Christmas Corner Guest Post: What Christmas Means to Me, by Rebecca Raisin

Thank you for inviting me here today, Paris!

What Christmas means to me…

It’s no secret Christmas is my favourite time of year! Hence writing books centred on that time! There’s something completely magical about the season, and it’s even better celebrating it from October onwards…

In our family we do a Kris Kringle gift for the adults. See this year’s picture:

So we only buy one present for one adult, but we buy for all of the kids! This makes it much less stressful, and we all spend a lot of time searching for the perfect gift because it’s the only one they will get!

From October onwards once our names are drawn, I begin to look around for the perfect gift for the person chosen for me. This year I have my father-in-law, so I’m thinking maybe concert tickets, or something like that.

Our Christmas break is over the summer time. And our kids finish school the week before Christmas and have seven weeks off!

First thing the boys want to do is go and visit Santa! They love going to shops and ogling all of the decorations, and secretly I love it too…

We decorate the tree usually way too early, but we’re all excited so who cares!

I find it really difficult not to let my twins open presents early, it’s just so damn exciting, and I constantly have to remind myself that if they open them I may have to brace myself to buy more, and when the shops are chaotic it’s not a good idea.

In saying that though, we don’t go too crazy with buying them expensive gifts. Their presents usually consist of their favourite figurines, and few educational toys (which they always throw to the side, but hey, I will keep trying!) and LOTS of books! My biggest hope is that they become bookworms, and that will only happen if they love reading from an early age!

We celebrate Christmas with our family on Christmas Eve. We are all ‘foodies’ so there’s a lot of talk about who is making what, and it’s always something spectacular! We do the usual turkey, and baked vegetables, but we do fancy sides, and seafood. We each contribute so it’s not left to one person to do all the cooking! So while the kids play in the pool, the adults are usually huddled around the kitchen bench preparing the feast together, while sipping wine, and joking about whose dish is going to be the best!

I love that we all get to spend that time together, and after the festivities are over, we usually meet for breakfast the next day, before everyone goes off to their other respective families.

We head to the beach Christmas day with our boys and my book, which I never get to read because the boys think they’re Olympic swimmers, but they aren’t! So I keep an eagle eye on them whilst glancing at my book lovingly, knowing a full day of summer sunshine and swimming will tire the kids out and I’ll get the chance to read later.

Over the week we don’t do a lot. Ashley, my hubby, has only that one week off, so we normally just do things around the house, and take the kids swimming. It’s a really nice relaxing time, and we catch up with our family as much as we can.

And that’s basically what Christmas means to me. Time to slow down, appreciate how lucky we are, and how as a family we’re more like friends, and cherish that time together.

I try very hard not to work on book stuff, but having Christmas books released, it’s almost like they’re my other babies, so I’m never too far away from them.

I wish you all a safe and happy Christmas and I hope you get books! Lots of books!

Love,
Bec xxx

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Meet Rebecca

Rebecca writes romantic comedies for Carina UK. Her Gingerbread Cafe series is absolutely amazing, including her new Christmas book: Christmas Wedding at the Gingerbread Cafe.