My top 5 time saving tricks to survive the run up to Christmas!

Ok so, like you, I'm a busy mama; running around after children (and the husband), and trying to get some work done in between PLUS now the Christmas countdown is on ARRGGHHHH! SO I've come up with a list of things that I'm going to implement to save me time, energy AND money on the lead up the the big day, and I thought I'd share them with you to hopefully inspire you to do the same!

1. Tell my extended family and friends that I won't be buying their kids presents this year and that I don't expect any for my kids either. I HATE the usual gift exchange thing that goes on with children who already have far too much and would probably rather have a slightly less stressed out mummy on Christmas day than another present (unless it's a hot wheels car in which case, the more the better according to my 4 year old!) Plus I have no idea what to buy other kids, I just don't. So there. Bah humbug!

2. Get my husband to actually buy, wrap and post his own family's presents this year and write all his own cards. Wow, I already feel amazing just thinking about it! How have I ended up doing this for soooo many years? No more mummy martyrdom!

3. Refuse the usual custom of sending every child in my son's pre school class a card. Until he can write his own name, and remember their's, forget it.

4. Have a gift theme for the close family and friends I do buy for. I spend waaaay too long thinking about what to get for everyone, and then searching for it. So this year my theme is 'books' (you can never have enough right?!), so everyone gets a book suited to them; a travel diary for my newly retired parents, a business planner for my entrepreneurial sister, etc etc easy peasy and all in one place, one delivery!

5. Not say yes to every single invite and local event! It might not look like it from the above but I actually LOVE Christmas, especially the weeks preceeding the day itself and I often get a little over excited and want to do all the xmas markets, friend's parties and random kids activity events that are going on, and around Bristol that's a lot! So this year I'm promising myself to just do ONE Christmassy thing per weekend and no more.

And this is all so that on Christmas day itself I can feel a little more like this...

And a little less like this...