Another week in the life ...

Well, last month's posts here seemed to generate huge interest, especially the Our Different Journey answers. In fact, I've just now reached 10,000 hits on this blog (as the insistent stats inform me when I log on). The Our Different Journey site now has several more stories, which are fascinating. I'm sure most other TGirls will enjoy reading the contributions and any non-trans person will be enlightened. Lynn, Bobby and Stella are good friends of mine so I feel I know them better now, but Caroline and Becca are very interesting. Here's the link again.

http://ourdifferentjourney.wordpress.com/ [NB Site no longer active]

This week has been a mix of stuff. Work, of course, punctuated by a day off on Tuesday to go shopping (at last) and meet up with Susan Sometimes, a TGirl of eminent good sense and taste. I bought a stretchy black skirt, some floral print leggings, a pair of black court shoes and a sexy pair of seamed tights to go with my burlesque outfit. Jonathan Aston are always the best range for eye-catching hosiery.

Later in the week someone who likes to crossdress as a woman but has few resources or experience came over. I think my new friend was very happy with the outfit, although lessons in makeup and how to walk in heels will have to be dealt with another time. And by the way, don't put a woman's wig on a man in drag without makeup or he ends up looking like a superannuated '70s rocker!

But a big family reunion today meant that all my lovely red nail polish had to come off and I had to check carefully that no signs of femininity were left and be a bloke. I won't go into why I can't come out to them about my being trans, but the results of my doing so would be disastrous. Oh well, it's a rare event so I can tolerate it every so often.

And so life goes on in this kind of way here ...

Sue x

My third anniversary

Today is a special day. It was three years ago that I first went out in public as Sue.

The event was the Angels 10th birthday party, held at Pink Punters in Milton Keynes.

I booked into the Campanile hotel opposite the club and took a good four hours to get ready. Although I’d been practising makeup at home, this was the first time that it needed to pass muster. It wasn’t perfect by a long way, but I think it was adequate.

I was nervous as hell as I opened the bedroom door and stepped out into the hotel corridor. Supposing I met another person? The corridor was empty and I walked down it, the longest walk I’d ever done in high heels. Don’t misunderstand me, I’d worn heels almost daily for years and years before this, but there’s a limited amount of space in one’s own home, and this corridor was long. Fortunately for my nerves, I met no-one. I went out of the hotel door, ignoring the glances of the idlers there, and felt the cold night air on my legs before walking into the bar. I had visions of being like the stranger in a Western town walking into the saloon, heels clacking like a pair of spurs, the place falling silent as the new girl was eyed up by the regulars. I felt my Colt bulging reassuringly in my handbag... But instead, nothing happened and my nerves calmed immediately as I recognised a whole bunch of girls from their avatars on the Angels website. Within moments I was introducing myself to Emma Walkey, Evie Starbuck, Tiff George, Gayna Starr, Wilhelmina Gluck, Davina Williams, Sarah Cat and saying hi to Ange Palmer whom I already knew. Funnily enough, these girls have remained among my closest T friends ever since.

In the Campanile bar just before heading to Pink Punters. l-r: Sarah, Ange, me, Wilhelmina, Tiff. Photo by Emma Walkey.

I was too hesitant to go out to a restaurant to eat so a few of us had an indifferent meal at the hotel before changing our outfits and heading to the club, which is only across the car park and the road beyond. It was a great evening, the place packed with TGirls. I made friends with several other girls there, Lucy, Gillian, Jenny, Susan, Stacey…, said hi to my mentor, Jodie Lynn from the Boudoir who complimented me on my look, and espied the great and the good from the Angels empyrean, their divine radiance being too dazzling for me to approach. I chatted, danced a bit, used the Ladies for the first time.

My first night out … and I survived.

I can’t believe it was only three years ago. I seem to have packed a lifetime into the intervening period. Well, in some ways I have: a whole new life, and a very fabulous one at that.

It seemed appropriate to put a post up on Angels tonight to encourage other girls to spread their wings, and to thank that site for the help it gave as I was growing.

Sue x

I have felt a disturbance in the Force ...

You know, I write this blog partly as a diversion, partly as a record, partly because it's the done thing, partly to entertain, but often just to show other TGirls that there's a world out there waiting to be discovered as your feminine self. But since putting up the answers to the Our Different Journey questionnaire two weeks ago the number of hits on this blog has gone through the roof.

