Deck the Halls ... and all that stuff!

I got out my Christmas CD today. I love the start of December. It doesn't feel like Christmas to me before December.

I have a great Christmas CD. I got in while I was in the UK so it has great songs like Fairytale of New York (one of my favourites! What other Christmas song has the words 'you scumbag, you maggot' in them??), I Wish it Could be Christmas Everyday, not to mention all the Cliff Richard 'greats'! Ah, Christmas.

This is the time I put up my tree. Always a great tradition in our house as a kid. On would go a Christmas CD. Mum would get out the box of decorations, most of them my sister and I had made and the rest seemed to have been in the box before time began. But each and every one had to make it onto the tree or it just wouldn't be the same. Next came all the standing back and moving ornaments until the tree was balanced. Once all the decorations were hung, at last the angel would be placed on the top. And it was official - Christmas could now start.

These days, my tree may be smaller and my decorations newer and shinier, but it still means Christmas to me.

The Santas have begun to appear in shopping centres. Yesterday, I sat in the hairdresser and watched all the kids and parents lining up to have their photo taken with Santa. The decorations are up and everywhere the feeling of Christmas is in the air.

Growing up in Australia, Christmas to me is hot. I have only had two Christmases out of the country - my first in Scotland was wet and cold and the second in Manchester, we did have snow in the morning, but we were flying out to Florida that day, so we had snow in the morning and tropical thunderstorm in the afternoon!

So, as the weather gets hotter and we start singing songs like 'Winter Wonderland', 'Frosty the Snowman' and 'Let it Snow! Let it Snow! Let it Snow!', it finally feels like Christmas to me!