Today I hung up decorations on the Christmas tree by myself. At first it was lonely then I started to have fun. Around the bit where the tinsel and the lights went up. I like shiny and flashing things.

Decoration hanging used to be a big deal. One year I was at my next-door neighbour's house and Mum told us that it was time to decorate the tree. We all got so excited (my next-door neighbours, Jo and I) that we raced up the driveway to our house. As we ran into the front yard, one of my neighbours tripped and hit his head on the latch of our gate. He cut his head open and had to go to hospital and get stiches. When he got back I think we all decorated the tree together. That's how important decorating the tree was.

Today though, I decorated the tree as part of my 3 hours of help for Mum. It was a chore. But it was still fun in the end. I marveled at how many ugly decorations we have. But I don't think it's possible to have un-ugly decorations. The ugliest by far are the 1950s ones we inherited from my Grandparents. But ugly 1950s decorations, the smell of pine, and old, dodgy, K-mart flashing lights that I conned Dad into buying one year are what our Christmas tree is all about.

Does everyone get nostalgic at Christmas?