Do they know it's Christmas

This is the first year Henry has really been aware of Christmas and that awareness is awesome. It's incredibly joyful to be seeing it through his eyes for the first time but I'm not sure if it's just me but things seem to have much more of a Christmas bent this year. Homes in the streets around our house have suddenly gone all out with the Christmas lighting, people are playing carols at night and there's Christmas everywhere.

It's nice. I love it.

What is very pleasant is that it's not ridiculously hot. We can still breathe and take walks and eat and have conversations comfortably. Normally at this time of the year people are exhausted from the heat and the humidity. They're normally grumpy and find it hard to open their mouths to say hello because if they do they'll use up some of the precious energy they need to keep them alive in the heat.

Last night my mother and stepfather came to collect us to drive us all over town to look at the lights of the suburban houses. We came across one street in which every house had done their bit. It was like a fairyland. There were sausage sizzles to raise money for local charities, people milling around everywhere, kids laughing and bus loads of retirees driving by to check it all out. I would love to live in that street. One little girl told me that people had been asking if there were any houses for sale. Obviously everyone wanted to get in on the spirit.

Because we're finding it so exciting we've decided to host Christmas Day at our house. Of course while one side of my brain was thinking about the nice parts the other was thinking about the work required. I decided there will be no food served that requires cooking. It's going to be cold meat, salads, prawns and oodles of champagne.

Henry is very excited about Santa's visit and would like him to bring a Fireman's costume, a fire hose and Tom's Helicopter (from Fireman Sam). Fortunately Santa was able to find most of those things and more.