I've had a pretty good run on the rabbits. Even on a slow day, I see three and my personal best was eleven. That was, until today.

The rules of Train Rabbit Spotting are simple: keep your eyes peeled for fluffy bunny-kins, and be really sure it was a rabbit that you saw and not a clump of grass - they can look remarkably similar. Rabbits are very blendy. If you recognise a whole ane real rabbit, it can counts as "1" and is added to your total score.

It's not as easy as it sounds, mind you - there's quite a bit of skill involved not to mention the aforementioned maths and remembering your score. From the window of the train, you're quite a long way from the ground. The train is pretty quick too so you really do have to keep your wits about you. Rabbits are notoriously small when compared to trains moving at speed so you can't look too far into the distance because there is no way you'll see a rabbit, but if you look too close to the train you'll get all squiffy and it'll hurt your eyes. There is a sweet spot, and with practice, you'll find it and then you'll be away! I've discovered that the 6:17pm train to Swan Hill is the perfect service for maximum rabbitage, and it was on that service this evening, that I smashed all previous records.

Today was spectacular in cementing the Swan Hill train as the Number One service to great rabbit counting stats. Tonight I saw more rabbits than I could count! My best effort was 27 rabbits - the counting being the limiting factor in this particular session. There were rabbits everywhere! Seems rabbits like this hay season, and the long, golden sunsets that bathed the evening most of the way home. While Willo is a much sharper rabbit counter than I am, he was not on the train this evening and I was also pretty confident he had never counted as many as 27. So it was with haste and glee that I blatted home in the Mini, wanting to burst in and hit him with these new benchmarks. I mean, what a great day.

Crashing through the front door my 27 rabbit smile was knocked off my face by wonderment by what greated me. The gorgeous pine scent filled the room, and the great, fat Christmas tree filled the alcove in the lounge. Willo had set up a Christmas tree!

It's so beautiful and so green and smells amazing.

Willo says there are rules with this tree. He had hesitated last evening when I asked if we could go get a tree this weekend - the hesitation before he answered me sounded more like he didn't really want a tree than he was actually thinking about it. Not a man to muck around, Willo got the tree into the house today and now he says, I have to decorate it and if the results of that aren't *amazing* he gets to burn the whole thing. He will judge the tree when I'm done, and I have about a week to get it done.

How exciting!

So we seem to be mashing up Easter, Christmas and Guy Fawkes around here but all and all - today was a pretty bloody brilliant day. Worth 27 rabbits and a fir tree anyday!

Do you have a tree this year? How are you decorating it? If you don't have a tree, do you have any central symbol of Christmas in your house?