First Day of Summer and Up Goes the Tree

This is what I did this morning (it's a dryer).  It's still raining, raining, raining but at least it's mercifully cool.

We cleared a spot, the only spot it will fit in this little house, for the Christmas tree in one of the front windows.

I don't like putting the tree up, I can never figure out what goes where so we usually wait till Phill is home.  But I forgot I have two smart and capable teenagers, who sorted it all out scientifically and put it up in no time (it would have taken me all day and a lot of swear words).  When it was up I said "Well aren't you going to decorate it?"  They looked at each other and said at the same time "What's the point?  We'll come out later and you'll have changed it all".  I couldn't stop laughing, what memories they have, I used to humour them and let them decorate the tree when they were little but then when they went to bed I'd take everything off and do it "properly".  And I thought they didn't notice.  I remarked that Christmas just wasn't the same for me now that they're older.  But then as they decorated the tree they kept coming up with little memories of Christmas past, like Daddy lifting them up to put the angel on the top of the tree, and how they always thought the tree was so tall (didn't all of us?) and THEN it felt like Christmas to me.  They might not be babies anymore, filled with the wonder of Santa and all the Christmas magic, but they have happy memories of those years when they were and that makes me so happy.  To think that all of my efforts made a difference.  And they are still excited.  They started on their advent calendars, a tradition they've had all their lives.

They put their name baubles on the tree, and later I found Em had put Katy's right at the back.  She's not very happy with her big sister right now, Kate has let her down as well as me.

Sarah doesn't have a bauble, she never had a Christmas so she has a little gold angel ornament with her name engraved on it.

They really did do a good job with the tree, dog's breakfast though it is.  We badly need new ornaments and some more lights.  It's shopping day tomorrow so I'll buy some new things.  Stupid shed found a new place to leak so two boxes with various things in them got wet on the bottom and all the Christmas stuff was dampish as well.  This year I'm going to buy a whole heap of plastic crates to store Christmas decorations in, the tree itself as its box got wet, and all of our other stuff that's out there.

Pizza tonight.  When I told Josh I had the night off from cooking he said "Christmas pizza?"  I have taught him well.  When they were small, for about three weeks before Christmas almost everything I said had the word "Christmas" in front of it. 
And so the Silly Season begins.