My wife just loves Christmas and everything about it. One
outstanding feature of her love of it is her penchant for putting up Christmas decorations, which has grown every year of our marriage into a massive display. They are really beautiful and she loves it so I don’t want to sound like Ebenezer Scrooge, but occasionally some of those decorations really get me quietly cursing.

There are two items particularly that cause me grief every year.

The first is a large ball like decoration that hangs from a Christmas streamer at head height on the route of my walk from family room to front door. Although my wife warns me and tells me that I should “just avoid it” you would understand that it clobbers me every time. Bugger!

In our entrance lobby hangs an ugly looking plastic face which encases an audio device created when transistors first allowed miniaturisation of audio componentry. It plays a little song every time it hears my footstep or me opening or closing the front door. About 40 years of this and it’s getting to me. “Enough!” I say. (I’ve tried to knock it off the wall to break it but it was built before planned obsolescence became popular!). Listen to the little monster here!

However I must give my wife credit… her Christmas light display is fantastic (even though whole areas of the suburb black out when she switches it on!).