New traditions

As a child, our tree was always decorated on Christmas Eve. It was a lovely tradition, and I never wanted to change it. I always assumed it would be one I handed on to my children. But, so far, every year I've been persuaded otherwise.

It was Little G's last day of pre-school yesterday, and we'd promised him that we could decorate the tree this morning to start the holidays with a sparkle. And I'm not sorry. We're going away soon after Christmas, so if we waited for Christmas Eve, we'd barely get to enjoy the decorations at all, which would seem a bit of a waste.

Mr G is off at a tutorial today, so the little Gs and I got busy after breakfast. There were a few little grumps (from all sides) in the process - isn't that part of the tradition too?! - but largely it was an amicable affair. I just about managed to swallow enough of my OCD tendencies to allow the children (almost) free reign on what they put on where... So it may not be a beautifully elegant tree, but it was a genuine joint effort.