And so the tradition continues. Thank you for the awesome evening @canalwalk #Christmas #hohoho #happyholidays #TheMalans #family #love

A photo posted by Hayley Malan (@hayleymalan) on Dec 1, 2016 at 11:34am PST

It’s almost Holiday time and I cannot tell you how much I am looking forward to having a bit of a break and spend some quality time with the kids, friends of family. That is exactly what the festive season is about!

We had our family picture taken with Santa last week and as we sat in Santa’s sleigh, I got very nostalgic thinking that this was our 4th year sitting there as a family. I then looked back at the pictures from the 1st year where Alyssa was so tiny, then 2 years later there was Aidan, and this year – we have 2 “big” children.

It makes me feel old, yet proud. Tired, yet accomplished. I don’t know how else to explain it, but I feel as if time is moving by way too quickly.

Life is just too short and we need to make as many special memories as possible – and the festive season is the best time to do so!

Christmas 2015

We have a few simple ways of making special Christmas memories this year:

The Tree

We put up our tree about a week ago but we’ve had to relocate/redecorate and remove certain decorations as Aidan just cannot stop himself from messing with the tree. He was so excited to put the ornaments on the tree, but seems to be more chuffed with removing them.

My Little Christmas helpers got a bit sleepy so the tree is still a work in progress. The fun will continue tomorrow #christmas2016

A photo posted by Hayley Malan (@hayleymalan) on Dec 2, 2016 at 11:25am PST

Christmas Carols

Alyssa is singing a few Christmas carols which gets us all in the festive mood.Her absolute favourite carol is Jingle Bells of course.

Getting Crafty

We love getting crafty and Alyssa is always ready to help me with my Christmas projects, like last week she helped me put together a Lindor Christmas wreath. I think the fact that there was chocolate involved made it even more exciting for her.

Out and About

There’s a lot of Christmas activities happening like Carols by candlelight, Santa’s workshops and nativity plays. We’ll be sure to visit a few of these during the holiday period.

The Photo’s

We usually get our picture taken with Santa at Canal walk every year, but we also take a family photo at home for our Christmas card.

We literally only need 1 good shot but the kids were just not having it this year. They were putting up a big fight but we luckily got 1 ok-ish shot.

One of the Bloopers

Home sweet home

Yes, the holidays means lots of time out and about but we also enjoy spending quality time at home. We plan to watch some old Christmas movies, play some games and maybe bake some Christmas cookies. I think it’s a good way for us to slow down after a very busy year.