Dear Santa

I am writing to you this Christmas to ask you for a very special Christmas favour, please no more small toys, you know the ones I mean Santa, I know you do! Don’t you HO HO HO me Santa, you need to take this seriously!!

I don’t know how much more I can take, I am truly, no jokes, on the verge of a nervous, (tiny toy) breakdown! If I step on one more marble or stray Lego person with bare feet (ouch, like seriously OUCH), or find  any more Nerf bullets wedged into my couch,  hiding in my bed, or my underwear drawer I am going to scream!

Now please don’t get me started on Barbie and all her amazing accessories, shoes, hair brushes, (does every Barbie doll really need to come with her own hair brush?) Not to mention her purse, necklace, and all her other fashionable accessories that seem to find there way around the house.

My gorgeous girls are also currently obsessed with lalaloopsy dolls, now if you don’t know what I’m talking about they are teeny tiny dolls that also come with, yes you guessed it accessories, and little tiny pets!! I must admit they are cute and if I was still seven years old I would want them too!

My house is like a sea of little things, cars, lego, barbies, loopsies, foam bullets, strawberry shortcake, and I won’t even get started on playdoh (that deserves a blog of its very own!) Then there is the arts and craft . . .

NO, I wont do it, I won’t even go there or I might morph into some unrecognisable mummy BEAST, all green, with crazy purple hair and weird googly eyes!

Now I have bought storage tubs for these things, but somehow they can’t seem to be contained, we have a dedicated toy room and even a whole storage cupboard for toys, but somehow they manage an escape, it is like they are on an awesome covert mission to take over the house. No room is safe!

So Santa, I am not sure what you’re elves have been busy making my children this year, but if their presents contain tiny parts can you please request they send me a bottle of sanity pills to pop in MY Christmas stocking!

The sad truth is, (and I am just warning you skip this next section if you still believe in Santa,) I am actually the one who continues to buy these tiny toys. Why? Am I truly that crazy? Maybe, but there is a part of me that feels like although this minefield of a house I’m living in might drive me crazy, it also makes me sad that it won’t last forever.

My children are now 5, 7 and 10, and the first 10 years of being a mother has flown by, and I am sure the next ten will fly by just as quickly. In ten years they will be 15, 17 and 20, now that freaks me out!! In ten years they won’t be playing Barbies, or building Lego and marble tracks, and then I will miss it! I am sure I will look back dreamily, reminiscing about how my ten year old used to sit in her room for hours talking to her Barbie dolls, how my seven year old walked around the house with her doll pram pretending she was doing shopping errands, her five year old brother in tow with his teddy bear. Or watching the three of them pull out every cushion and blanket we own to create a fort.

I was chatting about this with a good friend the other day and saying that I will miss it (the mess,) when it’s gone, she asked “but will you really?” It made me stop and think, but ultimately I came up “yes” I will, I treasure each age they have been so far, and I am sure I will continue to feel the same as they grow, I love getting to know their unique personalities. So yes these toys, the chaos and the mess might drive me crazy, but it also makes me laugh, there was a time in my life where we weren’t sure we would be blessed with one child, let alone three, so although my house isn’t exactly looking picture perfect, it is my home, a family home, over run with lego people maybe, but Santa I guess I can put up with it for a few more years!

Thanks for joining me, love Mackenzie xx

Wishing everyone a safe, healthy, happy holidays, may peace be with you.

Christmas is coming

Christmas is love

sharing love, giving love,

it is the smell of ginger and spice,

the roaring fire,

glistening ice.

or . . .

hot summer sunshine,

wine to drink,

swimming and laughter,

cleaning prawns in the sink.

Christmas,

can be sadness,

and loneliness too,

missing family and friends,

not much to do.

It can be sleigh rides,

or hay rides,

singing with cheer,

or staring at stars

when the nights are clear.

Christmas can be baking cookies,

wrapping presents,

singing carols

or visiting parents.

Most of all,

I believe Christmas should be

a magical time,

for you and for me!,

MACKENZIE GLANVILLE