What's That Noise?

No, it is not the sound of snowflakes falling-yet. No, it is not the jingle of bells on a sleigh….yet. It is the sound of scrub-a-dub-dubbing in our little flat!

That is how Saturday was spent- making our home ready for the Christmas Decorations. It was rather lovely actually- nothing beats that feeling of everything being fresh and clean and in order. I started work in the kitchen while dear Carl did the bathroom- and we put a speaker into each room so we could both listen along to our current spoken word book- Cross Bones by Kathy Reichs. We popped out mid afternoon to buy our tree. Now Carl is the voice of reason, while I go right ahead and fall in love with a great bushy tree that is taller than our ceiling! Usually I beg for a tree a little larger than is sensible, and Carl begs for one that is a little smaller, and we meet in the middle.

We drove out to the little nursery which is in the middle of nowhere, just how I like these places to be. We wandered around and around, looking at all the potted trees. I squealed in delight at a great tall beauty…and we wandered some more. You see, all the medium sized ones were just…not right. Too bushy. Too…not right. And the big ones were just too large- even I could see that! What to do? We always have a real tree….finally, much out of character, I suggested getting a smaller tree, and standing it on our table. So now we have such a darling of a tree in our living room. All bedecked with 100 tiny twinkling lights, small iridescent clear baubles, and pink and blue lametta. Nestled in the branches is a beautiful pair of lovebirds from Liberty that Mum bought us, and a little silver angel that Carls Mum bought us. And right in the middle- a robin called ruby that we fell in love with while buying the tree. Her body is all sparkly with beads, and she has a bright red feather for a tail. She smiles out of the tree at us- I think she likes having such a sparkly home!

Tonight we have a friend visiting, and we are going to snip out snowflakes and glue together paper chains to go up, while drinking mulled apple juice, and eating mince pies warm from the oven.