Other stuff on the homefront

SO, it being nearly Christmas and all, we put up our Christmas tree. (This was a week or so ago; I just never wrote about it then.) It's a plastic thing, bought a few years ago when I came to the realisation that a fresh smelling pine, elegantly draped with lights and beautiful glass baubles, really wasn't the thing to have in the house with a couple of curious children, and lets be honest, one of whom who seemed to be in training for a career in the demolition industry. So each year we dust off the fake tree, and hang the cheap plastic baubles and all the wee decorations that the children have made over the years. One of my favourite things on it is a photo-bauble of Duncan wearing a Santa hat, looking straight at the camera with his tongue poking out. It was made in his old nursery, and he looks such a picture of mischief and fun.

The children had a lot of fun dressing the tree and I managed not to get too crabbit about mess and malfunctioning lights etc. Duncan was especially excited about the whole thing. He was jumping around and marching up and down the kitchen, wrapped in a length of tinsel. singing Jingle Bells! I can see that this is the first year when he understands and shares in the excitement of Christmas. He tells people who ask him what Santa (or Santy as they say here) is bringing him, that he's bringing a present, a 'Thomas real water tower'. Well, we shall see if the old man in the North Pole got the e-mails Lady sent him.

There have, funny enough, been a few parcels delivered from Amazon over the past few days. Duncan did notice them, but I managed to convince him they were all for Daddy. One large package arrived containing a Major buggy. I'd forgotten that it had been ordered for him by the OT. It's a large stroller, designed for disabled children, and we decided to try it out right away. We took a trip to the beach. Duncan enjoyed sitting in it, he had a huge grin on his face and his arms in the air. He got out for a good run around on the beach with Lady and Thomas. When we were going home, Thomas wanted a turn in the buggy but Duncan didn't want to get out so Thomas just sat on his knee and Duncan put his arms around him and held him tight. They looked so cute together, but it was kinda hard going up the hill so Thomas got out after a while. I was pleased that it worked so well for Duncan though, I think we'll make plenty of use of this. It beats having to carry him on my back when we go for a walk and he gets a bit overloaded or tired.