Putting red bows on trees

is a sign that the silly season is upon us. 

Brother Cat has been here for not quite three days - not nearly long enough. (It would have been longer but for medical appointments for my beloved SIL.) He was the one who commented on the bows on the street trees. 

I don't know who started the trend of decorating the trees. It seems a bit pointless to me because, just at present, many trees around here are nicely dressed in jacaranda blossom. 

But, people add huge ribbons of red or green to the trees in front of their properties. One year a neighbour across the way decorated more than one tree - including ours. Other people decorate their houses with lights. Around the corner the motor bike rider always puts up his Santa riding a bike light on his carport roof.

I thought of this when our Prime Minister introduced a "religious freedom" bill into Parliament yesterday. No, that isn't quite as strange as it sounds. Two streets away there is a man I know who chose to exercise his right to "freedom of expression" at this time of the year.

Opposite him there lived a family who are members of the "Exclusive" Brethren - the strictest members of the Plymouth Brethren. These are the people who keep contacts with the rest of us to a bare minimum. They don't eat with others. They don't celebrate Christmas or birthdays or do many other things.

B... thought about this. He observed the children of the family looking at the other children in the street as they did all these things. He put up a few Christmas lights just so the children across the street could see them. 

He had a visit from a member of the Brethren asking him to take them down. The Brethren didn't want the children to see this sort of thing from their windows.  

B's reaction was to put up more lights. The next year he put up more. The year after that he put up still more. Four years later his house was a beacon for everyone in the district. The Brethren children secretly enjoyed the display. S..., the Brethren boy, told me quietly, "It's so great...Dad doesn't like it but I think Mum does actually but she'd never say." 

The family moved and B...'s failing health has prevented him doing crazy things like climbing on the roof to put up more lights. Last year there were almost no lights. This year B... told me that he was not putting up any lights. He carries a small oxygen bottle with him these days. 

As I went past the house yesterday I noticed some activity. His neighbour was in there - putting up some lights. B... was tying a bow to the street tree. I stopped for a moment.

"There are some new kids in the house opposite. I remembered the other kids who were there and told their Dad about it. He was horrified.  M... offered to put some lights up and their Dad is coming over on Saturday to put the star on the roof," he told me.  There were stars in his eyes as he said it.