My last day of being 35 has been lovely.

Bobby's still on leave (he's taking my birthday off as well), so he and the two older children went shopping for my birthday present while Sophie and I walked down to the local high street so that Soph could buy presents (birthday and Christmas) for her siblings. And then, after lunch, Stephen and I went shopping together. It was nice having him to myself; he has such interesting ideas these days, but, when the girls are around, there's often too much background noise to have a decent conversation. Almost-sixteen is a disconcerting age; Steve flips back and forth between adulthood and childhood several times in the course of any one day.

I am so touched by the care he's taken with his gift buying. He's buying all his gifts himself, with money he's saved from his cold, dark, morning paper round. He's taken great pains to choose the right things for each relative, and he's been very generous in his spending. I'm very proud of him - he worked awfully hard to get that money.

This afternoon we also found time to decorate some of the pinecones that we collected during yesterday's walk, so - once the paint dries - our Christmas tree will have glittery 100-acre wood pinecones scattered beneath it. Meanwhile, my kitchen floor looks delightfully festive - despite having been swept twice, there's still a fair amount of glitter clinging to it. I've decided that the remaining glitter can stay where it is - I'm thinking of it as part of the decorations. It doesn't count as mess if it's intentional, does it?