There’s nothing like a Nursery and Reception Christmas show to fill you with a warm festive glow and an unshakeable conviction that all is right with the world, despite mounting evidence to the contrary on all news channels. I absolutely love this cartoon by the talented and hilarious Hurrah for Gin.

This is absolutely me to a tee. And a bare 24 hours after sobbing unashamedly through the ridiculously emotive (and prodigiously talented) performance, I was seriously considering the eBay option after Sophia had woken on the hour every hour all night with a horrible snotty cold, and I had decided to keep her off nursery (even though it was her ‘full day’, and one of my last chances of an uninterrupted 6 hours to get stuff done before Christmas), but she was then in that annoying state of being not sufficiently ill to lie quietly on the sofa all day, but not well enough to really engage in any activity or game as she got irritable and fretful within minutes. As, to be honest, did I. As always on these occasions, I need to send a heartfelt vote of thanks to the outstanding public service broadcasting provided by CBeebies!

In all seriousness, little children singing Away in a Manger does help give me some perspective, both on the state of the world, and the madness that is December when you have two young children, one of whom also has a December birthday. It is six years since I sat and watched Anna’s Nursery nativity, and my tears then were not just of seasonal sentimentality, but also grief for the two babies I had lost that year to miscarriage and ectopic pregnancy. To sit there again and watch this precious, longed-for and much loved second daughter of mine singing with all the gusto her almost-four-year-old self could muster was a blessing and a privilege for which I can never be sufficiently grateful.

This December feels even crazier than usual; husband is super busy and stressed at work, both children have been unwell, in addition to all the Christmas festivities I’m also organising a very important 4th birthday party (in fact two, a birthday tea for the grandparents, and a pass-the-parcel fest for 8 of Sophia’s little pals from nursery). And it is the school Christmas fair today, which always feels to me like 18 months worth of stress crammed into 90 overcrowded and over-heated minutes, even though it is one of the highlights of Anna’s Christmas. However, I am going to read my own sage advice from last year and try to relax and focus on the things that really matter, rather than becoming hysterical when I receive a message that the rainbow unicorn tableware I carefully sourced and ordered weeks ago has a delay and will not arrive until a week after Sophia’s party. Honestly, I’m totally calm.