I talked recently about advent calendars and what I was going to do to mark off the days during December.

Well there has been a change of plan.

Yesterday morning I received the presents from Erin’s Nana (my mum) and just looking at hers combined with mine I knew that it was going to be too overwhelming on Christmas morning, especially as these do not include any other presents from family. I haven’t bought an advent calendar yet, so we have decided to try something a little different.

During December we will do alternate days of a milkybar tree decoration and a present to open. This is the advent box below - these will go under and on the tree.

This has a few advantages. Less to open on the day. More chance to play and appreciate the gifts. Less chocolate (this is a good thing when you are 10 months!). Plus Erin doesn’t really have many toys at the moment as we have been purposely holding back knowing that Christmas would provide more than enough so it will give us some new things to play with.

Here’s a sneaky peek at santa’s loot for Christmas Day.

I don’t know what is in a lot of the advent parcels so stay tuned as we reveal what surprises lie in store for us (can you tell I am as excited as Erin, if not more!!)