My two little nephews are going on a big adventure this Christmas. They’re going to Lapland to meet Father Christmas in the flesh!

How can we compete with such an exciting adventure? Well, we can’t!

BUT what we can do is give them personalised drawings by DM, in their favourite colours on tee-shirts! So, they get these lovely shirts (that by the way are too big but they are the smallest size the company where we get them from does).

This year, for the first time really, I am getting to know these two. They are just like you’d expect Jan’s sons to be – bright, opinionated, gifted and charming. They are also interested in everything and think DM is God – well, he does drive a motorbike (and lets them sit on it in the garage) and plays the guitar (and lets them strum it on a stool in the house). Me? I’m the weird one who doesn’t know how to hold a conversation with a four-year-old (nor for that matter with a five-year-old) but I’m trying really hard.

They are my only contact with small children – DMs nephews seem grown-up by comparison.

I know I’m not the best auntie in the world (too scared and too intimidated) but I’m determined not to be some old witch that they’re scared of……..though I’m not at all sure how to achieve that. Still, I suppose I can only do my best and muddle through. Maybe one day, they’ll see me as an OK person – that’s all I can expect and all I can hope for.

Isn’t being a ‘grown-up’ difficult?