For me the approach to Christmas is inexorably tangled with the arrival of summer:

• roses blooming in the garden,
• the demand to complete the staff summer holiday leave plan comes out from the CEO,
• strawberry punnets are available at 2 for $5,
• the Summer Reading Programme staffer is at work & the library is decorated to the theme (yachts this year),
• finding lists everywhere (other people’s in books and on tables at work; my own in various bags and piles at home),
• boxes of Christmas books are out for borrowing in the Children’s library,
• Greytown shops (and the library) have their swags of evergreens and lights hung from verandahs,

and there’s a feeling in the air of suppressed excitement and anticipation that makes me happy.