to make it still a magical time of year for them, but the endless Christmas treats aren't really that appealing when you're feeling awful, are they?

Christmas Eve began with a trip to the out of hours doctor and the antibiotics the boys received were probably the best Christmas gift they could have been given!

On Christmas Eve they were excited for Santa to arrive but not as energetic as they would have been if they hadn't been sick. They looked so adorable in their matching pyjamas.

The felt a bit better on Christmas Day and were able to enjoy their new gifts - although poor Beau had a fever almost all day and only perked up before bed.

Tyler spent the day playing with his new Lego sets and it was so lovely to see him enjoying playtime again.

Our annual tradition of visiting my grandparents on Christmas Day was cut back to just me visiting - I didn't want to bring the boys in case they made my elderly grandparents ill. They didn't get to see any relatives this Christmas bar their grandfather.

The boys also didn't have Christmas dinner as they had no appetite, not even for treats - so they really were sick! They were absolutely delighted with their gifts - Tyler's main gifts were Lego and a new bike and Beau got a new ride on car that even has FM radio on it, so they're like too cool dude spinning along in it!

Although Christmas wasn't what I thought it would be it was still lovely. Our decorations this year were more special then I could have ever imagined and maybe everyone falling ill was a reminder that we should all be spending time together without distraction - something I hope we do a lot more of in 2020.