Working for a global company and in a global team, means there are occasions when we have really early meetings and really late meetings. It makes it fair on everyone so someone’s not always getting up early or missing out on family time in the evening.

Once a month there’s a day that’s super long. We get up early and miss family time in the evening, and our colleagues on the other side of the globe miss family time then get up early. But it’s only once a month.

It means that day I need to get Bubba to family daycare {thankfully it falls on those days, otherwise she’d be joining the morning meeting with me!} still half asleep in her pyjamas, then duck out a little earlier than I normally would to take her from daycare to grandma’s – with a little stop via home to feed the fuzzy loves and give them a cuddle before heading back into the office.

Yesterday was that day, but as I was parking at daycare, I got a text from my boss saying he’d postponed our evening meeting and not to worry about coming back into the office. But I have to – my laptop is there and I’ve got work to do. His reply? I’ll lock your laptop away. Night off, what a shame?! He’s the boss, who am I to argue?

So here I was, picking Bubba up with an extra hour in our afternoon … and no work to do. I made the decision in that moment that I wouldn’t touch my phone other than to take photos, until I put her to bed. I felt like I was on vacation!

We had such a lovely afternoon playing with the dogs, and learning about cutting {well, not that you can really cut with those little kids craft scissors!}. We cut straight lines and then I showed Love Bug how to fold paper in half and cut shapes. The look of delight on her face was priceless.

We had music on. We sang. We danced. We had pink pasta with avocado {yay for green!!} for dinner.

She also said Christmas tree for the first time ever, when were looking through our Dr Seuss flash cards. Instead of just tree. I know. For those of you who haven’t shared the past couple of Christmases with us, I am a Christmas Crazy. Card. Carrying. Certifiable.

I tried {really hard} to curb my excitement but when she got out a card from a corresponding pack of flash cards which showed the brown dog with reindeer antlers on that was the same as the one in the illustration of the Christmas tree, I just had to smother her in kisses. We have Christmas tree mumma? Oh yeah, pretty lady. You know it.

So, instead of our pile of books last night before bed, she chose only one {I love my mummy} and she curled up on my lap as we flicked through photos on my laptop of Christmases past. The squeals as we looked at photos of mumma, aunty, uncle and grandma choosing a tree in Greenwich Village were enough to make me want to book flights right there and then. I know it’s too soon, but I am already SO excited for Christmas. You’ve been warned.

After I put her to bed, I wondered to myself why I put so much pressure on myself to do so much each day. All of the technology we have is supposed to make our lives easier, and for the most part it does. But it also makes us accessible 24/7.

Do you ever switch off?