The Beginning of Christmas, With Mr Kipling

I absolutely love Christmas. I adored it as a child, and then having my daughter reignited the spark, and my excitement for it just grows as she does.

I am not one of those people who puts my Christmas tree up in October (or November) and I never will be. I just don’t get it. However much I love it, and get so excited for it, I don’t want it to go on for months. Christmas is in December, not before, and usually after Christmas is over I’m ready to get all the decorations down pretty quickly and restore some sort of order, so I couldn’t imagine having my tree up for longer than a couple of weeks, however much I love it.

Usually, the Christmas season starts for me with other people beginning to talk about it and informing me how many sleeps until Santa is here (in September! You know who you are!), but I usually tell them to be quiet and talk to me again on the 1st December.

But really after that a little Christmassy spark has been ignited and I start to get a little bit excited about it and the magic of it all. Then I’ll probably spot the first mince pies in shops and a box will come home with me, and it’s usually around the same time then the weather gets a lot colder and the evenings are darker and it all of a sudden feels ever so slightly more wintery and Christmassy.

I’m not a big fan of winter, but I do love those special wintery moments near Christmas when we’re outside together and wrapped up warm in scarves and gloves, maybe doing some Christmas shopping and stopping for a mulled wine at the Christmas market. The atmosphere near Christmas is always so lovely and everyone just seems happier (if a little stressed at times!).

I think a big sign that Christmas is on its way is when the John Lewis advert comes on TV. There’s always so much talk about it and the adverts usually encompass that wonderful Christmas feeling, of love and togetherness and kindness. It always feels like the start of Christmas for me, which is kind of crazy that an ad can do that for us.

And I’m not alone. Mr Kipling recently conducted some research in the UK and found that 30% of us think that seeing their first Christmas TV ad is what signifies the true start of Christmas, whilst 23% said starting their Christmas shopping, and 10% thought it was eating their first mince pie.

Since becoming a mother, Christmas has changed dramatically for me. Now it is about Ava having the best time and us spending lots of quality time together. Of course, for her, it’s very much about presents, but I know she also loves seeing all of our family and having us all together in once place.

Some moments are particularly special for me. I love the day in December when Ava and I decorate the tree together – it was so exciting for me once she became old enough to help me properly, and she really looks forward to it now. We have so many special decorations that mean something to us, and it’s always so lovely and a bit emotional seeing them again each year. There’ll be Christmas music playing in the background, and I’ll be drinking a Baileys or five, and the scent of the beautiful tree is in the air, and that’s the moment it all becomes properly Christmassy for me. It’s magical.

I also love Christmas morning when Ava comes in and wakes us up, far too early because she’s so excited that Santa has been. I can still remember the feeling now, of waking up as a child and seeing the sack at the bottom of my bed and feeling so incredibly excited; it was such a magical feeling. Now, one of us will go and bring Ava’s sack into our room and we’ll all climb into bed together, and let Ava unwrap a few presents before we get up properly. As a parent seeing your child so happy and excited is such a wonderful feeling. Becoming a mother made Christmas such a special time again, and gave it a whole new meaning.

I love that all our family are off work and we get lots of time together to relax, eat lots of food, and enjoy just celebrating together and seeing the joy on the children’s faces. There are lots more children in our family now, and so it’s even lovelier to come together and watch them have fun. It’s all over so quickly after so much preparation, but it’s a wonderful time.

Mr Kipling sent me an amazing hamper of Christmas goodies, along with some of their new and improved Mr Kipling Mince Pies! I actually never used to like mince pies (I know!), but I kept trying them every year until I did, and now I love them. They are such a part of Christmas, and these new and improved Mr Kipling Mince Pies have delicious, rich and fruity mincemeat in a lovely butter enriched pastry case. I love them warm with some crème fraîche or natural yoghurt, and I’ve eaten far too many already!

Also within the Mr Kipling Mince Pie range this year, are iced top mince pies, a variety pack, as well as gluten-free ones – all of which are available from most major supermarkets.

What signifies the start of Christmas for you? Is it an advert on the telly, or your first mince pie, or something else entirely? Let me know in the comments!

This is a collaborative post with Mr Kipling. See my full disclosure policy here.