Sussex columnist: How I'm trying to get to grips with Christmas

The festive season really seems to have crept up on me this year. It feels like five minutes ago I was still wandering around in shorts and t-shirt and relishing drying my washing on the line outside.

But, seemingly without warning, I’m back to spending my evenings frantically Googling ‘magical elf on the shelf ideas’ and panic-buying tubs of Twiglets and bottles of Baileys as if my life depends on it.

It’s not like I don’t know it’s coming; I’ve been party to 41 Christmases already. I think it might be that I want to bury my head in the sand, because when it comes to the festive season, I don’t really know where to start.

To begin with, there’s the huge amount of life admin it takes to manage the children’s school calendars. Attend concerts, Nativities, the school fair. Bring in donations for Christmas charities. Remember the Christmas party dates. Book their festive lunches. Buy a Christmas jumper for them. Organise gifts for the teaching staff.

There’s just a mind-boggling array of activities and events to remember and get your head around. If it wasn’t for the two parents' WhatsApp groups for my children’s year groups (which themselves take a lot of managing!), no doubt many events would have been forgotten or missed.

Then there’s Christmas at home to organise. And that’s a whole other ball game indeed.

Buy the presents, write and send cards, buy a vast array of food and drink to consume over the festive season, put up decorations, stage a naughty elf each night, plan magical Christmas activities, book a meet and greet with Santa, try to remain sane… There are so many things whizzing through my brain, I end up not knowing which thing to do first.

Which is why I find myself fully into December with a to-do list as long as my arm.

I do absolutely love Christmas, it’s just a shame it takes so much work to make it happen!

That being said, maybe I’m not as behind as I thought, as we did manage a perfect festive day out on Saturday. We started the day by meeting my parents for Saturday morning cinema at The Connaught and a showing of Polar Express. We come and see it every Christmas – 1) because it’s such a festive film and 2) because we love supporting our local cinemas.

We then had lunch at Boston Tea Party. We love it in here because the food is always delicious, the staff are so friendly and there are plenty of tables. If you haven’t been there before, you should definitely try it.

A quick pit stop at home, and then we were on our way to Leonardslee Illuminated at Leonardslee Gardens.

I’d been lucky enough to be shown round by the director of the event during the day a couple of weeks ago as they were making the final preparations for the night-time lights trail, and it looked lovely then. But that was nothing compared to its magical splendour at night.

MORE COLUMNS: Sussex columnist: Coming full-circle to bond with my parents again

Sussex columnist: 'Mum guilt is real, but I had a parenting win this week' – and gin and baking in Brighton!

Lit by fairy lights the whole way around, and with huge, ethereal displays set to music, it was completely enchanting. I loved taking my time, and soaking up the magic. These are the best parts of the Christmas season to me. Being out and about and enjoying quality family time together. And because it was so wonderful, my children were thoroughly entertained for the whole 60/90-minute trail. And as we all know, happy children = happy parents. It was a real success of a day.

Spreading Christmas cheer even further, Sunday was spent putting up our outside decorations (the husband) and decorating the Christmas tree (me and the children). It was the first year my son was old enough to join in, and the parenting Gods must have been smiling down on me because it went incredibly well.

There was no fighting, no baubles were broken and the tree was decorated in peaceful harmony, set to MTV’s non-stop Christmas hits and while wearing matching Christmas pyjamas. It was like a scene from a Christmas movie. They even let me take a photo of them when we were finished.

Maybe I have got this Christmas thing sorted, after all..!