Christmas has arrived.

 Our decorations!

We always put the decorations up on the 1st December if we can. If it falls on a busy school day I try and convince the children to put them up on the next weekend, but  they give me so much of a hard time, it is easier to give in and stay up later. I always feel it is such a short time to have the house decorated I want to make the most of it and have them up for a month. I love all the fairy lights and the smell of the greenery, but once Christmas is over I am itching to get those decorations back in the loft. They are lucky if they make it to the 1st January. I like to start the new year with them all put away.

So last Saturday I dragged it all down from the loft and began the process of organising super excited children to decorate the tree! My 9 year old boy has his best friend who lives in our road. They do everything together. If he is not in his friends house , then his friend is in our house. They never argue...ever. They are lost without each other. He is our extra family member and fits in beautifully. I don't notice the extra one! He helps us decorate the tree too! Such a special friendship.

We have an artificial tree - you know why ,it's cheaper, doesn't drop needles, blah, blah, blah.....It takes a while to put this up so whilst they do that I put on Christmas music and clear space for the other decorations in the house. My little girl doesn't like the feel of the tree so spends the next half hour dancing and twirling around the lounge to "Rocking around the Christmas Tree" . An extra benefit was the absence of The Boss who had managed to wrangle himself a ticket to the All Blacks/England game so was away all day....he hates putting the decs up! We were able to indulge in peace!!

There was the usual tangle of Christmas lights and beads, but once everything was unwrapped, plugged in and hung up, it looked rather nice. 

We've managed to make do this year without one new purchase! It's all a bit simple and thrown together, but the kids love it as memories are now wrapped up in these rituals and decorations. Perhaps if I had a child free home I would have beautiful White Company decorations and wreaths adorning my house, but thats not the case at the moment. I've yet to add the greenery to the stairs and table, but it's a bit too soon for that.....

So here's how far we got!