December is here........

Yesterday was absolutely freezing. Clear blue skies, so just look at the sunset. I had to grab the camera and drive down to the lakes to take a couple of photos. If I had been there 15 mins earlier, it would have been even more stunning!

And yesterday I may just have overdone things a trifle. Just a little bit.

The nativity scene is up. I have not got any wise men, but hey, they only arrived ages after the birth, so I am not bothered right now. This is absolutely perfect, and I LOVE it. Simple.

Autumn is gone from the house, and now all the cushions are red and cream, and so are the throws, candles and flowery bits. And the tree is done! We will not discuss Linds standing on a chair either, thank you. Or simply standing to decorate. Or the fact that the decorations were in the loft, and after getting the ladder in from outside, taking it up stairs, and then leaving it in place to consider how I was going to get the stuff out of the loft and going up and down the stairs pondering, or finding that most of the boxes were close to the door, and going up and down the ladder, or the fact that if one lies on one's stomach and heaves oneself along under the rafters, legs dangling out the trapdoor, one can reach the giant snowman, without which Christmas is incomplete, I tell you. No. We will not discuss any of the above. We will just enjoy the Christmassy house for a bit.

See? He was worth it! So was Rudolph..........

My modified Advent candle thingy. Not a wreath, because that is further into the loft than I can reach. But this looks great anyway, and I love the angel in the middle too. I am nothing if not inventive. I did take my phone up the ladder with me, and take the keys out of the door, by the way. So help would have been possible had I needed it. Just know that the frustration levels were stratospheric. Asking for help does not come easily to me. And this is the first time I have had to do any Christmassy stuff with no kids home. Last year I was away for Christmas. And the year before, David was here.

So it is the fact that ordinary every day things I have done for my entire life are now complicated beyond belief which frustrates. Snarl. (Snarling is not in the Christmas spirit, I know, I know....)

Anyway.

Christmas has arrived here at the Casa de la Rocking Chair. The kitchen/family room is still to be done, but as that involves much standing on chairs, I do believe that can wait till I recover. Or aid arrives in the form of either a son or a friend or 2. Last night I felt like death, and at some stage, got down on the floor, fell asleep and then had a slight hitch when I tried to get up many hours later. So today, I will sit and look at the tree. And drink coffee.

And I refuse to think about 397647884 boxes of other Christmas stuff out of reach of the wiggling-on-stomach-Linds up there in the loft. This is a minimalist Christmas for me this year. It will do. And besides, I am the only one who knows where anything is up there, and my ladder climbing days are now over.

I promise.