Day 355 - Decorating

This is the solution to our two Christmas trees issue. In the last few years we've been bringing in two potted trees to decorate, so that we have one in our dining room and one in the room in which we spend most of our time. The trees have grown too large to just casually carry in and out, and they're not looking too good after the hot summers, so we settled for a modern arrangement instead in one of the rooms.

I think this is the first day I've really felt relaxed since the holidays began. It had a lot to do with very good company.

Day 140 - End of a cycle

The Orthodox celebrate Easter for 40 days. Well, when I say 'celebrate', I don't mean we're still partying (although we are still getting through our stash of chocolate), but we are still in the Easter (Paschal) cycle. That's because Christ appeared to the apostles and faithful for 40 days after his resurrection, before His ascension.

Meanwhile, my Easter decorations are really getting on my nerves, and despite my youngest son's protests (he loves the decorations), I decided to get rid of the 'Easter tree' (more of a German thing) and the coloured eggs you see pictured here. Gone are the little wooden rabbits pushing barrows, and gone are the now squashed little fluffy yellow chicks. I decided to throw out the fluffy little rabbits sitting in tiny nests (some sort of strange, unnatural manifestation of Easter mixup) that someone had given me (possibly my mother).

Day 4 - it's still Christmas and it isn't yet Christmas

Although I love shiny, glittery Christmas decorations, there's something good about the simple, wooden German ones. As you can see, we still have Christmas decorations up in readiness for our (second) Christmas when others have taken theirs down.