Ava's Diary

My first Christmas! Well, this year, it’s been my first everything. And this Saturday will be my first birthday.

Christmas was spent with mam and dad down in Swansea with nanna Irene and grandpa Frank. We were there from Christmas Eve until the following Sunday. On Christmas Eve nanna pushed the boat out, and cooked a proper Christmas dinner for us – turkey, roastie spuds, pigs in blankets, all the trimmings. I think she even surprised herself. I thoroughly enjoyed tucking in to my own plate of Christmas scoff.

Christmas Day itself was great fun. Lots of new toys and pressies to play with, but best of all, brightly-coloured wrapping paper to tear and eat. I shook with tambourine and sleigh bells and banged my drum, I played with Upsy Daisy and the lots of books I had. It took all day to open my pressies what with all the eating, drinking and snoozing – and that was just mam and dad.

Boxing Day was the first chance for me to try out my new trike. We all went out around the lake and I got pushed on my new pink and purple trike; I came home with very pink cheeks to match. Dad says that when I’m bigger I’ll be able to peddle and steer on my own.

Saturday I went for another ride down on the seafront, while dad went to the rugby. Nanna has had me practicing ‘We wish you a merry Christmas’ on the sleigh bells, I shake my bells and laugh furiously!

Dad told me that I had won a prize in the Christmas raffle at Tredegar House, so we went to collect a toy dog that’s bigger than me and better behaved than grandpa’s evil Alfie.

There were lots of fireworks nearby on New Year’s Eve, but I slept through the lot.

So it was back to crèche last Friday. Except that the heating packed up and so I had to go home early.

When we visited nanna Ena on Sunday it snowed. It was the first snow I’d seen since the day mam and dad first brought me home from hospital, and to tell the truth, I wasn’t paying much attention back then. I’m looking forward to playing in the snow and building snowmen when I’m older.