At times I take myself far too seriously. Does it really matter if I don't have a new toilet pedestal rug by Christmas or a brand new outfit to wear or a stack of presents piled to the ceiling ready for giving? Of course not!!!
Each year I put myself under so much (unnecessary) pressure to live up to the imaginary expectations of others as I expect many of you reading this do. Now the thing is my husband and son love Christmas. Every December we have to retrieve at least 10 black bin liners down from the loft - and that is just the bags that contain the tree! The tree is an ex-display model and each layer of branches have to be assembled individually. The branches are even colour coded as there are so many!!! Anyway, I leave them to put up the humongous tree and faff about with the 3 sets of 100's of lights entwined around it.
In stark contrast to this is my tree which is just a couple of feet high. I put this one up all by myself. It sits with me in the dining room and takes all of 10 minutes to assemble and decorate. Adorned with red and gold baubles and a set of battery operated lights, a dull corner is transformed. Just so I retain a sense of humour and perspective over the holiday period I put my smiling nude angel on the top complete with a golden bird. This little tree is funny and humble. I hope I can take some of those qualities and apply it to myself over this festive season.
Talking of funny (and I mean funny peculiar and not funny ha ha now) in this unseasonably warm December we are having - today I spotted a bee in the garden collecting nectar from a flowering heather plant! Everything seems so topsy turvy. I guess we shouldn't be surprised if we see snow in the Summer time!
