This year I'm going to put all the family addresses onto the computer and print labels for card envelopes - that way, when we sent out birth cards a couple of months later, all the hard work is done. I'll have to start that soon as it will take me a day to do - we send about 40-50 cards each year. And I write a "newsletter" thing to go in the cards of people we don't catch up with often, like the more obscure uncles and aunts, or old school-friends that are just "card-friends" now. That's all sent out on the first weekend in December with Christmas stamps on the cards.

We usually do the Christmas Shopping the weekend after the credit card bill comes in, so that's the 9th of December this year (making sure we only spend what we've put aside, but we like earning interest for another couple of months), then on the Sunday I'll put up the trees. I put up as much as I can; we have two trees, a 6'6 one for the sitting room and a 2' one for the bedroom; the big one is all in gold and the 2' one in orange with built-in fibroptic lights. My sister has my old 1' fibroptic one, have to reclaim that after this year for Liebling's room! We also have a little electric candelabra thing for the bedroom. Oh, so looking forward to having the candles flickering, the tree going and me sitting in bed watching the Christmas films on the little TV! All snug and warm with my pyjamas and hot water bottle and not out in the snow!

After that I clear the mantlepiece, top of the TV, cabinet, computer hollow... any spaces I can find really, in preparation for the cards we receive. Haven't needed to pin bits of thread to the walls yet... that will be exciting when that happens!

The decorations usually come down the weekend between New Year and Epiphany... which isn't going to happen this year, so they'll come down on the 4th.

The First Sunday in Advent marks the start of me reading the Christmas Story whilst sat around an open fire... this year I have my belly to read it to as well! I love Advent! I also love the chocolate calendars - well, Liebling needs one and the only way to get the chocolate into Liebling is for me to eat it. So that may well mean I need two calendars, one for Liebling and one for me. I best start learning the bits I forget in Twas the night before Christmas too.

Carols will be fun this year: I like God rest ye, Merry Gentlemen and Liebling adores O, Holy Night. Liebs better like The Happiest Christmas Tree because there's not way I'm not playing that fifty times in a row.

I love Christmas. *sings*It's Christmas in Heaven/There's great films on TV/The Sound of Music twice an hour/And Jaws 1, 2 and 3!