Deck the Halls

Ann Barlow remembers Christmases past at home and abroad

Over the years there has been a lot of discussion in our house during this season., The main question was when should we decorate the house ready for Christmas. I’m sure that many families are the same, with children wanting to do it as soon as possible.

I was brought up in a vicarage and everyone was too busy to think about decorating the house until the last minute. Decorating the church took priority so that everything was in place for carol services. The Sunday School tea party and concert that followed also had to be prepared for. Usually, we had no opportunity to bring a Christmas tree near the house before Christmas Eve.

After leaving the vicarage, I spent a year in Germany and got used to a different tradition. There they had the Advent Kranz, or wreath, put on the dinner table on the first Sunday in Advent with four candles being lit, one on each Sunday, and the fifth on Christmas Day. I know that this is now a regular feature in our churches but fifty years ago it did not happen here. Also during my time in Germany I remember the trees outside houses being lit at the start of the season but the tree inside the house was not decorated until Christmas Eve.

Some time later I spent a year living in France. My memory of the preparations there is that the nativity figures appeared in shop windows and in homes. It was important in France not to remove the decorations before January 6th when families get together to celebrate the visit of the Wise Man, with a Galette du Roi being eaten. The one who found a charm in the cake became king for the night.

But what of now? The children have flown the nest. Do we need to have a tree and decorate as usual? Of course. The decoration box is full of memories. There are wooden angels from Germany, some of whom have lost a wing, the manger from France, impulse buys from a summer spent in California, where there are shops which sell only Christmas decorations all the year round. Everything has its place including chains and stars made year after year by the children, and each item contributing to the joy of the Festival.