A parents guide to a magical Christmas | Nesquik

When I was little, decorating the tree at my Nana’s was the first official sign that Christmas had begun. It wasn’t a grand tree in any way. It was a little artificial tree that she’d had for years, that sat on a table next to the television. But to me it was magical.

Nan didn’t care where each decoration was put. There wasn’t even a colour scheme. It was bright and chaotic, with different coloured lights and glass baubles nestling higgledy piggledy amongst the reams of red and gold tinsel. But she knew the joy doing it like this brought me.

And the fact that, at 42, it still sits with me as one of my core memories, shows how right she was. And it’s down to those memories that I abandoned the idea of having a styled tree years ago because I wanted to create that same joy for the girls. 

Does my eye twitch when I see how some of them are being displayed? Absolutely! Have I been known to move them? Guilty as charged! But will I keep doing it with them? 100% Because one day, they’ll no longer want to decorate it with me and I’m determined to keep this going for as long as they do! 

Advent Calendars have certainly become more fancy since I was little. You can literally get anything in them nowadays. Mine didn’t even have chocolate in them! My excitement came from seeing if it was an angel or donkey behind each window.

But the Advent Calendar is the part of Christmas that always makes me giggle. As a parent, you spend the year teaching your kids to eat healthily and then as soon as 1st December arrives, it’s fine to eat chocolate before breakfast for the next 24 days!

Kudos to you if you have managed to prevent that from happening. Mine race down the stairs like it’s Christmas morning throughout the whole of December so the chocolate is usually in their mouth before I’ve managed to open my eyes!

But ever the one to find a positive, at least they’re up nice and early for school!

Oh the excitement! This was it. The moment when you got to ask for those things that you have been after since you saw it in the toy shop!

One year I didn’t really have a list. I simply wanted one thing. A talking Teddy Ruxpin…do you remember those? I know I’m showing my age again, but let’s just say that in 1985, this was THE toy! 

I remember my Mum seeing that one item and taking a very deep breath, followed by an explanation that she wasn’t sure if Father Christmas would have any left in his workshop. But I had faith. I gave the letter an extra hug and sent it up the chimney at my Grandparent’s house, then ran out of the front door to see if I could catch the fairies taking it to the north pole. Something I never saw but my parents insisted I did each year. 

And do you know what, there was one left in the workshop!  

The girl’s lists are certainly longer than I remember mine ever being. So to help manage it all, we have a few rules:

1. Father Christmas won’t bring everything on the list (no matter how good they think they’ve been) 
2. No animals (yet ‘puppy’ is still written most years) 
3. Cut out a picture from the catalogue of the exact item (this was brought in after the elves made the wrong toy one year) 

Then once the list is written, we head up to their rooms for a clear out. Whilst it does make room for whatever Father Christmas brings, the main reason, is so that they can donate their toys to other little boys and girls to make sure they have a good Christmas too. 

This for me is one of my favourite moments of Christmas. The big day is almost here, as the girls, dressed in their Christmas PJs, place down this year’s chosen treat for Father Christmas, the reindeer and elves!

A mince pie and glass of sherry was always the treat of choice back in my day. And of course a carrot for the reindeer. 

But if you are looking for an alternative treat with the wow factor, check out the recipe for stained glass window biscuits over on the Nesquik Recipe page. As an idea, they’d go perfectly with a Nesquik hot chocolate and I am sure Father Christmas would very much enjoy the goodies!