With it getting close to Christmas, I’ve been thinking about decorations, menus and traditions. Do you have special things that you always do at this time of the year? About now (or sometimes earlier in November) my Cliff Richard music comes out, or rather, my Christmas playlist gets a workout on iTunes. I do have some other Christmas music (including classics from Bing Crosby and co) but my Cliff ones are the only ones on iTunes at the moment. I must dig out my other CDs tomorrow. My current favourite is Cliff’s version of ‘Let it Snow’:

For one reason and another we haven’t put the tree up for a couple of years. I would love to have a tree this year but am worried about the kittens hurting themselves. Lights, baubles, tinsel, tree falling and associated risks. I’ve been toying with the idea of weighing the tree down, so it can’t tip over when climbed (the husbitect has a brilliant plan for tree safety) and making some felt decorations filled with catnip. If the kittens get them – no harm done!

If you also have kittens and cats, here is a page all about safety for felines at Christmas.

I have some vintage and breakable ornaments I’d love to decorate with, but that seems too risky. At least this year. Any ideas on how to use fragile ornaments safely, and out of kitten reach? They can jump up quite high now, so putting a small tree on a high shelf may not work. Oh! Oh! I think I may have it, dear reader. As I was writing this, I thought of our glass display cabinet – surely I can display the fragile ornaments in there. Perhaps in baskets or bowls?

How about movies, do you have movies that you watch every year, at this time? The first that comes to mind for me, is probably one of the most commonly suggested Christmas movies; ‘It’s A Wonderful Life‘. I think one of my absolute favourites, however, is ‘While You Were Sleeping‘. Ohhhhh, I adore that movie! I’ve lost track of how many times I have watched it – it can never be too many times!

I also enjoy those classic movies from Rankin and Bass. You know the ones; ‘The Year Without Santa Claus’, ‘Rudolph The Red-nosed Reindeer’, ‘The Little Drummer Boy’, ‘Santa Claus Is Comin’ To Town’. Such adorable puppetry and stop-motion animation. I think I am the only fan around here, so I will likely be watching them on my own, this year. The Kittens will join me!

Now, speaking of Christmas movies, there are two that I saw many years ago, that I can’t find now. The first was about a Snow Goose, and was very 70s with its design and script. It was American, and I think it had a group of male singers who were very ‘Jackson 5’ in style. Ring any bells?

The second is more vague (yeah, I can be even more vague than above!) and was about a Christmas tree. I think its title was something like ‘The Little Christmas Tree’. The tree in question was sad because it was overlooked, and really wanted to be a family’s special tree. I can picture the final-ish scene showing the tree all decorated with lights and baubles. Do you remember that one? It may have been a book, but I’m sure it was a movie, too.

If you can point to information about either movie, you will be a friend for life!

Please do share your traditions with me, dear readers. It doesn’t have to be ‘Christmas’ related – anything that is a special tradition for you, at this time of year. I love learning about other traditions and experiences. Gosh, one thing I have done once, but want to MAKE a personal tradition, is reading Doctor Who books, while slowly savouring toffee sweeties. It was a very hot December that year, and I remember spending much of the end of December savouring my gifted tin of sweets, as I savoured each page of my new Doctor Who novels. See – doesn’t have to be even remotely Christmas related!