Twas the day after Christmas, and all through the house, not a creature was stirring, not even our boy Jack (he’s just gone down for his nap).

What a lovely day we had yesterday, picked up my Mum late morning and visited my sister and her family. My adorable nieces Lucy and Daisy – who got utterly spoiled by Santa – were still riding the high of Christmas morning, and it was nice to just hang out for a couple of hours and let the kids play. Jack is coming more and more into his own and seems to the type of toddler who takes most things in his stride and after a few minutes of shyness he was soon stealing toys, and charging around the living room.

Ahh yes, I said toddler! A few days ago our wonderful son took his first unaided steps and then spent 20 mins racing back and forth between Mum and Dad, he hasn’t looked back since! All of a sudden there is a little boy in our house, stoating about on wobbly legs but, for the most part, pretty confident and sure of himself. Next thing he’ll be driving a car! We decided to keep it quiet from the family so it was an extra special Christmas present for everyone!

We came home mid-afternoon to get ready for Becca’s family who were all coming over for Christmas dinner, 9 adults in total and despite the potential for stress it all went off without a hitch (to be fair, we don’t really do stress in our house) with everyone well fed and watered and, obviously, Jack was the star of the show throughout.

All in all it was a great day, Jack received lots of gifts (but not too many!) and we will slowly introduce them in the coming weeks as we rotate out other toys – we are keen to not have too many out at a time so he can learn to concentrate on one or two things at a time – but we already have some new favourites so we are counting the day as a success all round!

And now it’s Boxing Day, I’ve had my traditional bowl of leftover trifle for breakfast (and about to have another) and already I’m thinking ahead to next year, we will be in a new house but we’d love to build some more traditions for Jack. This year was a bit early, he’s not really sure about the whole Christmas/Santa thing so we have time to think about what memories and traditions we want to leave him with as he grows. Yes, if that means trifle for breakfast I’ll let him have some, I suppose.

Aside from that we have no plans today. In the coming week we will catch up with friends, see family again no doubt, but by and large the days will be quiet, relaxed, and spent with our wonderful boy. The best Christmas present!

Overall I think we’ve managed a good balance this year, we’ve not spent a fortune on presents that aren’t really needed, we’ve not cleared the shelves of the local supermarkets, and we’ve focused on memories for Jack rather than things. In years to come he’ll remember who was here, not which toy the bought him, and for us that’s the most important gift we can give him.

I hope you all had a good day, however you chose to spend it.