Rampant commercialism or a great reminder of past times? #ChristmasIsForSharing

I watched the Sainsbury's Christmas advert for the first time today and I balled my eyes out. For me it is the best advert I have seen in a very long time, in fact it is one of the only Christmas adverts that I do not mind seeing this early into the festive season. Actually scrap that, the festive season hasn't even started yet, has it?

Over the last couple of weeks talk on Twitter, Facebook and blogs has all been 'ahh isn't Monty the Penguin cute? Haven't John Lewis done a great job again with their Christmas advert?' and yes it is nice, it's sweet, it's endearing and as a mother it makes you think about your own child and their relationship to their special toy and if you are a romantic sort like me it makes you smile seeing all those couples in love but it is just to sell products from John Lewis. And I like John Lewis, I really do, I'm a happy customer of theirs and I'll keep buying from them but my eyes are fully open, they just want to sell to me and to make maximum profit, OK they provide great service, I'll acknowledge that but still it is Christmas commercialism gone mad.

Preparing for country life

Of course I realised I would have to take lots of practical steps towards our move to the countryside but I did not realise to begin with that there would be so many things that I would need to mentally come to terms with changing. I won’t allow myself to get down though there are solutions/ plus-sides for all these little niggles.

Single lane roads

Having spent a few weekends at our new house just recently, I have learnt and been frustrated by the small, country roads. The entrance to our house (through the big country estate) is a one lane road and there are various ‘passing places’ so you have to allow at least an extra five minutes to get anywhere in case you end up reversing back so you can then go forward! Not forgetting what trouble you can get in if you take a wrong turn off one of the country roads. I am really not big on the tiny tracks there are so many of round here, I even feel nervous when dh is driving. However, just think how skilled I will become, in a few month’s time when I need to reverse park in a tight space it will be a piece of cake.

In the middle of nowhere

You then start to realise that everywhere you want to go is a long way. School is about 5 miles, the nearest shop is about the same, the nearest decent sized supermarket is more like 8 miles. A café – a good 4 mile drive and an Indian take-away well probably six. There is no walking out to the shops like I do now or nipping to the post office, oh no things will need to be planned. Just think how uber organised I will become and I’ll be making sure I combine all my jobs into one day to save on petrol costs.

Internet, what internet?

I am told that the internet on site where I live is being switched to a new router, I pray this helps as at the moment I can’t get any single in my house. Friday night saw me sitting in dh’s office at work so I could get some blogging done – is this my future? I sure hope not as it will be nice to spend my evenings with dh. What is the upside of this one? Well it is going to ensure that I only do what is necessary instead of getting pulled into all sorts of online malarkey's. Longer term I may just have to explore if we can get our own provider to our house as I’m sure JJ will be lost without his internet connection when the cold winter months come.

TV Channels

At the moment we have Virgin Media cable TV and whilst we don’t subscribe to a massive package we do have all the kids favourite channels and that helps our whirlwind Miss M to wind-down sometimes when she is too manic. At the moment here we have just a few channels that we receive via the ariel, I think we will definitely need to invest in a freeview box to help boast our channel list. How will I live without iCarly, Victorious and Jessie let alone the girls?

It sounds a bit bleak and Thursday and Friday last week I was having a bit of a crisis about what we were doing and then you spend just a couple of days here and you are captivated all over again. I can’t at the moment, g out to play with the kids in this –

We can’t pack our picnic tea and then head to the lake and enjoy time as a family, all within a 5 minute walk of our front door –

And I haven’t got instant access to 220 acres of private estate and something new to discover every day - all without getting in a car -

This is a commissioned post but it is all completely true and a post I wanted to write anyway.

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Priceless - One-on-one time with your child

When you only have one child they have your undivided attention and then as you have more kids it gets harder and harder to have that special time that is just about you and them. I have found it particularly tough as my daughters are twins and seem to expect to come as a package and do things together. However I feel it is very important for each of the children to just have time alone with me.

Probably what I should also say is that I believe the time should be directed and led by the child. Yes this means I end up doing all sorts of things that frankly I'm really not that interested in. Miss M loves role play and most weeks I am a pupil in her school and I get a sneak peek into what it must be like to be in her classroom as I watch her mimic her teachers. Other weeks we play makeover, what fun that is! Often I end up a big old mess but I have one very happy 5 year old on my hands and it is not as if she is using my make-up, that is where the local pound shop comes into its own.

Generally if we are playing at home then the time tends to be limited to about half an hour as it can feel incredibly hard to find enough time for all three children. I work 4 days a week so I understand the time pressures that working parents feel but for me I make this special time a priority and it pays off. I have three children who are all willing to help and listen to me. 90 minutes investment for an enjoyable week and in-tune family.

Miss E is a very different child to Miss M and her idea of a great time with mummy is sitting down to do craft or play with playdough. We have loads of beautiful collages and coloured pictures that we have tackled together. Junk modelling is also fun and probably something we will spend some time doing tomorrow and then perhaps painting them on Sunday.  I actually thing our craft supplies have now got to excess as Miss E has three large boxes of supplies and I have one as well as I enjoy making cards for friends and relatives.

My time with JJ is often spent going swimming together. I've posted before about spending time with my boy, he is such good company and hated his swimming lessons, so it seemed logical we would go swimming together on a Friday evening when dh is home to babysit the girls. This is such an important life skill and if I can help him improve and enjoy some time with me then that is perfect. Of course the evening is rounded off with a hot chocolate.

if we are not swimming together then it is normally a cuddle up watching TV or a board game for JJ and I. He is trying to teach me Chess at the moment and that is a giggle as I am not into the strategy side of things, his thrashing me keeps him happy anyway!

As JJ gets to go out with me this week Miss E insisted that she should get to go out as well and especially as Daddy was off work he could look after the other two. I asked her where she wanted to go and was told John Lewis for a babychinno.  OK, sounds good. So after a trip to the Entertainer toy store where she bought herself some colouring we headed for a drink together and a look round John Lewis as I had some vouchers to spend. Good old work and their Christmas gift!

Dh has been whinging at me about buying a spice rack, well I can sort of understand, look at the state of our spice storage currently but come on, these vouchers where a Christmas present for me so surely a bottle of perfume was much more the order of the day! Well it was for me anyway and I came away with my favourite Dune by Christian Dior.

Because mine and Miss E's trip out took longer than normal I need to schedule in time tomorrow with the other two, as mentioned Miss M and I will be doing junk modelling and JJ and I will set about creating a Lego empire whilst watching a film tomorrow afternoon. I feel a PJ day is in order.....

What about you, do you try to spend regular time with your children one on one?  I'd seriously recommend it, yes it feels like a big ask at first but you soon get in the swing of it and from my experience they appreciate it so much.

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