Obligatory year-end round-up

It’s New Year’s Day and there are familiar signs that Christmas is nearly over – the tree branches are starting to droop and wilt, the new toys are scattered all over the house, and the last few Heroes have been eaten (except the Eclairs and Fudges).

Each year, I think we’re going to have our best Christmas ever, and this year we really, really did. Last year we had an unexpected trip to hospital for the six-year-old, the year before I was just about holding it together with a one week old baby who had undiagnosed tongue tie, and the year before that there was some (unblogged) sadness in our house that cast a shadow on Christmas.

This year, we were all here and all healthy, which in itself was enough to make it the best Christmas ever – notwithstanding the turkey that almost never was; it had to be cooked in a neighbour’s oven and was eaten at 8.30pm on Christmas night (needless to say, best Christmas dinner ever).

Each year, I make a note (I know, nerdy list-maker alert) of new things we tried that went really well, so that they can become annual traditions.

This year, I will be adding three:

  1. fireworks NYEDinner-and-a-movie with the kids (our first ever cinema trip as a family was a huge success – we saw Frozen, it was wonderful in every way, mostly because the toddler sat enthralled throughout),
  2. Fireworks in Dun Laoghaire on New Year’s Eve (again: enthralled)
  3. Watching a good film on Christmas Eve after the kids go to bed, because there is nothing on TV (we watched Scrooged – it was perfect, we were somewhat enthralled)

My buddies in the Irish Parenting Bloggers group have been publishing some lovely round-ups of 2013 featuring their most popular blog-posts: Awfully Chipper, Mini & Mum, My Thoughts on a PageMind the Baby, Mama.ieScience Wows, Bumbles of Rice, Learner Mama, Dairy Free Kids and At The Clothesline have all done it so far, with more to come.

So as the kids are sitting here watching Toy Story 2, here’s my year in most-read-posts:

I got very cross a few times; cross about the Mammy War myth and about the attitude toward post-baby-bodies in Stop Pointing at the Bumps . Cross about mothers being put on the Mommy-track and about the difficulties faced trying to get some flexibility from employers in The Work Conversation.

There were lots of lighter moments too though, with posts about how the middle child and the third child are treated a little differently, homework failures, television addiction, a broken finger, a lie-in that never really happened, trying to be a good parent, and crossing everything for STTN.

Three of the most-read posts were about the loneliness of first-time motherhood, undiagnosed Tongue Tie and the worries of my September girl starting senior infants.

And lastly, I’ve really enjoyed reading responses from interviewees for the Office Mum Stories series – there are many more to come in 2014.

Thanks for reading during 2013 and happy new year!

 

 

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11 thoughts on “Obligatory year-end round-up”

  1. Great list and lovely to see ye had such a great Christmas after the last few years.Its such a stressful time without things going wrong!
    P.s. Feel free to send all leftover fudge and eclairs my way!

    1. I have to confess, New Year’s Day saw an end to even the Eclairs and Fudges – needs must after the prosecco the night before!

    1. Tric that means a lot – thanks for reading. Lots of common ground – regardless of working outside the home or not.

  2. Love the picture! Delighted that you had a great Christmas. Always love reading your posts, and your series of interviews were a fantastic insight into all the different paths women choose. 2014 awaits 🙂

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