The tree is up

It has been wet and spectacularly dismal weather this weekend, and, after waiting in vain for the rain to stop so that I could haul the tree out of the garden shed and not get drenched, I went and did it in the rain. Then I made son No 2 open it and go through every branch to make sure there were no nasty things with tails in it. (There weren't, thankfully.)
And so yesterday afternoon was a "lets construct and decorate the tree day". Translated, that means I did it.

Today, after baking another cake, I started to go through the presents and wrap, and get them under the tree, so I could tidy the rest of the house without standing on parcels all over the place. I should never have crawled out of bed today. I have been in a foul mood, and my family has been avoiding me. We needed milk, so I popped down to the village to get some, and broke my glasses in half. That meant a dash to the nearest big supermarket to get more high-tech (cheap) reading glasses, only they did not stock them. So I left through the revolving doors, which stopped suddenly as I was entering them, and I walked straight into the edge of the door, bumped my head, scraped the skin off my hand and could possibly have broken another toe. And burst into tears. As one does on a Sunday in a supermarket.

After an encounter with the manager, to have the accident written up, I limped out in the torrential rain and went to another giant supermarket, which had no parking available...you can see how the day was going really, can't you..... But I did eventually get the glasses. I can see to write the tags on the presents.
This is my kitchen. I climbed all over the counters and tables last night stringing up the garlands and lights. And it looks lovely without the big lights on. And this way you can't see the mess either.

This is a corner of the lounge, and those snowmen dance a waltz when you switch them on. I seem to have a great many snowmen about the house this Christmas. You will get to see more later.

And so here I am. Tree up. Lights working. Presents (those I have got) wrapped. Cards written. Shopping done. A little battered. And yawning my head off. Work tomorrow. More rain forecast. But I actually spoke to each of my children and my sister today. That was good. And my mother and son still love me, even though I have been a nightmare to live with today.

Ah well...... tomorrow is another day.