Needless to say it didn't stay secret for long when we came home with three trees for Mum and Dad. Four year olds keep no secrets except their own.
So come Christmas Day, Nanny thought it would be a great idea to plant the trees, wouldn't take long, great little ceremony to mark Christmas 2013.
Ah but I forget…it's been a while since we put the last trees in…and it's quite a business.
So out we go into a very warm day after a great Christmas breakfast of croissants and pancakes etc….we're good at the food.
The creek bed is almost dry, just some very murky puddles here and there. It's dry season.
Resident Scrub Turkey is resting nonchalantly in his domain, with his enormous reproduction mound behind him. Fledgelings have long since braved the bush on their own.
Last season's plantings are coming along well. It's been a tough and very long dry season after five months of continuous rain. The firewheel tree, the brown pines, the Eumundi quandong, the crow's ash, the rare lily-pillies, the palms all getting their roots down deep for the long haul.
Alex has a great crop of young black bean trees from seeds gathered last summer. Black bean trees make a fabulous forest carpet with their bright orange and gold flowers.
I've chosen some very special trees…a Euodia for its beautiful bunches of pink flowers that burst from the branches, a Red Cedar for its rarity and great strength, and a Davidson's Plum for the fruit to bring the birds who also bring the seeds of other rainforest plants.
Alex is at work sieving clods of heavy soil, Kerri is hauling the hoses, I'm raking leaf litter piles along the path by the creek, and young Ben is hauling sand. He's a champion worker is young Ben. Chip off the old block.
The first hole is dug for the Euodia, nice sunny spot. Lots of kikuya grass here, needs grubbing out away from the hole. Who is that mad woman in her Christmas Day clothes swinging a mattock?
Kerri soaks the hole, Alex loads the sieved soil that's been mixed with sand and leaf litter, and the tree goes in.
Ben brings his trolly load of leaf litter to mulch it all round. First tree done.
It's late morning by now and the day is very warm…we need sustenance. Time for a break. We can plant the other two tomorrow.
Nanny and Mummy conspire to convince the four year old that he needs a nap…Christmas Day has a long way to go yet.
And well, yes, the only one who goes to sleep is Nanny, who emerges much later to find that "the men" are out there, getting those trees in. Like I said, champion.
It's just a few acres, but planting some special trees that are native to the area creates a diverse local seed bank that enriches the surrounding forest and provides food for birds and creatures.
Not to mention the jam we'll make from the Davidson Plum to add to the Christmas table when years have gone by and this Christmas has become a happy memory.
