Project 365 day 5: Cosy with the Tree

Today was even wetter, with relentless, heavy rain. I decided going out would not be good for the camera. Indoors, I'm enjoying the cosiness of the Christmas tree lights for the last time this year. Tomorrow is Twelfth Night, so tradition decrees that the decorations must be taken down and put back in their box. On the radio this morning, the man from English Heritage suggested it might be good to hold onto festive cheer for a bit longer this year, reassuring us that it's not bad luck, hobgoblins are not real, and until at least the eighteenth century many people left decorations, largely consisting of greenery, in place until Candlemass. It makes sense to me to keep some outdoor colour and cheer in our homes through the darkest days of winter. If it ever stops raining, I will go round the garden with the secateurs and see what I can find. However, my great aunt, who brought my mother up, insisted that if decorations were left up after Twelfth Night, they had to stay in place till Shrove Tuesday when they would be made into a fire to fry the pancakes. 
The knitted cat is one of four I bought for my daughter's stocking over several years, part of our collection of disparate bits and pieces. Nothing matches and few things are shiny, but many were home made by us or people we love, and each year they remind us of their stories.