Mum’s miniature Christmas tree and why you need Wayne.

Mum, aged 97, with her newly decorated miniature Christmas tree

Decorating The Tree

Persil that most handy of Christmas tree decorations.  You mean you didn’t mix it with water and use it as snow on your tree?  It must have been mum’s idea. There are drawbacks.  It dries and pings off onto the carpet.  But I think it shows that all of us have family traditions when it comes to our trees.

My husband only saw the decorated tree in a magical ‘reveal’ on Christmas Eve.  Lit with real candles.   Part of Weihnachten but perhaps also because his birthday is the 9th and his fathers was the 23rd - of December.

So for him any day ahead of the 24th seems a little premature.  And the lit candles? Well yes I did stand nearby with a tea towel, though I am not sure what help that would be, if the tree caught fire.

Up until last year, my mum had a real tree in the lounge, even as, aged 96, decorating it became more difficult. In the latter years, my sister would be dispatched to find the tree, my brother-in-law, re-enacting my dad’s somewhat precarious scramble into the loft to get the decorations. Mum loved the big baubles she had bought on a rare trip to Harrods, back in the day. And there was a tiny black cat, that had been there as long as I could remember.  

In our home the tree traditionally came from the ‘Christmas tree forest’.  A car park in a nearby pub!  But it was our forest and we took tree selection very seriously.  (Would the student with this unenviable holiday job, as we auditioned the Nordmann Firs, remove the netting from just one more tree?)

More recently our lovely greengrocer Rosie, at the end of our road has been our source.  We have just bought this year’s tree and it is very lovely. The one year I did select it from a real forest it had a split trunk and caused many problems resulting in colourful language for the person (not me!) trying to ‘plant it’ in the stand.  

Back to mum. She is now living in a care home. It was my thoughtful cousin who messaged me to say she had found a small real tree with lights and decorations. Did I think my mum would like it? I think as you can see mum is delighted. My sister helped her to decorate it and though mum’s memories are fading - I hope this year’s tree is a reminder of the many that went before it, including those with the persil snow.

Did the innkeeper really tell Joseph to 'push off'?

If you are in the midst of Christmas preparations…trees, presents, cards, food - I wonder if I could leave you with a small recommendation so that whatever is going on, you may have a moment of pause and a smile. For this you need Wayne. Wayne comes out every year in our Christmas box and even though we have read him many times - he bears reading again.

The author is Gervase Phinn, he was a school inspector and a wonderful observer of school life. The book: A Wayne in a Manger is for anyone who remembers their own starring role in a nativity play, has made or sourced a costume and yes a tea towel does count or perhaps been in the audience of a nativity play. I promise it won’t disappoint.

Have a lovely weekend

Sally

x

ps ( I remember Nicky, the nursery school teacher, whispering to me as the 3 year olds processed to the front of the church “there is a God because your son has finally put on the angel wings!”).