Well, here we go. My first Advent Calendar of Happiness post. Yesterday afternoon I jotted down a rough list of the twenty-four things which made me happiest. I’ve been trying to decide how to structure this blog series – do I start with the little things and work up, or begin with the most important? Well, I decided that I can’t do it in order of priority like that, it just won’t work. But when deciding where on my first post, I didn’t have to think very hard.

So much of the happiness I have in my home, my children, my friends, is underpinned by the happiness I have in my marriage. We have been a couple for sixteen years now, our entire adult lives. We have been students, DINKYs, homeowners and now parents together. We are a team, and when things are difficult sharing the problem with my husband halves it, but sharing each other’s happiness seems to increase it exponentially. He is my best friend, the love of my life, my favourite person to spend time with, and a huge source of happiness.

I’m not normally great with photos, but for this calendar, adding some visuals seems the right thing to do. This particular photo is of my husband giving a speech at our wedding, so it seems particularly appropriate. We had our wedding reception in a community hall, and we bought lots of posters – mainly vintage travel ones of our favourite places – to decorate it. You can just see Winston Churchill declaring “Let us go Forward Together” in the background. We thought that was hilarious when we chose it, but no-one else seemed to get the joke. But a shared sense of humour with your life partner is definitely another route to happiness!