Deck the Halls

Less than a week to go!

The holly's in the garden - if it comes in too soon it will be shrivelled up by Christmas.
There's a tree in all the front bedrooms.

And there's a most enormous tree in the hall. It just touches the ceiling and it's about five feet in diameter. Our tiny little lights are almost buried in it's branches but twinkle and reflect off a lifetime's collection of decorations. There are modern rather garish dangly things, elegant glass icicles and etched baubles, spheres with children's photos, bells and bows, unbreakable baubles of red, green and gold, very breakable glass baubles from the Fifties (high up out of the reach of toddlers and dogs' tails), a Father Christmas from the Twenties, and right at the top a fairy that's almost as old as me (a first Christmas present). We used to position her so a light shone up her skirt (cruel but effective), but now the paper skirt is so dry we keep her away from incendiary devices.

Still to go - the outside lights round the porch and along the shippon guttering; the star on the wall (if only we had a ladder tall enough and a cable long enough it could go on top of the feed bin and be seen for miles around);the swags, lights and decorations along the beams in the kitchen (if only I can find them . . . ); candles in all the sconces and candlesticks; baubles from beams upstairs.

Minimalist it is not!