Now, I was going to give you exciting news about the 150th anniversary of the London Underground with some Top Tips for the Tube-Travelling TGirl, and some grumbles about how the winter sales just aren't what they used to be. In fact, I was quite honestly about to change the title of this whole blog to Sue's News and Reviews since, frankly, I review a lot of things and sharing views is (so I thought) a bit dull and I've never really done so.

But I've had quite a number of queries on religious matters so I may post something about that soon, and provide some more detail about growing up transgendered, which is something so many of us do alone. Or did alone before the internet came along. I guess my girlhood was a mix of sadness, excitement, fear, puzzlement and amusement.

So, I'll be putting up something more cerebral soon.

In the meantime, I just wanted to say how fascinating I found Petra Bellejambes' and Justine Time's accounts were on the Our Different Journey site. I know Justine personally and I feel I've got to know her a bit better as a result. I'd like to encourage others to write about their experiences. Especially you, Lynn, who put us all up to this.

http://ourdifferentjourney.wordpress.com/ [NB Site no longer active]

Sue x

Our Different Journey

A little while ago, Lynn Jones invited me to participate in her “meme-tag” based on the "Our Different Journey" site’s portrait of transgendered lives. Here’s the link to that site.

http://ourdifferentjourney.wordpress.com/ [Site no longer active]

and the link to Lynn’s blog post about her meme-tag and answers to the questions

https://yatgb.co.uk/2012/11/im-on-mission-in-destination-unknown.html

As it happens, answering the questionnaire was not difficult as I was able to cut and paste largely unaltered from the biography page of a personal website I had hoped to set up a while back but which is still with my web designer friend (who either owes me a website or lunch in lieu!)

So here are the questions and my answers. They could be tweaked for ever but let’s run with these for now.

AWARENESS: When did you first feel trans? How did it make you feel? Did you embrace or run from it?

My story will be familiar to many trans people as it follows a well-documented pattern. I first wanted to be treated as a girl (admittedly just an honorary one in my mind) at a very early age, probably from about 5 or 6 years old. I would often dream of a kindly woman, known or fictitious, who would invite me to select suitable girl’s clothes from her wardrobe and, having dressed me, would invite me to join her in her plans for the rest of the day, however mundane they were.

It wasn’t until two or three years later that I first realised that I didn’t just have to think about being treated as a girl but that I could come a little closer to being one by dressing as one. I distinctly remember putting on a sister’s red skirt and blue woollen tights the first time I tried crossdressing. It felt strange, yet wonderful and somehow right. Dressing as a girl became an activity so regular throughout my childhood that it almost became second nature but, like so many other trans people, I was sometimes told (and it was generally understood) that it was wrong, so I kept it secret. My stashes of girl’s clothes were discovered on more than one occasion, though no direct accusations were ever made. I became adept at hiding stuff in very unusual places around the house.

Naturally, I tried on my mother’s and sisters’ clothes but, from about the age of 11, I began to buy my own, starting with simple pocket-money items like sheer tights, and would ‘rescue’ old items destined for reinvention as dusters or cushion stuffing.

ADOLESCENT COPING: How did you cope with growing up? What about puberty? How was school, or teenage life?

OK, so boyhood wasn’t so bad. Toy cars, soldiers, football, space stuff … it was all good. But I liked the idea of playing with dolls and skipping ropes, too, and often did in secret. I just wished there’d been a Barbie or a Cindy in the house that you could dress in pretty clothes rather than the masses of plastic babies that my sisters kept being given. But when out with my boyhood friends, I’d frequently dress in knickers and tights under my trousers. I was so tempted to dress like that at school, but I realised that, when you are sent to an all-boy school, there are certain things that will get you killed, and being discovered with girly kit on was definitely one of them.

And so I grew up a transvestite – I think I first came across the word when I was about 12. It had a certain grown-up frisson. I loved being a transvestite, loved how I looked, loved how the clothes felt on my body, and loved how I felt more like a girl. Between the ages of about 6 and 12 most children regard the opposite sex with suspicion and contempt. So I had to pretend I did too, but secretly admiring the life of the girls around me and wanting to be part of it.

