Did the Magical Journey deliver the magic?

The Magical Journey, claiming on the website it is the 'ultimate Christmas experience', opened its doors to excited families on Saturday, 22 November with Laurence Llewelyn-Bowen quoted on the website saying "A visit to Father Christmas will never be the same again".

However, hundreds of comments from disappointed visitors started to appear on Facebook and Twitter, damning the attraction for not being ready for their excited children. Wild claims were posted about reindeer biting children and the decorations looking anything but festive.

As a parent with tickets purchased for 6 December, I was concerned by the comments made, but equally surprised at the amount of people jumping on the complaining bandwagon and cancelling their tickets simply because of the comments they had read after the opening day. It's incredible how negativity can spread on social media with people being quick to complain, are they as quick to praise I ask?

The following day I woke to read the magical attraction had closed its doors to try and remedy all of the issues which had been raised. Again lots of comments appeared on Facebook criticising the company for the slow response to emails. I was quite shocked by how rude and down right awful some of the comments were. For goodness sake it is Christmas and surely this new attraction deserved an opportunity to put right its wrongs.

My family and I decided we would not cancel our tickets and would go ahead with our day out as planned.

Reassuringly, I have been watching the posts on Facebook over the past few days and to my delight the more positive comments started to roll in. Families were happily sharing their magical and happy photographs - clearly all having a good time.

So our day arrived. Our turn to experience the magic.

On arrival we were greeted with snow covered trees which instantly made it feel special - nothing like a bit of snow to get you in the festive mood. Once inside, our daughter's face lit up when she saw the big Christmas tree, the stilt walker and small stores which kissed the edge of the attraction. The elf who greeted us was very cheerful and made you feel welcome.

As we were early, we sampled a coffee (it would be rude not too) and as we sat down to relax, at the wobbly table, a super magician came over to us to show tricks to the children. He was wonderful and captured their attention for at least 10 minutes before he moved onto entertain another family.

Our slot was here, and we headed over to the entrance to begin our magical journey.

The first room was a Christmas Museum, we all loved this room and enjoyed reading the displays. However, before we had chance to see all the exhibits, a very friendly elf told us it was time to move to the next section. Such a shame not to have another five minutes here as the displays were super.

Here we met the beautiful Mary Christmas, who to be honest the children adored. My daughter loved hearing her story and was clearly involved in the magic of the event, nodding her head at every request Mary made. As we left this section my daughter giggled and said "I thought Santa would have a wife the same age as him - she was very young" and giggled again. I joked and said "perhaps he liked a younger lady". How observant the little ones are.

We then visited the Simon Cowelf's Academy, my daughter loved this section as she along with eight other children got an opportunity to be on the Elf Factor. The elf was funny and entertaining for all the family.

Soon it was time to find Rudi, Santa's smallest reindeer and we boarded the train in search of his furry friend. We moved slowly through the snow covered trees all children happy and excited. Once off the train we met a friendly elf who took our photograph, before moving onto the tepee for hot chocolate and magic tricks. The only criticism I would have here was there were too many people in the tepee and the small children struggled to see the magic tricks on offer, such a shame as he was very entertaining,

The final stage was our favourite, we met a lovely elf who shared with us her magic key tree and the children got to hold the giant key for Buckingham Palace. More photographs were taken here too. We then moved to the final tepee where children's names were added to the good list for Father Christmas. As the children waited in anticipation they were entertained with more magic tricks, which had them all mesmerised.

Soon my daughter's name was called and a wonderful elf collected us to meet Father Christmas. We soon arrived at Santa's house, she slowly opened the door and we entered a room which did not disappoint. A large Christmas tree, cosy setting and the most wonderful Father Christmas I have ever seen. For me this is where the magic was truly delivered.

He spoke with such interest to our daughter and she hung on his every word. She was thrilled he knew she had been good at school and when he handed her his gift her face was priceless. He gave her a fashion designer book - something which she simply adores. He then made her 'pinky promise' to go to bed early on Christmas Eve so he had plenty of time to deliver her gifts. More photographs were taken by the kind elf and she even offered to take ones using our camera too.

We said our goodbyes and went to see the reindeer, with one extremely happy little girl. Seeing the reindeer ended the journey off beautifully and we certainly enjoyed seeing them.

So did we enjoy the trip? Did we feel the magic?

Honestly, yes we did from the moment we arrived. We only came across one grumpy elf who was obviously having a bad day (maybe he needs to go to elf school for grumpy elves), but we won't let this spoil our experience as overall everyone was extremely friendly.

To see our daughter's reaction when she met Father Christmas was priceless and worth every penny. I would certainly recommend the experience to other families. I would add that it is a new venture, so don't expect everything to be completely perfect, if you notice the odd thing which is not right, let it go and see it through the eyes of a child and let the magic fill your soul.

Merry Christmas all x

                                                          Mary Christmas

                                                           The Simon Elf Academy

Magic Key Tree

Magic Man

Santa's Reindeer

We found Rudi

Beautiful Christmas Tree

Cracking cheese.....

With just 28 days left until the man in the red coat comes, there is one topic in our household which we always start to think about during this time and that's our Christmas cheese. Well to be more specific Stilton.


It has been a long standing tradition in my family to eat Stilton cheese, along with pork pie, boiled ham and pickles on Christmas morning for breakfast mmmm perfect.


However, in recent years Mr and Miss H have both shared that they prefer their stilton the "smellier the better" and could I buy it in plenty of time so that come Christmas day it's nice and "sweaty".


So today, being the lovely domestic goddess that I am, I purchased our Christmas Stilton. The family are now very happy that it is sitting proudly in the fridge getting smellier by the day and should be perfect for our special breakfast. It really is our first sign that Christmas is on it's way :-)


Please share your favourite Christmas cheeses and/or traditions for Christmas breakfast, I would love to hear them all.

