We are both ready for Xmas jumper day! ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐
Category: MY BABY EXPERIENCE
Making your own Christmas traditions …
Its funny how now Christmas is the saddest and the happiest time of the year at the same time….
Christmas was always the most amazing time of the year in my family. From when I was very little my parents have been making it the most special and magical time of the year. We had lots of Christmas traditions which I cherish now that both of my parents are not with me anymore.
We would dress the Christmas tree the weekend before Christmas Eve. We all had our own decorations which Mum bought for us, usually the same decorations just with a different accent colour. My Mum would always buy a big bag of chocolate sweets which we would tie ribbons on to and then hang on the Christmas tree. The amount of time each of us would sneak to the Christmas tree in the day and at night and try to steal chocolates๐… With time we have worked out the best way of doing it: sneak in and don’t take the sweet off the Christmas tree as the wrapper was making way too much noise. Instead just slip the sweet from the wrapper and try to leave the wrapper so it looks like chocolate is still in it. By the time we were allowed to eat the chocolates (after the 26th) there was only lots of empty chocolate wrappers left ๐
I am Polish and in Poland we celebrate the 24th of December. That’s when we have our Christmas dinner (made of 12 dishes followed by crazy amounts of cakes) after which we open our presents. We always sat down to the Christmas dinner as soon as the 1st star would appear in the sky. I remember my Dad getting all 4 of us (my brother, me, and 2 of my sisters) all excited trying to be the first one to spot the star.
I remember every year my dad calling : “I have just seen Santa Claus!” My Mum would take us to our bedrooms to try to spot Santa who should be coming at any minute… Every time we would get very disappointed as we couldn’t see him and then we would hear my Dad shouting “O MY !!! KIDS KIDS !!!” We would run in to the living room to see lots of presents under the Christmas tree ๐ and being told that we missed Santa Claus again !!!
Then it’s dinner time full of its own traditions like having an empty plate if someone hungry comes and asks for food, sharing ….. Oplatek…..with the whole family before you start your dinner; all of us kids eating as quickly as possible so we can open our presents . Oh yes we open our presents on the 24th!!!!
Now that I am older, I have my own baby and I miss my parents terribly those memories and traditions have became very important. That’s why me and my husband made a real effort to make sure that we have our own family traditions which hopefully my daughter will love and pass on …
We will be combining Polish and English traditions together:
โ๏ธLetter from Santa is a must every year. I know that right now Chloe doesn’t understand but as she grows up it will be such a lovely and exciting moment for her.
โ๏ธGoing to Crews Hill garden centres on the first weekend of December for an amazing kick-start to Christmas. They have the most amazing Christmas decorations and Christmas attractions for kids.
โ๏ธ Every year each of us chooses new Christmas decoration.
โ๏ธ Christmas tree is always getting dressed on the first weekend of December. I know that it seems early to everyone but I love Christmas decorations so I want to enjoy them for as long as I can.
โ๏ธVisiting Santa ๐. Maybe next year it will be a little bit less scary ๐
โ๏ธFamily Polish Christmas on the 24th of December. It will be a very traditional dinner exactly as my Parents did it for so many years. After dinner we are allowed to open one present.
โ๏ธGetting milk, cookies and carrots ready so if Santa visits us he can have a snack.
โ๏ธOpening presents in the morning on the 25th followed by Christmas dinner/ day with family.
Do you have any Christmas traditions ? Are there any traditions that you carrying on doing from when you were little ? Please share x
Letter from Santa !ย
This year is all about making our own family traditions! Chloe has just turned 1 year old and is getting excited about presents, lights, Christmas decorations etc. This is the perfect time to make traditions which as a family we can start following every year. With me being Polish and my husband being English there is a lot of traditions to choos from/ follow. I will write more about it in the next few days. One of the traditions we started last year is Chloe receving letter from Santa. Today Chloe’s letter from Santa has arrived! I must say is one of the nicest letters I have seen. What is so special about it? The magic reindeer food and how personalised the letter is. It talks about Chloe’s real friends, real achievements and milestones! I loved it so much that I had to share it with you guys. 
She looks so grown up !!!ย
ITS ALL ABOUT ME AND MY CROWN !!!
SMASH THE CAKE BABY !!!
I love the cake smashing photos of babies covered in cake, icing and chocolate ! I also like the idea of giving then some sugar for the first time and capturing theirs reaction on the camera. What I don’t like is the though of all of the sugar that they will eat! That’s why I decided to make my own cake and get a “healthy balance” between sugar and healthy cake. I decided to make a bannana cake and cover it in normal icing. That way Chloe wouldn’t have that much sugar and icing would give her a taste of the forbidden thing.
Cake came up very tasty but I must admit bcause of the texture it’s not the best one for smashing…. Especially if your baby doesn’t like to get dirty ….
