So you already know by now, I'm a lists girl, I love them! So it makes no surprise I'm sure that I have a Christmas to do list. This is what it looks like:
2. Watch the Melbourne Vision Christmas Eve carols on 9. It's a tradition my mum, sister and I share and of course they must be recorded to play over and over on Christmas morning and throughout the day. Hopefully we will get there in person one day.
3. Wrap the enormous pile of presents we have for E and our nieces while listening to carols - Buble, Mariah or Disney are all acceptable choices here.
4. Hang our Christmas stockings - lucky E now as 2 as Aunty K bought him back a special Mickey one all the way from Disneyland.
5. Take E to look at Christmas lights - there are some pretty fabulous displays around our suburb so we might even plan a walk early one evening.
6. Visit the burleigh and Broadbeach carols - of all the Gold Coast carols, these are my picks (and the rest of the Gold Coast's too). They are big community events so we (my whole fam) arrive early to stake out a spot and bring a picnic to share. It's a wonderful way to celebrate Christmas and I can't wait for E to be a bigger part of it this year.
7. Buy my wishing tree gift for charity - I've been buying a wishing tree gift for at least 10 years now and last year I organised my workplace to have a present/toy drive for our local St Vincent De Paul's. It saddens me to think there are children who will wake up on Christmas morning and not receive a gift so I do what I can.
8. Midnight Christmas shopping. I rarely have anything left to buy at this point but I love milking every last drop of the hustle and bustle of Christmas so I actually enjoy wandering the shops as long as E is safely tucked home in bed.
9. Santa photos. I cannot wait to take E to Santa again this year! He was a perfect gem last year and we have been showing him lots of pics lately in the hopes of avoiding the dreaded Santa meltdown. We plan to go at the end of a Nov to get Es pic and our family photo done.
10. Finish our Christmas letter and order our Christmas card. It's my first year doing a letter and it's a different format but I love receiving them so I hope others will enjoy ours.
11. Planning our Christmas Day outfits. Given I will be sporting a 5 month baby bump, something cool and light is going to be the way to go and I need to find something festive but suitable for the sweltering heat we cop every year.
12. Pack ... Enough for the 3 of us for 2 weeks of camping! We depart either Christmas afternoon or Boxing Day morning for our annual camping holiday with my family and while we set up on the 23rd, I will need to lug down toys, clothes, linen and everything else!
13. Finalise the perfect gifts for both our sets of parents. I swear they get harder to buy for every year... But maybe it's because they do so much for us and we appreciate their value more each year.
14. Send off my/E's very special secret Santa gift. It's my mothers group's second year of KK and we have so much fun participating with lots discussions around selecting the perfect present then sharing all the gifts in a big reveal. The babies (toddlers now really) are all extra spoilt given we all love to shop.
15. Shop the Christmas decoration sales to add special pieces to our collection. Last year I picked up my gold reindeer and a handful of beautiful tree ornaments for ridiculously low prices. Let's face it, You can never have too much Christmas cheer around the home.
16. Bake! I've succumbed to Pinterest and there are so many fun ideas for Christmas food and drinks on there. I figured it would be nice to experiment and take those efforts that turn out well to our many Christmas parties and events coming up.
17. Take the time to be thankful for the year that is passing and the many blessings it brought us.
18. Our 20 week morphology scan on Christmas Eve to see how B2 is coming along. Talk about a great Christmas gift!
19. Find the perfect turkey as my contribution to Christmas lunch. My beautiful mum cooks it but it's my job to bring it.
20. Dust off all the Christmas movies and have a marathon with my boys... That includes Home Alone 1 & 2, Die Hard, Elf, Love Actually, Four Holidays, Griswalds Family Christmas, The Polar Express, Miracle on 34th St... Any other suggestions?