Generally speaking, I perceived adolescence at the time as not too bad (though with hindsight I realise that my upbringing was unconventional and repressive). I survived without too many apparent scars, but without huge enthusiasm either. And being trans had to be a total secret. Whoever said that childhood represents the best years of your life is talking nonsense; being an adult is much better as you have more choices, more freedom, more money and more control over your destiny.

Religion was important in the house I grew up in. And, as far as transness goes, the god that they told me about wanted only boys or girls and anyone that had pretensions to be the opposite of that appointed, or neither one nor the other, was so abominable that hideous punishments awaited those who did not conform to the dictated norm. I spent my teens and 20s trying to justify who I felt I was to this brutal deity who was evidently wracked with hatred for his creation. I tried thinking that some kinds of behaviours and some kinds of clothes might fall below the god’s Damnation Radar. “Surely the Scots proudly wear kilts?” I said to Him (definitely a him). “Look at King Louis XIV in this history textbook of mine. He’s got high-heeled shoes on. And those acrobats at the circus were definitely wearing tights. A pleated skirt, a pair of tights and a nice pair of heels is near enough to the costume of any Franco-Scottish king who lives in a circus, surely?”

Nothing doing. Guilt wracked me all the time, as did fear of discovery and punishment.

EARLY LIFE/ UNIVERSITY / COLLEGE: Having grown up - at least physically, how was life? Did you fit in or fall out? Did you stay home, work away or go to University, college or work?

University was great, but the religion was there very strongly, only it was now becoming clear that the version I had been brought up with was at odds with the mainstream and so it was a struggle to be myself and please the deity, a sort of Orwellian Big Brother. Like many in their late teens and twenties I purged my stuff, i.e. got rid of all those clothes I had accumulated, and lived like the man I was required to be. But relapses into femininity and crossdressing were frequent and the god would thunder angrily. I once managed whole year without dressing as a woman and consciously banished all thoughts and desires of being a woman whenever they arose. It was the hardest thing I have ever done.

But I managed in the end to work through the theology of this awful religion that hated me and cast it off altogether. I was 29.

CAREER: What you do and how you think it has shaped you (for better or worse). Is there something you long to do?

I started a career in the public sector. Initially with enthusiasm, but then things started to go wrong not long after I had dumped my religion and embraced my transness in private. Workplace bullying, corruption and physical injury kept me busy with the help of the union and lawyers. After nearly 18 years, because of cutbacks, I was made an offer I couldn’t refuse and left with sufficient funds to take time out to study successfully for professional qualifications and accreditation, write a book, take on a new part-time and wonderful little job in a shop, and now I work primarily for myself. It also means that I live how I like, mainly as a woman. I have had the opportunity to try some periods of “real life experience” to see if living as a woman full-time is a good course of action. The future looks a contented one, at last.

RELATIONSHIPS: Single, married, long term relationship, divorced, happy to be single? How is family life?

I am currently single and OK with it as it has its advantages, but I have had two delightful if ultimately unsuccessful relationships (with women). I like being one of a couple and am quietly looking to find another partner, hopefully for good. My partner would have to be very OK with my being trans, which has been a sticking point in the past with girlfriends. So it’s limiting.

Sadly, I have had to make a conscious decision not to have children for a number of reasons – a painful decision, but one has sometimes to realise that some bad things may be for the best.

COMING OUT: Have you? Would you? If so, how was it? If not, why not?

Yes, it’s been a gentle, gradual process. I’m not one to rush major things.

I started by going to a dressing service (the Boudoir) in 2004. After a hiatus caused by being in a relationship, I returned there in 2008, twice, and made real progress on my look and understanding of hair, makeup and other things. In 2009 I first went out dressed with women’s outer garments on, though presenting as male – just jeans or leggings, sweater and flat shoes, though it did raise some comments. In January 2010 I had my first ever night out fully en femme and from that summer started going out from home, outings which soon became frequent. Towards the end of that year I started carefully telling all my closest and oldest friends, one at a time.

My long-term close friends, with a couple of exceptions, now know me as both male and female and have been very supportive and encouraging, even enthusiastic. Several have been out with me in female mode and have met several of my trans friends. This is fantastically positive and I am happy and thankful to have so many wonderful people in my life. I have also made dozens of friends in the trans community, who delight me.

THE WAY FORWARD: What’s next for you? What are your hopes - trans, or otherwise?

