12 Days after Christmas is my least favourite time of the year as it is always so sad to take down the Christmas decorations.  Why does the house always look so bare when all the decorations are down even though they have only been up for a few weeks? This year I decorated the outside of my cottage with giant candy canes.  Sadly they were made of plastic but this didn't stop most of the children in the village licking them to see if they were real.  Perhaps next year I will have to see about dipping them in some peppermint sugar coating to make my display more special.  Peapod my cat was of no use with the undecorating - no sooner had I taken the baubles off the tree and put them in the box to pack them away, she was flicking  them out again with her paw and chasing them round the floor.  This game went on for quiet a while until she gave up fighting a loosing battle and decided to sleep on the sofa instead!!!