OUR CHRISTMAS BEGINS

Some weeks ago we made our plans to decorate our Christmas tree today,it fitted nicely in to our various schedules and besides we always like to begin the festivities early, then yesterday all our planning seemed wasted when I awake during the night in great pain.

I knew at once the cause of my trouble,kidney stones. Wretched nuisances, I have suffered fro the little horrors for years.

Most of the time the small stones lie quiet and cause no trouble,but from time to time one of them begins to move producing the most excruciating pain imaginable, I kid you not ,it's much worse than giving birth and goes on for longer.

More often than not I end up in hospital where intravenous pain relief (the only sort that works) can be administered, and a huge relief it is too!

I had no wish to wake the household in the middle of the night so I decided to try a medication new to me,on which helps the stone to pass through the system. It actually increases the level of pain for a while but I was desperate enough to have taken arsenic had I thought it might help.

For most of yesterday I felt unwell and did little except sit quietly drifting in and out of sleep as the pain came and went.

I went to bed last night promising the boys that if thongs were no better in the morning I would go to hospital, this time I was lucky,this time the stone Passed and by morning the pain had gone.

Even tiredness could not spoil the day,we love Christmas and our pleasure in the decorating of our tree is for us the beginning of our Christmas.

The decorations were sought, the tree place in position and the fun began, Lights, swags of beads ,baubles some of them older than myself were hung reverently upon the branches. Each decoration holds a memory for one or all of us and they are treated as old friends.

My son had found a recording of Carols from Kings College which we played as we worked, it was so lovely to be together,everyone helping to string baubles or arrange the lights.

We finished as dusk fell and the lights on the tree glowed softly in the darkening library, we surveyed our handiwork with pride and our little cat Moth sat spellbound,wide eyed and full of curiosity.

Decorating the house takes over a week as we really do go to town, The kitchen is hung with lights and clusters of baubles, banners and streamers all add the the effect. The drawing room windows will be hung with lights and the mantle piece decorated with tinsel and evergreens. Even our bedrooms are given a festive make over and we have a good deal of funny in the process.

Finding both my camera and my mobile phone with flat batteries I have been unable to photograph our handiwork,still there will be plenty of time during the coming weeks.

In the village the Holiday season begins in earnest on Saturday with a Christmas bazaar at our local school, a shopping nights at the village hall on Wednesday next and after that there are Carol services, Church fêtes and concerts, film shows and all manner of fun and games.

I am so very thankful today was not spoiled and I hope that, with luck we shall attend all the village engagements right through to the New Year.

We have all been looking forward to our first Christmas in our new home and now that it has arrived we all fell slightly unreal. As we stood around the tree this evening admiring its beauty even my grown up son's eyes were a little misty. There were times in the past year when I wondered if there would be another such Christmas for us,Tonight in the soft glow of the Christmas lights I offered up a small but very fervent prayer of thanks, for blessings received.