A real tree

Gosh, it's all gone a bit twinkly round here.  Over the weekend, multi-coloured fairy lights have appeared in the gardens and around the houses of many of our neighbours.  Flashing lights, icicles, reindeer and sleighs, snowmen - they're all out in force.  In comparison, our house stands out in all it's unlit glory.  We've always known we were different ;-)

We did haul the boxes of Christmas decorations out of the loft yesterday and unpacked the tree.  Within a minute it had shed so many bits of greenery that we had to take serious stock of the problem.  It seemed to illustrate the 'love-hate' view I have of Christmas; there are many aspects of Christmas I love but so much has been spoilt by the rampant consumerism that seems to take over that there are times I struggle with it.  The idea of enjoying a simple Christmas seem completely out of synch with life today.  Well, I can't remember how or why we've made do with an artificial tree for so many years but seeing it in such a sorry state demanded action.  'We're getting a real tree this year' I announced.  N did a happy dance in the middle of the lounge floor and grinned like a little boy - it's made his Christmas!

So today we went to select our tree.  We did the usual thing of trying a few out for shape and size before we made our decision.  It got 'wrapped' and thankfully fitted very neatly into the car.  Back home we had some fun finding the appropriate container to stand it in and inevitably there was yet more furniture moving involved.  But we're there and the tree is now standing proudly in the hall.  The smell of pine is glorious.  

Today N has fitted a bedside shelf and a aerial socket in the guest room, and I have made a fitted sheet for the bed (from an old flat sheet).  There seems to be a never-ending list of things to do at the moment and while that keeps us busy (and we certainly prefer that to being bored) just occasionally we'd quite like to put our feet up for a few minutes!