Santa Claus came to town!

This is always a busy time of year, especially when you've got children. What with school fairs, carol concerts, parties, catching up with friends, preparing for the big day - it's no wonder most of us end up ill and exhausted in December!

But there are some things that can't be missed - and seeing Christmas lights being switched on and meeting the man himself are two of those. Which is why we've braved some cold weather for those very reasons. 

The first foray into the festive season saw us watching the lights being switched on in Poole. We've decided to try and see it being done in different places each year, so last year we went to Christchurch to watch, this year we stuck closer to home. It was on a Thursday night and I don't know if this had an impact on the crowd, but there really wasn't many people there. It was a very low-key affair - sponsored by local children's hospice Julia's House, the lights were turned on by their patron, actress Debra Stephenson. Except not all of the lights actually came on – and there weren't many to turn on in the first place. But it did feel festive, with Christmas songs being played by Fire Radio, and schoolchildren singing carols. I wouldn't rush to watch it again unless it was on a bigger, better scale, but it was a nice start to the Christmas countdown.

And so on to the next tradition, which involves seeing the man in the red suit. We haven't taken a trip to a grotto yet (it's on the cards, never fear), but we did head down to Poole Quay yesterday to watch the Santa Parade. 

There's been a bit of controversy about this event - it was cancelled due to Health and Safety fears (or Elf and Safety as my DH likes to quip… Groan!) but was then reinstated on a smaller scale after a public outcry. It basically involves Santa arriving by lifeboat at the Quay before travelling by land train up and down and finally him doing a walkabout. We didn't see the arrival so I can't comment on that, but the actual parade bit was good fun. There was a Spiderman band (if anyone can shed ANY light on that, please do!) and a marching band. I do love a bit of big band action at Christmas! The train had elves, stars of Robin Hood (Poole's panto for the season) and FC himself on, all cheerily waving to the crowd. Sainsbury's were giving out sweets, everyone was in good spirits, and it was just a really nice local celebration of Christmas. Sadly we didn't wait for Santa to reach us on his walkabout as it was cold, but I'll definitely be back there next year.

I'd love to hear what you've been doing to get in the festive spirit. To help inspire you, here's a few pics from yesterday…