Christmas Fest!

We’ve started a new tradition in our family.

It was Middle Man’s idea.

Last December, we had my Dad and his girlfriend coming to stay in their caravan for 2 weeks. Middle Man – who was 5 at the time – came to me one day and asked.

“Mum, can we have a Festival for when Poppy and Shell come to visit? For Christmas, because they won’t be here then?”

“Umm, sure. That’s a lovely idea. What are you thinking?”

So, we sat down and he started to share his ideas. At the time, he was very interested in putting on shows and concerts, either telling stories, dancing or singing. So, this was something he wanted to incorporate into the Festival. We set a date for the Friday after they arrived, and threw around a few ideas.

The date came around very quickly. It was a major flop! We hadn’t planned anything for dinner. I hadn’t even done groceries! We had whatever frozen goods were in the freezer. Middle Man hadn’t done any practice on his performance, and the balcony, where the event was supposed to be held, was in a state of utter chaos! Fortunately, the grandparents were forgiving and they were staying a while longer, so he had a chance to redeem himself.

There was plenty we could improve on! Middle Man took the learning experience in his stride and was now motivated to get cracking on the Christmas Festival he’d envisioned.  

He prompted us to have meetings so that we could plan things out. Who was going to come? What sort of food? What sort of games or activities? We had to think about the music, the lights and decorations. We had at least 3 of these meetings, within a 10 day period. All of the ideas came from his mind, or from us brainstorming. I really liked that he had taken this initiative and so, because it was his original vision, we decided that any idea needed to be approved or rejected by him first. Afterall, he was the visionary, and ultimately the Event Director. Everything had to be in the spirit of “Christmas Fest”.

On one Saturday morning, Middle Man was very keen to get started with our meeting. It commenced about 10am, but he suggested we meet over banana smoothies, so we made smoothies first. After this, we sat on the balcony with our note pads and pens. After 10 minutes of meeting, Middle Man suggested that we might need some snacks for the meeting, so we reconvened again after 10 minutes of preparing a snack platter. Getting inspiration from the meeting, he suggested that for “Christmas Fest” we have nibble platters and dessert for dinner. This should be done first. First dinner. Myself and Meema (the 3WR’s grandma) protested about what the adults would have for actual dinner, as it wasn’t really a ‘proper dinner’. Reluctantly, Middle Man agreed that we could have a second dinner, “but nothing that takes too long spent in the kitchen”.

“Ok, how about a curry?” Meema suggested. “We can put it on in the slow cooker that morning, then get some rice ready 20 mins before dinner?”

“And throw some nuggets and chips in the air fryer for the kids”, I added.

“Approved.” Middle Man was ready to move onto more important things. “Decorations. We need lots of tinsel. Giant Santa needs to be set up at the front of the house, and the animals need costumes. Cats and dogs. Also, there should be a Spiderman concert with karaoke. I think this meeting should go overnight, and we camp out?”

Meema and I were not keen on a sleepover camping meeting. But we helped Middle Man with the planning and the ideas came to life. We had a plan this time, and everyone had a job to do.

 “What if we had festival T-shirts that we decorate ourselves?” Meema suggested, and that became her job.

“Yes.” Middle man approved. “Make sure there are green and rainbow colouring pens”.

The big day of Christmas Fest finally came around.

There was excitement in the air.

The decorations were set up. The stage was ready. The music was playing. It kicked off after 4pm, with the sharing of a lucky dip of ‘cheap shop’ presents. Shell and Poppy didn’t know about presents, so wrapped things up from the table in newspaper.

“Wow, thank you for this half-burnt mozzie coil?”, said Meema. “And also for this used citronella candle”, said Peepa (the 3WR’s grandpa), returning them to the table with a laugh.  

We shared some delicious nibbles and spent time decorating our festival T-shirts. We got photos in front of the Big Santa, with the dogs and cats too. Taken by drone, of course, so everyone could be in the picture. Then the Event Director went missing. But, right on sunset we got the surprise of our life when he returned with Santa… riding on a quad bike!!

The adults had no idea about any of this and got very excited. More excited than the kids! We all enjoyed cracking a Christmas cracker with Santa, and Mum even gave him a smooch goodbye. Then, it was time for first dinner – dessert. Middle Man and the 3WRs danced around to Spiderman music and Dad sung karaoke badly. The night finished off with some curry for the adults and nuggets and chips for the kids, and everyone was in bed by 8:30pm.

It was such a fun afternoon and evening. Everybody raved about it the next day, and for weeks afterwards. Even when Christmas day rolled around, it seemed like a bit of a non-event after the celebrations of Christmas Fest.

What I loved about it was that it was all the fun of Christmas, through the eyes of a kid, without any of the expectations of Christmas.

It was a welcome change from the hard stuff that Christmas can bring up. The loved ones who are no longer around the table. The ones who have passed away, or those who aren’t there due to family breakdowns, separations or disagreements that might not ever be settled. There was no expectation about having to do things a certain way because “that’s how it’s always been done”. We didn’t have to cook a roast, baste a ham, or get expensive seafood. There was no slaving in the kitchen. No rush, rush, rushing around making sure that everyone was happy and checking that things were ‘just so’. None of this stuff is in the mind of a kid. They see the fun in doing the best things first, the beauty in spending time together, and the excitement of making memories.

We are about to celebrate our 2nd Christmas Fest. This year, as well as the Grandparents, we have Aunties, Uncles, Cousins and some cherished friends coming too. They will be camping overnight as well, which Middle Man is very excited about!

Let me know about your Christmas Traditions, I’d love to hear about them. Or you could even start a new family tradition? Something as simple as having dessert first!  

May you all have a wonderful Christmas and cherish the fun, beautiful and exciting memories with your loved ones.

Lots of Love,

MumOf3WRs