Shirt, lunch, violin

1. I'm looking for a pretty shirt or two for the holiday season. In one shop I waver over a very nice one but it is expensive and I say that I might come back later. Then I find a wonderful shop with much more reasonable prices and quirky items and I buy five. Five!

2. Lunch at my favourite Chinese restaurant after shopping.

3. A mini-concert at my children's school organised by their violin teacher after I asked her if they were having one this year. Eight or nine children play one song each. My daughter plays very well, a Christmas carol she has been practising. My little son, in Kindergarten and only learning for a few months, keeps making mistakes and is a little embarrassed, but proud after he has finished. His first real performance to anyone not family. He snuggles up to me while the last couple of children play their piece.

Riding a pig, violin lessons, the scale

1. Riding a virtual pig on a Kinect Carnival game (new for Christmas) and trying to steer the recalcitrant thing around hay bales and mud puddles.

2. My seven-year-old daughter's continuing enthusiasm for her violin -- a whole two weeks after receiving it. She keeps bugging me for practice sessions. I thought she would be sick of it by now, as it seemed only a passing whim when we bought it.

3. Seeing the scale lower than it was yesterday.