I’ve never spent Christmas Day anywhere but at a relative’s home. I understand that a restaurant appeals to some people, but it has never come up for our family gatherings and I’ve been happy with that.

This year, my in laws are due to host it (it swaps between two houses usually) but for health reasons they are less able to do so. So we were going to host it but we have some space issues (plus quite a few things on our plate) and my partner suggested we hire the local hall instead.

I’m torn between the two options and would love to hear other people’s opinions please…

Home

• convenient & can’t forget anything
• need to do lots of tidying etc
• places for babies to sleep (especially mine!)

Hall

• have to pay to hire it
• have to pack stuff (cutlery, tablecloths, decorations, etc)
• lots of space (indoors and out) & parking
• multiple toilets
• will have to clean everything up that night – including taking rubbish with us
• no dishwasher

Either way, I’ll have to do lots of cooking and kids will need supervision outside.

Has anybody hosted Christmas but in another venue? How did it go?

Santa loves getting letters from children around the world, and they come in all sorts of shapes, sizes and colours – some even come with pictures. Santa is very generous and clever enough to read all sorts of writing and languages, but I thought some tips might make it easier to write as well as easier for Santa to read.

When writing to Santa

• remember to start with Santa’s name – maybe Dear Santa or Hello Santa
• ask for things nicely – even Santa gives more when people use please and thank you
• finish with your name – Santa has too many children on his lists to know who wrote it without your name on it!
• let Santa know you’ll leave him a snack
• ask Mum or Dad to make a copy of your letter as you might like to read it again when you’re grown up or someone might make a beautiful scrapbooking page with your letter ands Santa’s answer
• use your best writing and maybe get mum or dad to draw some lines for you to write on
• have fun! You can write in red or green,or use lots of colours – it’s Christmas after all!
• think about writing something that isn’t about presents you want – maybe ask Santa how he is, tell him about your Christmas plans, thank him for last year’s gifts, ask what his favourite colour or book is, or tell him a joke (Santa does love to laugh!)

If you have a little brother or sister, maybe you could write a letter for them, too.

And on behalf of Santa, thank you for writing to him!

Santa is such a busy man, especially leading up to Christmas, that he sometimes gets other people to help him. I feel very lucky and honoured to help Santa write his letters for Australian children.

So I can do the best job ever for Santa and for his children, here are some ideas on how to best tell me about your special child(ren).

• only use capital letters for things that need them – names and places need capitals but most toys don’t
• write to the child rather than about them (you were kind to Mary, trying hard with your writing, playing nicely with John and Betty, and so on)
• use a nickname if you want – Santa isn’t formal!
• list presents the child really does want (and you’re happy for them to have! Santa DOES pay attention to requests remember) rather than want you want for them
• think about the whole year but remember young children won’t remember as much from months ago
• order a different design than last year – it’s more fun and brightens up the scrapbook or wherever the child keeps their letters
• asking for the same letter wording for siblings may make the letters feel less personal, so let Santa write something different for each of them

Remember, Santa letters are about fun and ackowledging chidlren’s achievements and improvements so make sure you have fun and enjoy the process, too!