My Christmas Fairy

Well, it's that time of year - tomorrow the Christmas decorations are coming down.  This is the first year I'm quite sad about it.  Normally, by now, I can't wait to reclaim the house, but Ben has really enjoyed them this year.  From the exclamations of "Wow" when he first saw them, to wandering round demanding all the "Lights!" to be switched on - (In Ben's voice, "Lights" is pronounced "Liiiiiiiights!"), and standing in front of the Christmas tree with Daddy, naming all the different ornaments.  He can now recognise and say "Star", "Teddy", "Ball", "Chocolate" in no small part thanks to the patience of Daddy and the excitement of the flashy, shiny tree!

Each year, I would love to have a properly dressed Christmas tree, with a colour theme and decorations all in the right places, but, each year, we end up with a tree that to outsiders would be chaotic, but to me is perfect.

Every one of our decorations holds a special place in my heart. From the smallest wooden figure to the star and fairy on the top of the tree.  They have all either been given to us over the years, or were from our childhoods.  I can remember decorating our Christmas tree with many of the same decorations, and from an even younger age, laying under the Christmas tree, and looking up at the coloured fairy lights, watching the way the shiny baubles and tinsel twinkled in the magic place in the centre of the tree, the place where only young children really look.

I hope I will pass some of this wonder onto my children, and that our Christmas tree will become one of the ingrained memories passed on to them to continue the magic of Christmas for their children.

Our Tree

The fairy and star which my mum bought for my first Christmas.  I have put this on the top of my parents' tree, and then our tree after my mum passed away, every year.  She still lives in the original Woolworths paper bag she came in for the rest of the year and I still make a wish on her as either one of the boys, or I, fix her to the top.

And so, as the Christmas festivities come to a close for this year, we shall carefully pack all the decorations away, along with the memories, plus the new memories from this year.  Then, December this year, they'll all come back out from the roof and the memories will be revisited again, and added to.