It’s almost December and that means Christmas is nearly here. It’s been a bit quiet around the garden lately. Cold and wet during the day and much darker at night. I think I am a Summer dog because I love to laze about in the sun and play with all my friends. These days, I hardly ever see Trixie and Bella, the neighbourhood cats. My good friend Harry the hedgehog must be asleep in his little home because he is missing too. In the summer months I think Harry spent most of his time in Dad’s greenhouse but not in the winter it seems.
I was checking for garden trespassers the other day when I noticed mum and dad getting ready to go out. Mum was holding my lead and calling me so I sauntered up the path to meet her. It wasn’t long before we were all in the red car on the way to the shops. Well, that’s where I thought we were going but I couldn’t be more mistaken! We travelled slightly further on to the place where mum gets all her plants and flowers. How silly of them! Even I know that nothing grows in the winter. I mean, I spend an awful lot of time in the garden so I know a thing or two.
Wrong again, Poppy! The whole place seemed to be full of trees. There were hundreds of them, all different shapes and sizes. These were not ordinary trees though. They had lots of pointy needles all over them. My parents wandered around for ages but eventually chose one of the bigger ones and one of the humans put it in a machine that made it look a lot smaller. Then they put it in the car and we drove back home. When we arrived home, dad took the tree out of the car and carried it indoors. That’s another thing I noticed. Since when do you put trees in the house?! All very weird so far.
Dad disappeared into the greenhouse and emerged with a metal stand that he placed in the corner of our big front room. Then he picked up the tree and pushed the trunk into the stand until the tree was secure. I’ll give them one thing, it did look lovely. Then mum brought in some cardboard boxes filled with lots of small lights and coloured things which she hung on the tree. When she had finished she made the lights sparkle. It was so beautiful. Finally, mum put a couple of small parcels underneath the tree and then she sat down satisfied with what she had done.
Later on, mum told me that both the little parcels were for me but I couldn’t have them yet. I didn’t really understand and thought about making a grab for them because they smelled so appetising. In the end I contented myself by looking at our lovely tree just sparkling in the corner of the room. In the evening mum and dad gave me a lovely treat and sat back admiring their work. They also made themselves tea and cut two large slices of cake. I didn’t grumble though! It had been such a lovely day. Another Christmas tale next week.
Leave a Comment