‘TIS THE SEASON TO FEEL FRAZZLED

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It’s that weird time between Christmas and New Year which is meant to be full of catching up with family and friends you haven’t managed to see yet. It’s meant to be relaxing – filled with leisurely walks, lots of wine drinking and time spent munching your way through the Quality Street whilst sitting by a roaring fire, sipping on a fruity red and catching up on films…

But now children are involved, the relaxing element has gone.

Because the kids have turned from being sugar-filled excited to being utterly shattered. Because you go on a family walk and at least one of your children lies down in the middle of a field having a meltdown because they’re now covered in cow pat (despite your attempts to bribe them up with chocolate snowballs). Because your over-enthused five-year-old wants to try out his brand new scooter the whole time – with you racing breathless behind him, shouting ‘Watch out!’. Because you meet up with friends in a pub and fail to have one full conversation whilst you stop your three-year-old from crawling around the floor, pretending to be a dog. Because it pours with rain and you get stuck indoors while the kids climb the walls. Because your little ones stay up late and then wake up in one of those horrid, super-exhausted moods the next day – and inevitably have one of those late-afternoon ‘I want chocolate NOW!’ tantrums. Because you drink too much wine and stuff yourself silly and therefore feel like crap every morning. Because you get woken up in the night by a child who thinks there’s a scary monkey flying around his room trying to get him (thank you Wizard of Oz…).

So unless you’ve managed to book a sneaky two-nighter away with your partner – and childcare is no issue – I guess you just have to admit defeat, fill up your glass with more booze and just enjoy the post-Christmas exhausted craziness with kids. Plus the pre-Christmas hype that you get to see your children enjoy and the open-mouthed awe on their faces when they glimpse their filled stockings (even at a torturous 5.30am) is all worth it.

But next year I’m definitely going to do less in the way of rushing around, trying to catch up with absolutely everyone. I’m going to book more babysitters so that I can actually speak properly to my friends – and husband. I’m going to drink more vodka instead of guzzling red wine – less of a hangover and better for the skin (win, win!). I’m going to attempt to cut the ridiculously high sugar intake of my boys – and hope they won’t steal and hide whole tins of Celebrations in their rooms (wrappers under pillows is always a giveaway). And instead of moaning about how tired I am to my equally shattered husband I’m going to just appreciate every minute of this special family time…but maybe not every tantrum.
Image: David Mao

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Fiona Pennell lives in the Cotswolds with her husband and their two boys, Jack, 6, and Otto, 4. A former YOU magazine sub-editor, Fiona now spends her days being trampled on, going on slug hunts and dreaming of lie-ins. (Twitter: @fiona_pennell)

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