On the sixth day of advent my kiddiewinks brought to me

6 ways to Christmas calmness

5 Christmas lists

4 early mornings

3 spectacled reindeer

2 toilet decorations

And a tantrum around the Christmas tree

Yeah right ! Christmas is many things in my house but Christmas calmness, hmmm  not to sure about that! There may be moments of Christmas calmness in my house; but more likely it is Christmas chaos/carnage/craziness! When staying away with children, for all the loveliness, it can also add lots of stress. Here are my top five kiddiewink essentials for staying away with family during the Christmas season

1)your kiddiewink’s comforter– teddies, blankets, dummies. Without them you’re screwed! Even if you believe your seven year old doesn’t need it, guaranteed they’ll decide they want it when you are miles and miles away from home

2) Firm favourite storybooks– these will help keep the bedtime routine familiar. We usually can’t go wrong with Julia Donaldson, althoug now we need to remember the bigs ones chapter book we are reading. Chances are you wont take the exact one they decide they want that evening (at least you tried)

3) Plenty of snacks and drinks-my kiddiewinks are always hungry and there is nothing worse than hungry  moaning child when you have nothing to give them. I am sure it’s not justmine that turn into monsters when they are hungry! (Please note:Sod’s law they will want some different snack and drink)!

4) A few favourite toys and activities– we generally take pens and paper, figures, my little ponies, DS or the hudl-  the electronic devices are more for nights away without any other children where we are going. Again, once more, even thoughthey chose which toys to take, they generally change the mind. Resulting in either a row with a sibling over their choice of toy; tears over the toy left behind.

5) Gro-anywhere blind this is an absolute life saver and has made a massive impact to our sleep! Before having one, we would often be woken ridiculously early at sleepovers where the curtains were thin, now the children sleep as normal, oblivious to the daylight outside. They fit any window and are so easy to put up and take down! If you haven’t got one and you take your kids to stay in different environments- get one! It may well save you from even more deprivation. To be fair though, this can even be used in your own house for a quick fix to more sleep (well, you can live in hope). We recently moved house, so have been using that on the little ones window (after two very early awakenings it had to be done)! Any product we have got from the gro-company has been brilliant

  
6) Patience and humour– unfortunately I can’t make any suggestions for where you can find some of this, but if you find out, let me know so I can tell my hubby where to find it.