Ho Ho Ho.

Like every other parent of young children out there we are living and breathing Santa and all things Christmas.  It is my most favourite time of year, the weather is warm and everyone starts cracking the champagne and taking advantage of the long afternoons, the sounds of kids enjoying themselves and making memories always brings a smile to my face.

Last week we kept up tradition of the Santa photo in the city, combined with the parade and lights at King George Square.  We have been doing this for a few years now and each year it gets better, Otto and Hugo spoke to Santa for the first time this year and put in their requests (a surprise for Hugo and a metal detector for Otto), while Miriam smiled at him and tried to pull his beard off, securing us the cutest Santa photo going around!

I always put a lot of effort into their Christmas outfits and this year was no exception but much harder than usual with a girl in the mix.  Sadly too late for this year but definitely bookmarked for next year I found a website that will coordinate both boys and girls Christmas outfits and will make custom orders for older children!  

While I understand how exciting it is for them to be getting a visit from Santa, I have been trying hard to also remind them that it is the season of giving and not just receiving, so today we did our usual bake for the neighbourhood and dropped the offering to our neighbours.  This was the first year that the boys really understood and happily went and knocked on neighbours doors, wishing them a Merry Christmas and enjoying the smiles and thank-you's from everyone.

The school holidays have also allowed me some variations on my training schedule.  Instead of hot and short runs to school we have been heading to our local park and running 5kms, followed by a play and croissants by the water, not easy to guess which version is our favourite!

All this extra training has really paid off, last week I managed a sub 28 min (27:46) 5km with the double pram, the first time I have achieved that since coming back to it after Miriam.  I was so happy and proud, fitting my training in has required a lot of planning and ingenuity at times but to have a result like that just keeps propelling me forward.  I can't wait to see where running takes me in 2017, but for right now I am celebrating the small wins, and enjoying the croissants and time spent making memories with my little people.