Being a mother is never easy, and I think things get even more complicated at Christmas. I'm so grateful my youngest is already ten, and I've been spared a lot of things, like having a mischievous elf in the house who thinks up a new prank every morning. Social media is full of pictures of this elf, and I can only breathe a sigh of relief that this trend hasn't caught on with me. How many more imported traditions will we have to adopt? We've never even made activity Advent calendars at home (does that mean our children know what the term means?). AdventAnd fewer of those calendars where there's a gift every day. That said, I admit I followed the new tradition of going to the mountains to find the Tió, and look, maybe it wasn't necessary. When I was little, the Tió knew perfectly well how to get home on its own, and on Christmas Eve it would appear very dignified in the dining room and retire the next day. Job done. So, if you haven't gone out to search for the Tió with a map, don't worry: it will find its way, just as it always has. Perhaps we're also overprotecting the Tió and don't trust its autonomy enough.