And so it begins - Christmas 2013

I love Christmas.  I've always loved Christmas.  First Santa Photo and I'm not even crying!

Ok, to be fair, Mum didn't let me see who's lap she'd put me on... and I have a feeling that in the next photo of me in this series I'm totally melting down.

But Christmas when I was growing up was always a happy time full of love and family.  We have a special tradition that was started before I turned 1.  My Nan and Pop (Mum's Mum and Dad) came over early in my first December with a Christmas tree, and Mum and Dad, and Nan and Pop put the tree up together. And then all through my life until they were no longer with us, Nan and Pop would come over to help us put up our tree.  As my brother Matt and I got older we'd always make sure we were there - even if it was only via a computer screen:

Matty is on Skype from Canada in this photo.  We invited some of his friends over to help with the tree - yes it takes 4 people to fill the hole that my brother leaves!

I've now taken over this tradition.  Mum and Dad come to my place to put up my tree with my husband and his two children, and I cook a traditional Christmas dinner for us to enjoy afterwards.

This photo is from a few years ago now - 2009 to be precise

2009 turned out to be Nan's last Christmas with us, so in hindsight it was wonderful to have had her at my place to help put up my tree.

This year with my continuing health issues and other scheduling problems, I only had Mum and Dad and my friend Catherine over to help decorate the tree.  My husband was away with work, and his kids were at their Mum's place.  In one way it was good not to have to deal with all the pressure, but in another way it was sad not to be surrounded by all the usual silliness and celebration.

2011 - Silliness with Miss Stella

But I did enjoy getting all my lovely Christmas things out of their storage boxes and decorating my house with them:

 My massive 7-foot Christmas tree.  Miss Stella loves removing and destroying the poinsettia flowers from the bottom level.  

This is my large dining table, and last year Mum made Santa hats for all the chairs 

This is my small dining table, which I try to leave mostly clear, so we can actually use it!   The chairs around this table have Santa hats on them too.

 This year I decided to bring Christmas to our family area where we spend most of our time, so I bought another small tree to decorate and surround with my collection of tea-light candle Santas

 And I also decided to push my husband's buttons (he's a bit of a bah-humbug) by decorating the staircase.  This is still a work in progress, but its a damn good start!

My Mum presented me with this huge quilted wall hanging this year.  She's been working on it for 2 years now.  The design is based on an Aussie Christmas carol by Rolf Harris called 6 White Boomers.  You can listen to it here

And lastly, this is my new friend this Christmas - I purchased this adorable donkey because I just had to have him.  His name is Joseph.  Mum Christmas-ified him, but I have a feeling he'll be hanging around my house all year long.  He's too adorable to go in a cupboard!

So I hope you've enjoyed looking at my Christmas decorations for this year.  I'm really happy that I put them up as early as I did - I'll be able to enjoy them as long as possible this year!  Does anyone else go as mad at Christmas as I do?

Beccie

xxx

PS.  Guess what turned up yesterday - MY CRAZY CHRISTMAS SHOES!!!!!  I'm so excited about them.  The fabric I bought to make this years dress shouldn't be too far away either, so keep your eye on my Facebook page for updates...