
I have posted a photo of a detail from my Christmas tree. As music is so important to me, my tree has a musical theme. Amongst the ornaments featured here, you might be able to spot a cherub playing the flute (bottom left), an angel plucking a harp (right), a gold musical note, and towards the top left, my newest tree ornament, a silver grand piano. I bought this in the summer when we visited the Christmas shop in Rothenburg, Germany. It felt strange to be amongst all the trappings of the festive season during a hot summer's day, but since then I have been looking forward to placing it on the tree.
I didn't have space to take a full length photo of the tree, because it is in the front porch. When we brought our kittens home six years ago, they were very adventurous and would chew anything that moved. Five months old when Christmas came around, they proceeded to climb the tree and bite the decorations at every opportunity. I made sure that there were no glass ornaments, but the day we discovered that they had pulled one of the plastic baubles apart, leaving a sharp wire exposed, we decided to remove the danger. Each Christmas since then, the tree has been put in the porch. The cats possibly wouldn't go wild about it now, but we can't be sure as they are still full of energy and will pounce on anything that looks tempting. This year on the day the decorations came out., they were both inside the Christmas tree box, attacking the string that secures it. So for now it is staying in the porch.
With all good wishes for Christmas and for 2014, wherever you may be.