Yesterday was our Christmas Party for playgroup and we had a great time.  We booked a kids play centre and had food & Santa come.  It astonishes me how accepting kids are of Santa.  My son was concerned that Santa woudl not have read his letter, but somehow (!) he knew exactly what to give him - a pirate puzzle!  The kids whose grandad had dressed up as Santa didn't recognise him and none of the kids screamed at him which was good. B was a bit wary but was OK. 

Then later we went to the shopping centre and there was Santa taking photos.  R climbed right up there and started telling Santa all about his puzzle.  He wasn't the slightest bit concerned at how Santa looked different or was confused about the puzzle - belief is a powerful thing I guess.  B was very wary and took a long time to sit next to him.  Then we could not get a photo with the 2 of them looking at us and smiling - even after taking about 20.  Still, teh wonder of the digital age is that she can retouch and mix the photos to get ne good one (I hope)!  Great fun.

R is adamant he wants to put the decorations up, but we haven't picked out a tree yet. We have a fake one that is quite small (bought in our days in a terrace house in sydney), but I have worked on DH for months to get a real one.  We are surrounded by them, living near a pine forest and he refused as they are a weed and a pain.  Still, one less weed, I said!  Anyway he has not been home to get one for us, so we may resort to teh fake on in the end....