Last Saturday we attended Horfield Methodist Church Christmas Fayre.  I was looking forward to going to it as this year my son will have much more of an understanding of Christmas than previous years.

I have been telling him about how on Christmas eve we will leave a stocking at the end of his bed and in the morning it will be full of presents and about how on the same night we must leave a snack out for Father Christmas to eat when he comes down the chimney to deliver his presents.

If truth be told I am more excited about Christmas this year than him!  So I was excited to take him to this fayre, especially because Father Christmas would be there in his grotto!

I like church fayres and fetes.  They usually have a great atmosphere and the people volunteering are often very welcoming to kids and this one was no exception.  There was face painting, cake decorating and lucky dips for the kids and tables of books, woolens, cards, gift ideas, etc for the adults.

There was a big table of second-hand kids toys so I told my son he could choose one toy as a treat.  Unfortunately he went straight for a toy gun.  Now, I decided very early on, when my son was just a bump, that I would never encourage him towards playing with guns but that if, when he was older he wanted to have a toy gun, then that was up to him, his choice.  I was just not going to encourage him towards that choice until and if that point came.

Well, obviously that point had come.  I tried to pique his interest in the other, many toys lying on the table but he picked up that gun and he wanted that gun.  So I paid for it and reasoned to myself that at his age, he knows his own mind.

Well, he LOVES this gun.  It is brightly coloured, has these ‘pellet’ type things that come out when you fire the gun and it makes a range of noises (incidentally, my husband has since taken the batteries out).

I then led my son to Santa’s grotto after paying the money and he immediately tried to get out again but I managed to persuade him to go back in.  Santa was there complete with his elves.  Santa asked my son several questions but to be honest, my son was more interested in examining his new toy.

The only question he answered was ‘what would you like for Christmas?’ to which he replied ‘I want this one’ showing Santa the gun.  Hey ho.

My son was given a little bag with a soft toy in from Santa (not interested) but I did take some lovely photos.

After the grotto visit, we bought some cups of tea for us and squash for the kids and some lovely cakes – always an essential part of any trip I make with the kids – and went to sit in the drinks area to enjoy them.

This Christmas fayre had a great atmosphere; the people were very friendly and we all had a great time and I had great fun in watching my son joining in Christmas activities.

And the toy gun?  On getting home later on my son took great delight in pretending to fire it at our poor old cats!