Many of you reading this will have young children. You may well be shitting yourself as we speak, because it’s nearly midnight and you’re yet to think of what the Elf on the fucking shelf can get up to in the night. Because the pressure is most certainly on to make Christmas for your little ones as magical and memorable as you remember yours were. Because of this and only because of this, you will happily be woken up at 6am tomorrow, iPhone at the ready, to record your little ones discovering that the naughty elf has emptied out the sugar and in it are drawn the words: ‘I’m bloody knackerd, ok? This is all I could manage.’ Not one for the boast feed on Facebook or the Instagram photo perhaps. Don’t worry though, there are 17 more days to make up for it (gulp).
When my kids were younger, I too can remember thinking to myself: make the most of this really mind-blowingly, hyped-up excitement, because when they are teenagers, they won’t give a shit. They will have long discovered that Father Christmas isn’t real, they’ll want a lie-in on Christmas morning and won’t have any money to buy Christmas presents, because they will have spent it all on make-up brushes.
Well you know what? I couldn’t have been more wrong.
My teens are rocking Christmas! My god, they’ve been rocking it since October. Packages from China have been coming thick and fast! They have been excitedly showing me what they have bought each other and almost giving it away. Presents have already been wrapped and hidden in drawers under beds. Christmas music has been downloaded onto their phones and Christmas songs are hummed at breakfast. Last night, daughter 3 harangued me to put up the Christmas decorations, until I was beaten into submission by her pleading. We now have two trees, tinsel everywhere and even a star hanging from the front door. Christ these teens know how to start a Christmas party!
So for those of you with little ones, who may be concerned that you have limited time to make your children’s Christmas special, I have one word of advice: don’t burn yourself out, because trust me, you have many, many years of this ahead.
That is good to know! Sounds fun! And maybe then I will get a surprise present as well! Yeej!!:)) #FridayFrolics
Don’t bank on it – mine are so excited they keep threatening to tell me (but at least I haven’t paid for it!)
haha..
Oh wow, you’re all set, I love it. Have a great weekend. Love, Kirsten x
http://www.thelifbissue.com
Thank you! And you x
This made me smile. Good to know Christmas still has sparkle. Thanks for linking up to #FridayFrolics
Oh yes. Sparkle AND some!
Ahhh that’s so cool and lovely that your teens are rocking Christmas! I suspect it may go on indefinitely – so need to reserve energy now and not go overboard when child is a tot 😉 #FridayFrolics
Yes, you’re in it for the long run…wonderful:)
I cant deal with the elf on the shelf. Like I need a whole month of that little asshole! Besides my eldest finds him terrifying.
This made me laugh – agreed 🙂
Good to hear! I stress like crazy for my little ones. Just want it to be perfect. Hopefully they will grow up and love Christmas as much as yours! #Christmasiscalling
Stress less – they’ll always love Christmas regardless 🙂
Thank you!! This is the advice I needed!! I’ve seen all the advent and elf posts and I’ve been feeling bad for doing nothing except eating all the advent calendar myself… I might wait a few years to do anything now Thanks for linking up to #familyfun
Sit back and watch them play in a cardboard box, while you drink wine and eat their chocolate – they’ll still love Christmas 10 years later and so will you 🙂
Aww the same here too – totally heartwarmingly gorgeous isn’t it?! Lovely to read! #FamilyFun
It’s really warming my heart this year and getting me excited and when they were young my kids certainly didn’t have too many Christmas frills – they’re making up for it now!
Good for them. I can’t remember when out teenager got excited about anything other than chicken wings #christmasiscalling
‘Tis true – food does really excite teens
I certainly hope we can keep the christmas love alive for them for a long time to come! Thanks for a great post! #FamilyFun.
You’ll have no trouble – teens in Christmas jumpers all the way 🙂
Arrr thanks for the advice and lucky you…umm I think. We have a 15 year old in our house and she is definitely the former – but she does have a great collection of make up brushes… We are kind of in limbo here the teenager isn’t bothered and the 1 and 2 year old are still just a little too young… I guess I should enjoy the calm before the storm eh. Thanks for sharing at #familyfun x
That’s really interesting – perhaps you are in the perfect limbo! My 15 year old has the mother of all collections of make up brushes 🙂 Definitely enjoy the calm – a quiet glass of your favourite tipple and it sounds as if no one will notice – bliss!
Christmas is magic for the little ones, but I don’t really think that excitement goes away. I still loved Christmas as a teen and I still do now in my 30s
Thanks for linking up to #ChristmasisCalling
Debbie
I want to always love Christmas and never want to let it get tainted by stress.
So good to read this – yes there is a bit of a feeling that we are living on ‘borrowed time’ when it comes to magical family Christmases but actually the picture you paint is one I will relish too. Thanks for the ‘heads up’ xx #familyfun
Yes, there’s plenty of time for loads more fun ahead – no worries 🙂 x
Your post has made me feel very relieved! Even though I’m not massive into Xmas I hate the idea of my kids binning it off as soon as they are 15! I’m also hoping to get some Xmas sous chefing out of them too! #chucklemums
Yes, my 15 year old has just offered up a potato salad for a family do on Sunday! My 14 year old was singing jingle bells at breakfast this morning and my 12 year old brought down a handful of wrapped presents just now, saying the tree looked a bit bare! They certainly still love Christmas 🙂
Loving that! x
Haha, the irony is the elf doesn’t just stay on the pissing shelf does he?! Oooh I can’t wait to hear what your kids have been buying from China, how exciting 😉 Thank you for linking up to the last #Chucklemums, it’s been a blast! Look out for a possible reincarnation next year…
Yes! I really hope Chucklemums returns. It really is a great linky. That’s so true about the elf! Happy Christmas 🙂
Ahhh that’s so nice to know! You must be into Christmas yourself, and it’s rubbed off on them. I LOVE Christmas so i hope that my boys love it too.
Thanks for joining #chucklemums
Thank you for a great linky and have a lovely Christmas 🙂