NOW that we are in October, is it ok to mention Christmas? It’s in every shop now so I figured it’d be ok. Do you start early like me or are you last minute?

The only thing I haven’t planned meticulously is our annual Christmas shindig and what I will be cooking over Christmas for our various family and friends meals.

We usually stay at home Christmas Day, then Boxing Day or New Years the folks might come over and then we will have our friends and their children come for a meal as well.

It’s always so nice to eke it out. I always find that I can experiment each year and cook and bake the things that have gone down well previously. I’m almost done with all the gifts. I only have the teachers, neighbours and coaches left. I’ve planned the Christmas box and alcohol which is one of the most important things is it not?!

I’ve planned the North Pole breakfast and elf on the shelf, days out, activities, stockings and baking. As for my Christmas cake, I will be starting that this week and then next week I will be baking the Christmas puddings, some of which I will put in a hamper for our friends as we do every year.

I like to do kind things for others especially at Christmas time. They vary each year depending on where we are financially and how well the planning has gone for the year.

I have a few things on my list I’d like to do. Pay it forward, get a trolley load in Asda, buy lunch for the homeless, set up a ‘soup’ kitchen and volunteer. One year we bought a family a whole Christmas and I’d love to do that every year but soon little things to help a few is I guess better?

I understand struggles and was homeless at the age of 11 on Christmas Day so I always like to do as much as I can for however many I can. I do various bits throughout the year but I suppose I really focus on it in the winter months because of the memory of how being homeless felt.

Other things I’m looking forward to which I suppose is the magic for me is seeing the decorations at Tyntesfield and the lights being switched on in town.

I’m most excited about going for our yearly drive to see the lights people have up outside their houses, boys in their pyjamas and holding hot chocolates. It’s what my eldest keeps talking about and asking me to do.

I’m hoping to donate a few bakes, one to the school and one for the raffle at Splitz Gymnastics. Last year I took in a gingerbread house for my son's class and next year I would like to do a full scale gingerbread structure of the school, so this year, it will be something in between!

Do you get a real tree or a fake tree? Do you stick to just one tree or do you have many? By the time our house is finished, I’ll have one in every room. I love the lights and the warmth that comes from them. All snuggly and cosy. The best winter mornings though and I’m sure you’ll agree, are when it’s sunny but freezing and there’s ice on the grass.

Are you excited about the Icescape returning to the Tropicana? I definitely am, we used to live on the seafront and go there and we are very much looking forward to going again with our youngest in tow.

It’s just such a magical season. I always try and make it special for everyone and I cannot wait to make those memories. 

Jolene Wilson, Weston Mum.