Carry on as at present. I think I’ve found a good balance. And I’m finding much happiness, at last. I won’t be going full-time female for a while (it was good to have extended periods to see how I felt about it) and have decided to keep my male name, at least for a time, and enjoy a few aspects of maleness that I find OK. But I have dressed at some point during every single day for over 16 years now and I can appear femme most of the time, pretty much whenever I want. The lack of tension over my femininity now is the best thing about my current situation. Let’s try to keep that.

Let’s just make it clear, though. I haven’t been lucky. I’ve actually worked damned hard to create a situation that works for me.

WORDS OF WISDOM: Anything you’d like to share to a younger you or to other trans people?

If I had my life over again I would wish it was all different. And not trans, just plain male or female.

I wish that I had known earlier how to question the absolutism in which I was brought up.

My philosophy of life now is Epicurean: avoid needless pain, seek what gives you lasting satisfaction, think things through, don’t let gods or ideologies interfere in your life, don’t worry about the fact you’ll die one day.

To other trans people I would say:-

- You are not alone. In fact, there’s a lot of us. The variety is immense, but your kind is found somewhere within that variety.

- Although you may stop expressing your gender difference, even for years, it will never go away, it will return; be prepared for that.

- Although you may get episodes when your hormones or thoughts go mad and you feel you must live as your chosen gender or explode, try to hold it, try to approach things and people rationally. The fiercer episodes pass. It’s like the ebb and flow of the tide.

- The world is generally tolerant and accepting, or else indifferent; only a very few people are nasty and bigoted. Some trans people are bigoted also.

- No one can convince you that going out dressed is generally safe, fun and acceptable; you have to overcome your fears for yourself. When you have pushed your comfort zone, you won’t believe what you are capable of.

- Smile. It shows people that you aren’t a threat and that you’re confident and maybe someone worth getting to know.

- There are lots of ways of living a trans life. No one way is better or more right than another.

Finally, Lynn suggests we each nominate seven other bloggers to take up the challenge. So I’d like to invite:-

Tina (of Tina’s T-party) http://tinastparty.blogspot.co.uk/, 

Grace (State of Grace) http://stateof-grace.blogspot.co.uk/, 

Em Vicky (In Transition) http://the-not-so-secret-life-of-emma.blogspot.co.uk/, 

Emma W (More Earth than Sea) http://moreearththansea.blogspot.co.uk/, 

Bobby (Things) http://bobbysox1965.blogspot.co.uk/, 

Lizzie (Liz Indoors) http://elizabethbyrne.blogspot.co.uk/ [Update 28/3/25: Site no longer available] and 

Becca (Mutterings of a half-baked life) http://rebeccas-introspective.blogspot.co.uk/. 

That doesn’t mean that anyone else shouldn’t play if they want to. And you ladies above are, of course, under no pressure to accept.

A recent photo for the site? How about this? I think I scrub up OK, and the smile these days is genuine.

Sue x

Happy New Year!!!

Wishing everyone a happy new year. May 2013 bring you peace, happiness, prosperity, enjoyment, love and success. And maybe a nice new frock, too.

I'm starting this year still recovering from flu so last night was a quiet evening at a friend's house - dinner, wine and lots of chocolate and seeing the new year in gently. And a big family lunch today.

Resolutions and wishes?

Well, inevitably, I have to lose weight. Badly. I'm 11 stone 10 right now and ideally I should be dead on 10 stone. My clothes don't fit me properly and several skirts I cannot wear at present. I'm slightly annoyed that despite having eaten very little over the last two weeks because of being ill, I've actually lost no weight at all! D'oh!

I need to cut down on internet fun time. Its addictive and wastes a lot of time that I really ought to be using productively. My business is looking at a good year, potentially, if I'm prepared to put the effort in, so something has to give to free up the necessary time.

I aim to meet all the friends I've made online in the last few years and haven't yet met in person.

I'm thinking it's time to find romance again. Obviously with someone who is happy (or enthusiastic) with my being trans. I've dressed as a woman almost all of my life and, over the last 17 years, since finally accepting my nature, I have done so each and every day. It's not going to go away, but I acknowledge that I'm necessarily looking for a pretty special, accepting person. Potential partners, please sign up below!

I hope all your wishes come true, too. Oh, and don't forget to sign up with that gym. You know you need to!

