“Shall I take the bambini out for a walk?”

Although it already about 9.30, I feel I could stay in bed (and asleep) for several hours yet. Dino, in particular, is ready to go out. Has been ready since about 6, to be honest. But he’s very good – except when we are stirring. He puts pressure on you to get up. And F is right, of course, we SHOULD get up.

I say “Yes”.

“But I wanted to clean”. There is real disappointment in his voice. Really, the first question was not ‘shall I’ but rather ‘will YOU’. I.e. I should get up and take them out whilst he starts the cleaning.

I almost laugh. Instead, I reply that I’ll take them out. This pleases him.

And so it was that he spent most of the morning cleaning the lounge ‘very well’, as he would say. Things were moved around and moved out of the lounge and, to be honest, it looks a lot better and there is much more room now.

The tree, he says, we should put up on Sunday. Leaving it outside for as long as possible. That way, it won’t leave so many needles. However, yesterday he bought more baubles and some tree lights. “Why?”, I asked. “I have some already”. Apparently he is going to decorate big time. I know he is happy.

And him being happy makes me very happy. I think it might be a great Christmas.