Decorations
by Elle Field
Gone are the days when December would roll round and I
would get to make Christmas decorations at school which my parents would
dutifully hang up in the house, even if they weren’t the prettiest or neatest things!
My efforts would join the more crafted decorations, which would go up without
fail on December 12th and would always be packed away by January 6th.
As a small child Christmas decorations were all about
Christmas cards hung across the wall on yarn in seasonal colours, giant Santa
faces and snowmen pinned to the walls, snow globes and Santa statues dotted along
the mantelpiece next to the fancy china, whilst stars and colourful foil
decorations hung down from the ceiling. Then, of course, there was the tree.
Decorating the tree was a serious business, and it had to
look just right before the golden angel could be solemnly placed at the top of
it. Wooden ornaments and striped glittery candy canes sat on the branches next
to cheerful ceramic snowmen and glamorous baubles, then the tree was all
wrapped up with twinkling colourful fairy lights and some strategically-placed
tinsel ready for the presents to be placed at the foot of the tree.
Nowadays the only Christmas decorations I put up in my
home is a tree. But, what a tree it is. Each year on December 1st we pick up a
real six foot Christmas tree – ideally with the height of our ceilings, an
eight foot tree would be preferable but there are only so many trees on offer that
are within walking distance; important when you live in Central London and
don’t have a car – and we decorate it immediately.
As for those decorations, it’s split fifty-fifty, though
we don’t have a tree topper. The very first
year we bought our tree decorations, every tree topper we liked was either
sold out or staggeringly expensive. We took that as a sign, and the top of our
tree has remained bare every since. As for the tree branches, half of the
decorations are ones we’ve bought – our own family collection, you could call
it – but dotted around the tree, the other half, are my favourite tree decorations
from when I was a child.
I hope that one day when I have children and they are all
grown up that they will want to do the same thing – that they will ask for
their favourite decorations from their childhood Christmas tree so that their
own adult tree will be filled with their happy childhood Christmas decorations
and memories, just like mine is today.
About Elle:
Elle Field lives in London with her boyfriend and their
cat. She's a massive fan of sunshine, giraffes, The Killers, Audrey Hepburn
movies, playing Scrabble and tea. Oh, and reading, of course!
Lost, the
second book in the Arielle Lockley series, is out now. The final book in the
series, Found, is out in Spring 2016,
and will be available to pre-order soon. Buy the series here: http://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B011M9BTQQ
Follow Elle on Twitter: https://twitter.com/ellefie
Read her blog: http://www.ellefield.co.uk
