Forgive me, it's been 11 DAYS since my last confession, blog post. Alongside the usual busyness of family life and organizing Christmas, I've had to contend with a sickness bug that had my toddler projectile vomiting all hours, (and pre the actual carnage, days of unexplained tantruming which nearly broke me). To say I've been somewhat distracted is an understatement!
If like me you were a 90's kid, Christmas was an opportunity to present a double sided, A4 piece of paper to the parents, filled with items picked from 'the laminated book of dreams' (Argos catalogue). Whilst it was an absolute blast being this fortunate, it made Christmas incredibly materialistic. It also made my poor mother incredibly blue once winter hit, as she manically scrabbled to buy gifts for everyone on a tight budget, (we have a large extended family so gift buying is always a momentous occasion).
Now that I'm a parent of two young girls (4 months and 2 years), I've decided that for as long as possible I'm going to try to endeavour to live by my ethics, which I stick to all year round. So for the most part I am looking for second hand items, supplementing them with the odd new thing. With this in mind come and look at my latest thrift haul...which of course I'll be passing onto Santa and his elves so he can wrap and deliver them for Christmas!
Please excuse the hideous lighting of these photos. (it's so grey and miserable in the UK at the moment). I found these stockings in charity shops in my hometown. The absolutely beautiful embroidered green stockings are handmade and cost £4. The red felt stockings are £1.50 and will be at the bottom of my girl's bed's Christmas morning filled with stocking fillers!
Everything from the Christmas tree, tinsel, baubles, books, tea cup and stockings are either second hand, a gift, or given to me. We found the tree second hand on Facebook market place and the baubles etc are all from a charity shop in Aylesbury. As you can see the stockings have slotted in perfectly. The mirror was £50 off Etsy, courtesy of my work colleagues for my first maternity leave. The ivy is from the garden and the berries are pretend ones I did buy new from a local garden centre.
If the wonky o in the Noel sign doesn't sum up my family I don't know what does! This was a gift from my sister Laura, I've added some garden ivy and a few berries. It looks a bit plain in this picture but it lights up and looks lovely otherwise!
You will be amazed at the amount of children's toys you can find in charity shops. Of course there'll be a few dog-earred things that aren't worth investing in, but largely I've been able to find good quality, sometimes brand new things, for pennies. The wooden jigsaw was £1 and the soft sensory toy for my littlest one was £3.00. The book is actually brand new from my local bookshop. When I can, I try my absolute best to buy from the local high street. Wallingford Bookshop has been open 40 years and run by four lady owners. The ex owner still works there and obliged me when I asked if I could take a photo of the shop. The minute I heard it was female run I HAD to buy a book!
Please forgive the picture below which is basically rearranging what I'd already bought in the previous photo, I was actually trying to show off the brand new children's helmet I found for £5. I'm hoping to get my eldest daughter into skateboarding, this design your own helmet seemed like the perfect bribe!
I've bought a lot more bits and bobs for the girls but as I've been time deficient and I wasn't sure exactly how interesting this would be to you dear reader, I've reframed from photographing anything else! They have coming wooden jigsaws, jumpers, books, wellingtons and other little knick knacks.
Throughout the year my mom will buy Christmas tree decorations, usually when on trips, so by Christmas she has what she calls a 'memory tree.' I love this kind of story telling and have slowly begun doing the same. I found this nativity scene decoration for £1.50 in Oxfam. As it's the first decoration I've bought in my new town I thought it would be a perfect start to creating my own 'memory tree.'
In terms of what I've been wearing these last few days it's pretty much been one of the following, a) a long hippie dress of some description with lots of layers, or b) something I can skate in. The dormant surfer in me is starting to reawaken, I'm desperate to get to the sea but have had to patiently wait to get strong enough/save up. Four months post partum and after waking up 5.30am, five days a week to do 30 minutes of some kind of conditioning I'm starting to feel ownership over my body again. I'll never 'bounce back,' but bollocks to that, I don't need to look like a twenty year old, I just want to surf. Skateboarding is an intermittent pastime that is strengthening my skills and technique for when I'm back in the sea. I'm riding a longboard skateboard which better mimics the surfer stance and posture than other skateboards. At the moment I'm just skating in an empty basket ball court in the park, I'm working on turns and eventually want to try cross stepping (this takes years and lots of practice)!
I've been wearing this jumper non stop. It's a vintage 90's number I got YEARS ago and never fails to keep me toasty. In terms of my skateboarding skill ,think 'Bambi on ice' but hell, being a beginner is such a wonderful phase, there's so much scope and opportunity. Sure it can hurt and be embarrassing, but mostly it's a lot of fun!
Right I'm sure I need to go wrap something (or maybe just put the kettle on). I know its so easy to get whiplash with the to do list at this time of year, but take a deep breath, relax your shoulders, notice how you're feeling and remember - your time is waaaaaay more important that some gift. You don't need to buy gifts to show someone you love them.
See you soon my lovelies!
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