Despite the Lilypad being a very personal and craft based website, I have to hold my hands up and say that I am not personally the most "crafty" person with the children.  I am not a huge fan of paint and glue (my compulsive cleaning disorder doesn't cope well with the mess) but as a family, we do love a challenge, so when we saw that Mattress Online were asking children to turn their beds into a magical sleigh, we thought we would give it a go!

How hard could it be to get a toddler to create a magical sleigh? Not hard at all ...... so you would think.

She had a roll top cot that converted into a cot bed (and I think it has the makings of a good sleigh). The toddler loves a challenge and gets totally absorbed in lets pretend, so I didn't think we were going to have much trouble, unfortunately for me, all of her teddies needed to come along for the ride in the sleigh - cue much deliberation over who was going to sit where!

The 9 year old didn't want to miss out on the sleigh bed action and as soon as her little sister went off to find reindeers to play with, she started getting blankets for the main sleigh and putting the toddlers toys in.

Apparently, the toddler was not happy about this and had a very specific idea of what she wanted and who had to sit where!

The reindeer teddies HAD to be pulling the sleigh, not sitting in the sleigh ..... obviously!

Then the reindeers needed a little rearranging .....

And Ta-Dah! I asked the toddler if she wanted to sit in her sleigh bed and she looked at me a little perplexed and said " Mommy, Santa rides the sleigh, not me!"

The cutest thing about it all was that when bedtime finally arrived, she looked at her bed and said "bye bye sleigh, I have to sleep in my bed now as Santa won't come if I am not sleeping in my bed properly".

my true love gave to me ...... the hope for another year of believing.

We hear a lot about the magic of Christmas but I didn't really appreciate the magic until I saw the total belief and excitment for the anticipation of Father Christmas. It sounds like a terrible cliche about the wonder in a child's eyes but the toddler is suddenly very aware of Christmas this year and every day asks if it is Christmas yet. She doesn't understand that she will get a ridiculous amount of presents, she just loves the twinkling lights of the tree, the Christmas carols and the excitement that her big sister encourages as they open their advent calendars every morning.

The tween is 9 years old. This is apparently way past the age when children no longer believe in Father Christmas.

I read a study recently that said parents across the UK are pulling the plug on the high-tech age in an attempt to keep things traditional when it comes to giving their children the type of Christmas that that they remember.

Customs such as writing letters to children from Santa and singing carols are on the up along with getting the whole family cooking together, a new survey from the Enid Blyton Estate reveals. In fact, despite the evidence that children are getting wiser to the fact that Santa may not exist, earlier on in their childhood, this is not affecting the light and hope that Christmas brings. (which is something at least)

The study – commissioned to mark the launch of Enid Blyton’s Christmas Stories, The Famous Five Annual and The Magic Faraway Tree 75^thAnniversary Edition (I loved the Faraway Tree as a child) – found that children, on average, stopped believing in Father Christmas two years earlier than their parents did. The average age for children to stop believing is now six years old, whilst for their parents,  it was eight years old.

However, almost half of the children surveyed in the UK aged 7-11,  still believe in Father Christmas thanks to the fact that 90% of adults are going to great lengths to keep children believing in the magic of Christmas.

I don't remember when I stopped believing in Father Christmas.

I don't want my girls to ever stop believing in the magic.

I know that they "have" to.

I know they will be ridiculed in Senior school if they are still believing at 13.

But for now, I would like to keep disappointment at bay and want another year of believing. 

Can I ask Father Christmas for that please??

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my true love gave to me, a post from the gorgeous Kelly. (I love how that rhymes).

I think that the gift which gives more than anything else at Christmas time is the song that starts Christmas for you. You never know quite when you are going to hear it these days since some stores and coffee shops start piping in the Festive Tunes at the beginning of the Academic Year but the Christmas Song is a key ingredient in feeling Christmas Spirit.