Christmas tree
Posted on | December 9, 2006 | No Comments
The forecast today was for 37 degrees and ‘morning smoke’, which is pretty much what we got. George seems to have a new favourite spot under the rhododendron bush, especially for days like today. He didn’t stay outside long, though.
I surprised myself by getting us to the Scouts’ Christmas tree lot by 11 AM, while it was still cool enough to move and before all the trees had melted. I picked out a nice $35 tree (the least I’ve spent in Melbourne – I’ve been going to the posh places, I guess) and was convinced that it be easier to stick it in the back of the station wagon, even if the door wouldn’t close without rope, than it would be to tie it on top of the car. We made it home without losing the tree or getting carbon monoxide poisoning.
After our traditional and leisurely baguette-and-brie breakfast, I put up the tree, which is actually quite difficult to do with only one adult. The trees we get here are very thick and heavy, and there’s no way the standard metal tree stand from my childhood would be sufficient. I have a stand with a much deeper reservoir that grips the trunk further from the bottom, but the trunk is always so spongy that the screws of the stand go into the trunk, no matter how many hard flat things I try to blu-tack to the end of the screws. Anyway, it’s up, and there’s only one lot of fishing wire (and 2 walls) assisting. The very festive red fabric is covering the very ugly venetian blinds, which will be retracted during the Christmas season.
There are fewer decorations than usual this year, as I’m anticipating having Estella stay with us over Christmas and I decided not to put all the shiny red glass ball ornaments on. This may have had something to do with Tilda’s meltdown after all the ornaments were up – I couldn’t quite figure out what she was upset about, but I think she just wanted to put more things on the tree.
We stayed inside most of the day, and then headed to the pool at about 6:30. Every time I go there on a really hot day, I wish that I had my own pool, and realize that all the Nice People must have pools and air conditioning. What remains goes to the Box Hill Pool. Tilda did a fair bit of snorkelling around, and I don’t even want to know what she saw. Let’s just say that there seemed to be a lot of groping going on under the water, by all age groups. (They all seemed to have tattoos, though.) I may also have been grumpy because I stupidly didn’t take my own bathing suit, so I was stuck baking by the side of the pool.
At least when we got home, there was the Christmas tree. And I realized how nice it is to have it in front of two windows.
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