At 8:20 am it is still dark outside the window. I guess it might be fully light (i.e. dark and overcast) by about 9:30. We will start losing visibility again at about 3:30 (that’s being generous). But arriving and leaving work in darkness has some perks- it is a totally new experience, you get to practice night driving all day every day so that you will be really good at it for the Joburg highways, and the Christmas lights. The Christmas lights are up all around the city, and the Christmas market is in full bloom. I haven’t managed to get a cup of Gluwein yet, but think this weekend when I take Simon to see the castle; it might be prudent to get a mug of Gluwein on the way up.

We made Sunday night our big family putting-the Christmas-tree-up night. We went round to B&Q and stood outside in the cold debating real vs. fake and then, once we had decided on real, nors fir vs. some other funky trees. We eventually picked a cute, fluffy little tree, about 5 foot high, packed it up and got it home. We put a roast chicken and veggies in the oven and began the Christmas decorating madness. But instead of Christmas carols we had Kylie’s Greatest Hits (that’s Minogue, not Whittington). We ferreted some high-class decorations out of our landlord’s Christmas kist, and decorated the house with gay abandon. Once the lights were twinkling and we had totally outdone the Christmas tree across the road; and our bellies were full of chicken, we went to bed. Christmas bliss.

Monday: Alarm, shower, breakfast, work, work, phone call. Whoops. The estate agent rang- the owner was in town and wanted to see the house. The owner who would be surprised to see girl things, since on the lease the tenants are two fine young gentlemen. The owner whose worldly Christmas goods, stored in a wooden box that we had no business opening, now adorned our house. Panic!

I zoomed home and cleared up all jewellery, anything pink or girly. I made sure that there were lots of sweaty man-things on the floors of the rooms, and lots of electronics in the lounge. I hid all toners and moisturisers (some of them might have belonged to Jack, but better safe than sorry). Kyle arrived. We debated un-decorating the Christmas tree. We decided to rather brazen it out. Landlord arrived. I hid in the stairwell while the meeting was conducted, reading my analytics textbook. Landlord leaves. He compliments us on the decorations.

Whew.

Luckily, every day isn’t that crazy.

This weekend we are hosting the first ever (for us) Down South Up North Christmas party. If you are saying to yourself that it is a tad early for a Christmas party, then I suggest that you stop being a grinch. Now that the new Aussie prime minister is ratifying Kyoto and Jack and Isje are allowed to use the central heating again, we are going to entice guests with promises of a warm house and Kyle’s special punch, and hopefully see a few people rock out in bikinis and board shorts.

Wish us luck!