I was expecting Chloe to go gravy for the icing and the cake … But she didn’t ! She wasn’t too bothered about it (which outside of the photoshot is a good thing) and it took us a long time to try and get her a bit messy. I had to get pretty messy myself trying to I courage my daughter to play with the cake … That’s how uninterested she was about it!
Considering the amount of cake they actually eat (which isn’t a lot) and the texture needed for a good smas cake session I would recommend to make a normal sponge cake just with less sugar.
Below recipes for the healthy cake and obviously some photos of Chloe.
BABY BANANA CAKE
Ingredients for the cake :
– 5 ripen bananas
– 1 1/2 cup flower (you can use white flower or whole grain
– 3/4 cup Apple juice with no added sugar)
– 3 tsp vanilla extract
– 1 tsp cinnamon
– 2 egg whites – bitten
– 50g of fondant icing of a desired colour(if using)
Ingredients for the icing:
– 250g icing sugar
– 125g soft butter
– 1 or 2 tbsp of milk
– 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
– food colouring (if using)
Cooking method:
Preheat your oven to 180C.
Mash your bananas (I blend them for the creamy texture)
Combine all of your ingredients (except egg white) together until smooth. Beat eggs white until quite stiff and fold in very carefully. Pour your mixture on to your forms which has been sprayed lightly with cooking pray. I have used 2 forms for the big cupcake cake and filled then half full, but you can use 2 small round baking tins (depends on what cake you want to make)
Put the cake in to the oven and bake for 25 minutes.
Prepare your icing my mixing your butter with half of the sugar, then add the rest of the ingredients and combine it well. If you are using food colouring add at the end.
When your cake is cooked, cool it and then start decorating.
I went for the cupcake cake. I have used fondant icing on the bottom of the cake and butter icing on the top of it.
If you are using fondant icing you will need to put a very thin layer of butter icing on the cake first so that the fondant icing sticks to the cake. A good tip when rolling out your icing : use a little bit of corn flower it will stop the icing from sticking to the worktop.
I have used a thin layer or butter icing to keep both of the cakes together ; it acts as a very good and tasty glue ๐. If you want to use something healthier soft cheese will do exactly this same job.
At the end I have decorated the top of the cake with turquoise butter icing. I was very pleased with the result …. Not so much Chloe ๐
My little adventure ….. Made by mum with โค๏ธ
I always loved making things and I always was very visual, artistic (that’s probably why I am a Visual Merchandiser Manager). I started making things for Chloe: bows, headbands, little decorations for her nursery. After encouragement from friends I decided to come out of the closet and show what I do, see if people will like it, and if they will be willing to pay for it ….
So here it is a very very small preview of what I have produced and a little taste of what is to come ….
LAST WEEK OF MATERNITY LEAVE ๐ข
I am becoming an emotional wreck! Last week I was emotional because my little baby somehow overnight has changed in to a big baby (I still cannot bring myself to call her a toddler!). This week I am a total emotional mess because it is my last week of maternity leave which means settling sessions at the nursery and trying to stop ignoring the fact that I am going back to work on Monday !
I just have left Chloe at the nursery on her own for longer than 15 minutes (we started settling in session last week but I was there with her having fun and only left the room for 15 minutes). I have left her doing her first ever painting, seeing her at the table with the apron on starting to do her painting …. I got so emotional that I almost burst out crying !
Today was only to hours which Chloe apparently really enjoyed; tomorrow I will have to leave her from 9am till 2 pm …. How will I do that??? … This whole experience is so emotional and stressful!
1ST BIRTHDAY CELEBRATIONS !!!ย
Months of planing, weeks of preparation, lots of stress, excitement and happiness … And now Chloe is one year old !
I have spent a lot of time making all birthday decorations, birthday cakes and food. This are the results of Chloe’s two birthday parties.
CHLOE IS 1 YEAR OLD !!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY SWEETHEART !!! โค๏ธย
It has happened Chloe has turned 1 today! I cannot believe that my little princess is already 1 year old! Where did the time go ??!! When did the year go by ?? Yes in the past year I have been constantly tired, haven’t had many good nights of sleep and have been worrying all the time about everything. But it has been the most amazing, wonderful year filled with happiness and so much love that I found it overwhelming!!!! Chloe has come in to this world at the saddes time of my life and made me the happiest person on the planet !! Every day I would look at her cute little face, see her gorgeous smile and I would feel so happy, blessed and loved (even in the middle of the night after being up for 18 hours).
Chloe turning 1 was very emotional, a chapter of my and Chloe’s life has been closed! She officially isn’t a baby anymore …. She is a toddler!
Happy birthday my little princess! Thank you for being such an amazing baby and making me and Daddy so happy !
More about Chloe’s actual birthday and her parties in few days time!
NEW YUMMY MUMMY 
