Christmas is around the corner and I am so excited! I have always loved this time of year and I have my wonderful family to thank for that. As today is the first day of Advent, I wanted to share some of my favourite memories from Christmas time over the years!
One memory that sticks with me, is waking up on Christmas morning to presents on the end of my bed! I used to be so excited when I woke up, I would sit up so fast to check the foot of the bed, but I would never open them by myself… I would wake up my little brother and we would gather our gifts and take them to my mum and dads room, where we would all sit on the bed together and open them there!
After opening the presents, my dad would go and turn on the fire in the living room and we would go and see what else Santa had brought for us.
Speaking of waking up my little brother…
I am a huge kid at heart, I am always awake at the crack of dawn on Christmas Day, even now at the age of 26, I am always the first one up!
So a few years ago, when I was staying at my parents house for the holidays, I woke up full of excitement but the rest of the house was in silence! So, I started throwing stuffed animals at the wall separating my room from my brothers room in an attempt to wake him up. When that didn’t work, I had no choice but to result in the following…
I knocked on his door as loud as I could and shouted ‘Do you wanna build a snowmannnnn?’
I could hear my mum and dad laughing at me, but the laughter grew stronger when the reply from the other side of the door was ‘GO AWAY I AM NAKED!’
One of the earliest memories that I have, was the year baby Annabelle was super popular!
I was only little and like every other kid my age, the baby Annabelle was on the top of my list. After opening all of my presents from underneath the tree, I realised that there was no doll with my name on it. I tried not to look disappointed, but mothers know everything! Mum asked me what was wrong and I told her that Santa forgot Annabelle! She asked me to check my bedroom in case it had fallen off of my bed in the night… but I had already looked there when I first woke up. She told me to look again… so off I went to check again and boy was I shocked to see another present laying there! I thought Santa must have came back while I was in the living room and put it there, and I was absolutely in awe.
As I got older, the magic of Christmas never died.
I still wake up with butterflies in my belly and I love going to my mum and dads in the morning and opening presents with them, still feeling like a kid!
One year, I received a special gift on Christmas morning, this time, from Jake! We had been together for 5-years at this point and we were living together in student accommodation. We had just finished opening presents together and so I went to get dressed ready for the day ahead. Suddenly, I heard my name being called from the living room… my first thought was that Jake had broken something, as he never addresses me by my name like that.
I walked into the living room and was greeted by Jake down on one knee with a ring box in hand. I have to say the rest of that moment was a blur behind my happy tears… so much so that I could not remember hearing him actually popping the question!
But he did, and of course, I said YES!
I could not wait to get to my mum and dads to show them my beautiful ring and celebrate with them.
This year, I am excited to spend the whole of Christmas Day with my mum, dad, little brother and Jake! This is something I have not done for a very long time, as we have been going to my in-laws for the last few years. I am also really looking forward to spending Boxing Day with friends this year, something we have never done!
And of course, I cannot wait to spend 4 nights in Germany with my other half, exploring the Christmas Markets!
What are some of your favourite Christmas memories? We would love to hear about them in the comments below!