Sue x

Summary of 2012

This time last year I was on top of the world (see here http://suerichmond.blogspot.co.uk/2011/12/summing-up-2011.html). Indeed, 2010 and 2011, as I emerged as a debutante TGirl into the world, were probably the happiest and most amazing years of my life. This year, by contrast, has been very mixed.

On the plus side, most of my close long-term friends now know that I am trans and have been hugely supportive. That’s been a real source of comfort, relief and happiness and means I can just be myself. I’ve had no problems at all out in public. Indeed, everywhere I go people are welcoming and treat me as a normal human being. (And why not? I treat others with respect, so they return it. Human nature is predominantly decent.) The recent art show demonstrated how I can be officially recognised.

Publicity for the "Diffraction" art show.

I’ve got to know two new groups of girls, the Nottingham Invaders and the Brick Lane Set. I knew the Invasion bossladies, Maddy and Samantha, and several other girls in the area already, but they’ve created a superb monthly night out in Nottingham city centre. I think it works better than other places because there is no ghetto, just ordinary venues (yes, a couple of gay pubs, but mainly everyday clubs). London’s Brick Lane girls at the Verge Bar are also good company, and are obviously somewhat closer to home.

Brick Lane's Verge Bar

Nottingham Invasion

There have been the thoroughly enjoyable rounds of eating out, shopping, theatre, cinema, travelling and having a great time with friends. And even just everyday stuff. Somehow, life is nicer as a woman. I absolutely love stage shows of all kinds and there have been some delights this year.

Trannyshack

Funny Girls

The Hurly Burly Show

I’ve been helping girls dress and do their make up in my home, which has been a bit of a learning experience. Sadly, I've had to give up on a couple of friends, but in compensation I have made a large number of new friends and continued to enjoy the company of older ones. My friends are my joy and I love them to bits. There's always room for many more.

See, TGirls have lots of fun!

I’ve also been pleased that people seem to enjoy this blog. Thanks for reading. I try to keep it entertaining and humorous, and with illustrations rather than just prose. I’ve been enjoying other people’s blogs, too. (I’ll see if in my technological rubbishness I can get my favourite blogs list on the front page rather than you having to click on my profile to see them.)

The other thing to comment on is what an incredibly exciting place London has been this year, largely because of the Jubilee and the Olympics and many new constructions, from the Shard to the cable car. It’s a phenomenal city and its spirit lifts me.

Jubilee pageant

Olympic men's marathon

Thames skyline at night

Now the bad bit. A black cloud has been created by the malice of a number of self-appointed ‘activists’ who sprayed their hate everywhere mid-year. It seems any person who fancies it can set themselves up as a know-all trans leader and dictate the terms under which other trans people shall live, with violence to reinforce the message. I once used to provide workplace bullying advice in a national trade union but I have never seen abuse, control freakery and bullying like this. The hatred exuded by some trans people is in contrast to the acceptance and kindness of just about all the non-trans people I’ve met. This malice has been a source of anguish to me this year. It’s made me wish that I hadn’t bothered coming out, and made me fear the future. I didn’t go to the London Pride or Brighton Pride events this year because I felt ashamed of being in any way associated with this brutality, and I have stopped organising lunches under the Angels name as I feel in danger. I am still giving thought on how to deal with this as my resources and experience have actually failed me on this one, but I am just glad that the majority of trans people are decent and I’m grateful to my many friends for their love and support over this. I do feel it will be a while before I feel properly happy and at ease again. In any case, clearly I will have to take a new direction in future. I’m sad to put this so strongly, but some things cannot be pussyfooted around.

Anyway, back to the positives. I hope you have a fun new year’s eve, whatever you’re doing. Proper New Year’s greetings tomorrow, and a new up-to-date avatar (exciting, eh?).

Love

Sue x

Happy Christmas to all

Wishing all my readers a very happy Christmas. Here's hoping Santa brings you that lovely little something you've always craved. Don't overdo the eating and drinking now!

Love,

Sue x

Apocalyptic Lurgy

I've been in bed all week with the lurgy. I think I'm lucky in that I rarely get so sick that I have to take to my bed, but I can't recall being this ill for a great many years. (OK, so I'm not in bed at this precise moment as I type, but you know what I mean.) I'm hoping it'll be all gone by Christmas Day.

