Tis the season to be giving...

What to buy, what to buy??? A common frenetic chant uttered at this time of year. Stores and superrmarkets spend fortunes on gift brochures, shops are festooned with glitzy tinsel and spray-on snow and twinkly lights. I love twinkly lights. Rolls of wrapping paper are strategically placed at cashiers' tills should you forget that one essential item and be too fed up tired to go back to the stationery aisle to get some.
And who to buy for? Our family has decided to just buy for the children but my mother always sabotages that arrangement and buys all of us a little something (Mom: "You're my child, aren't you??!!) And somewhere along the way i take home a box of Turkish Delight.

But a wonderful thing has started to happen. A little of the Christmas sparkle is starting to rub off on me. (She, of jaded festive cynicism.) I want to start my own family traditions, buy pretty baubles for the new pretty tree, buy lots of presents for my boy, wrap them up, pile them under the pretty tree and see his delight when he lays his eyes on them on Christmas morning. Just not 5am, please, L.

But a thought came to me while I was sitting on a beach this weekend watching my boy and his mates play in the water and chuck wet sand at their mothers . You can spend as much money as you like/can afford to on wonderful fancy toys and games, but the biggest gift you can ever give your children is your time. Listening to our kids scream with laughter as we splash them through the water or help them build a village of sandcastles or build puzzles with them or read a book to them is priceless. And I as an adult am better for it. I am reminded of how quickly this time will go, my boy will grow up and Mom won't be his universe anymore.

So put your credit card back into your wallet, pack some watermelon into a coolerbag, slather little faces with blue sunscreen and take them off on an adventure to the beach, the forrest, the mountains. Show them the little things like bugs, slugs and goggas under pretty rocks and kelp. These little things can hopefully reap big returns one day. And a comfy granny flat on your kid's property.

I think I'll head off to the beach too. Right after I finish that long list to Father Christmas, ahem.

Wishing you and your little ones a wonderful Christmas together.