Mrs H's Top Christmas Tips

As I type Santa has just tweeted that we have just 60 sleeps to Christmas, so we are offically on the countdown to the big day.  Many of us have started our Christmas shopping and planning how we are going to decorate our home and entertain the descending family and friends.

I wanted to share with you my top tips to help plan a happy, fun and stressfree Christmas.

(1) When you return home from buying all those Christmas gifts pop all of your receipts into an envelope, then if you need to return any items after the big day - you will have everything you need in one place.

(2) Once you have opened your wrapping paper place an old toilet roll around it, to stop it from unravelling.

(3) Make your Christmas cake at the end of October/beginning of November to allow time for it to mature. It's also one less job before December.

(4) Wrap some lovely chocolates or bottles of wine and have them to hand just incase you need an extra gift for surprise visitors.

(5) Spend a fun afternoon with the little ones writing letters to Santa Claus - a great excuse to get the glitter out. Check out the link for the address to the big man http://www.royalmail.com/letters-to-santa

(6) Stock up on batteries ahead of the big day - ready for those toys from Santa which always seem to not include batteries.

(7) Not sure what to buy your brother or sister this year? Go through your stash of photographs of your niece/nephew and choose your favourite. Select a frame which would match their interiors at home and pop in the photograph. A perfect gift for any parent.

(8) Do you have any plain paper carry bags? Personalise them for Christmas with gorgeous ribbons and embellishments, it really does add a personal touch.

(9) Write a list - always spend time and write a list before you head out to the shops. This way you will not forget any gifts or food for the big day. It will save time in the long run.

(10) Make time for you - this is important before the big day. It's such a busy time with school plays, work parties, carol concerts and seeing friends and family. Make sure to set aside some time to do something for you - book a massage, facial or reflexology treatment or simply relax and unwind in a bubble bath.

I hope you find these tips useful - please feel free to share and add your own too :-)

Happy planning x

Christmas preparations begin

A wet half term in our house seemed a perfect opportunity to start our preparations for Christmas. Miss H and I spent a fun afternoon baking the family Christmas cake, the first one we have made together.

Miss H loved being part of this, I really hope this will be the start of a new family tradition for us. As we both mixed the fruit into the cake mixture (bowl nearly overflowing) we both made a wish, I wonder if it will come true :-)

After patiently waiting several hours for it to bake (with Miss H asking numerous time "is it ready yet"), here is the result.

Our fab Christmas cake has now been tucked up in it's tin and we will both loving feed it each week as we count down to Christmas. The exciting part lies ahead - oh how will we decorate it? #exciting.

Pretty Girls Party

A few weeks ago we celebrated Miss H's birthday and decided to throw a party at home for her.

We invited friends from school and had the most amazing time. Please check out the photos of how we celebrated the day, enjoy!



Come on in!

A warm welcome

  

Party Bags

Craft time.

Chocolate game - lots of laughs :-)

 

 

Picking up mini eggs - how many could you pick up?

Sweet treats :-)

Individualism is great

We had a lovely drive out today and visited the delightful town of Melbourne in South Derbyshire. Not only is this gorgeous town steeped in history claiming to be the birth place of Thomas Cook, but
there is something very special about this pretty market town with new things to discover on every street.

As we walked around exploring the area, they are some stunning Georgian houses which simply make you stop for a while and admire their beauty. You cannot help but admire the beautiful parish church which has been described as a "cathedral in miniature" and if you enjoy a relaxing stroll you can walk alongside Melbourne Pool and feed those lively ducks.

Whilst I appreciate the history and the beauty of the area, one thing which I found so very refreshing was the town centre. It was wonderful to discover a selection of superb local independent retailers all passionate about their businesses and all delighted to see us. We had a fab coffee in
Forteys and then purchased some traditional sweets from the vast selection of jars on offer. We explored the stylish shop Lily and Lime as we looked for Christmas gift ideas and gazed at the stunning flowers in the Blossom Tree. This town has every service each modern family needs and it was wonderful to see a town centre that did not replicate those up and down the country.

So if you fancy a lovely day out for a bit of history, walks and shopping that offers you something a little different, then check out Melbourne.

Crossroads

I have reached a crossroads in my life at the moment and am really unsure which path to take.

I am in my mid thirties with one gorgeous child, who is smart, funny and everything we could have ever wished for. I have had a career break for several years and however during this time I set up a small business to work from home to earn some money but also keep my brain active.

I am conscious that the old biological clock is ticking but also I have been out of the wider world of work for a long time and worry if I leave it too late I won't be able to have a good solid career, which will challenge and excite me.

Mr H and I have gone round and round in circles trying to decide whether we should have a second child or whether we should stick as we are. We have gone through the usual conversations about feeling selfish if we only have one as we are denying our daughter the chance to have a sibling who she could become great friends with.

Being a mum these days is so very different to the time when my mum stayed at home. We were raised being told we could achieve anything - go to university and have a great career. I was ambitious and I did all those things, but nobody told me how hard it would be once you have a child what happens then?

Do you ditch all your hard work and ambitions to stay at home and devote 100% of your time to your children? Do you work part time and try and have the best of both worlds? or do you go for full time and feel wracked with guilt that you are not looking after your little ones properly?

I love being a mum and I will cherish all the magical moments Miss H and I have shared together whilst we were at home. Believe me we have had lots of fun and created memories we will both have for always. The question is can I do it again? or is my desire to get back into a suit stronger? If I delay my career for another two years will I feel frustrated or will everything just work out fine?

I am really unsure where to turn at the moment and what decision to make.

The joys of being a modern mum.