This is very annoying because it's not only messed up my work for the week but it's also messed up my Xmas shopping and other preparations. But above all, I'm very disappointed at missing the Nottingham Invasion tonight which promised to be a good one, especially as friends I haven't seen in a while are going. Boo!

It wouldn't have mattered if the world had come to an end today (as promised by the Mayans). What a disappointment! Nothing exciting ever happens round here!

Hoping that normal service will be resumed before long.

Sue x

Nostalgia trip to Pink Punters

My first public appearance as a nervous debutante was almost three years ago, at Pink Punters. I hadn’t revisited this well-known LGBT club on the edge of Milton Keynes for almost two years so I thought that a nostalgic return was appropriate now that I have achieved so much as a TGirl. Besides, many of my friends were going to be there, which was the main reason for going.

I decided, partly for convenience and partly, I think, from an increasing feeling of relaxation over my trans status, to travel to and from Milton Keynes in male mode. For the last couple of years I have travelled to trans events in female mode. There are reasons for this switch, which I might bore you with in a different post.

I started with lunch and a quick trip round Milton Keynes’ vast shopping centre with Tiff and Mrs Tiff, who kindly picked me up from the station. I restocked on ballet flats as my others have been all worn out now on the unforgiving pavements of London.

Impressive Christmas grotto in Milton Keynes shopping centre.

Then to the Campanile hotel opposite the club where I showered, shaved, did my makeup and nails and hair, and dressed, all in a leisurely two hours (compared to the same taking over four hours on my first trip there).

Because of the trouble and expense of dining away from the hotel we dared to eat dinner there. The food used to be fairly poor but it has improved and my dinner was good enough, though the few staff were hard-pressed in the crowded bar/dining room to maintain quick service. Anyway, it was nice to chat to old friends Ange, Tiff and Mrs Tiff, Maddy, Bobby and Mrs Bobby over dinner and meet new people such as Gina, whose recent rapid foray into the world is impressive, and Emma H and Mrs Emma, who know where to get some fabulous rings. I also caught up with Leila (who travelled with me and Emma W to this year’s Sparkle). All these girls have the most fabulous dresses imaginable, and wear them beautifully. I’m going to have to up my game considerably if I want to remain on the scene!

Dining at the Campanile with Ange, the first TGirl I ever met.

I changed outfit for the club. It too is having a change of look, but is still essentially the same, with its outside bar/seating/smoking area, quieter top bar, main dancefloor in the middle and killer dance area in the basement. Apparently there are new changing rooms and toilets, but I didn't see those (I have camel genes and don't use the loo). £8 entry, and drinks not too overpriced for a club. So many locals attend Pink Punters even though it’s billed as an LGBT club, which shows it must be a good venue. For me, it’s a place to meet up with other TGirls and view the latest in tranny chic. Very short tight dresses and stockings are unlikely to go out of fashion here, hence my choosing a short lace dress and suspender tights.

Being the Girls’ Big Night Out it was packed with TGirls, more than I have seen before there. It was good to meet Josie there, back from abroad, and meet her wife for the first time, and also Maddy’s friend Zoe Marie. I’m glad I stuck to drinking water throughout as they have installed a variety of heaters and the outside fire is bigger than ever, with the result that it was actually pretty hot there and my wig now smells of coal smoke.

So, in all, another enjoyable evening catching up with friends and admiring frocks and discussing big issues such as the merits of tights over stockings.

I now really, really want to get to the Nottingham Invasion this month. Will time and money conspire against it? Watch this space, I guess.

Sue x

The crazy time of year

Christmas madness is upon us. December is the busiest time of year work-wise (for me), and it's also the time when you have to shop a lot, send cards, prepare for the 25th and go to loads of parties and lunches. I'm not work shy and I love a good meal with friends, but it does get wearing when about a third of the year's activities have all to be crammed into the three weeks before Christmas Day. I'm exhausted already and feeling very fat!

And hence the neglect of the blog for a bit.

However, forthcoming highlights include a night out at Pink Punters at the end of this week and, of course, lots of girly shopping (I always buy myself a Christmas gift of some posh tights and some jewellery.)

The lovely Lynn Jones has challenged me to complete a questionnaire about trans life, which is nearly done and which I will put here as soon as I can.

In the meantime, my little project to photograph the best of London's winter lights is under way. Here's a taster: the Old Vic theatre looking lovely, with its Christmas tree.

Sue x