With a partner who works long hours in retail (even more so at this time of year), Christmas is always a little strange as I'll find myself spending the majority of the time surrounding the event alone with them; we still scoff chocolate, binge on Christmas movies and have our visits to Santa, but sadly we do it without Daddy around which can feel lonely when the majority of families are able to enjoy the holidays as a whole unit. This day was one of those days but I loved everything about it, since Archie started school in September I've been savouring the days I have him home and it's clear that Jesse misses him during the week too.

Just like the majority of solo-parenting weekend days, we tend to take our time getting up and downstairs for breakfast, opening advent calendars, discovering what that knobhead cheeky elf has been up to and listening to Christmas music whilst I bathe the boys and get us all ready to head out in the afternoon. Jesse tends to skip his nap on the weekends, or grab a snooze in the car and we always end up out of the house each afternoon to burn off some steam and pick up a hot chocolate with marshmallows somewhere on the way home. I'm trying to push away those lonely feelings and soak up the boys' excitement this year because we're all counting down not only to Christmas day, but also to Archie turning FIVE!

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