One of the things we love about Christmas is our big tree, and over the years it’s become laden with treasured decorations. Quite a few of these are homemade, some are purchased and yet others are precious gifts from friends.
The very first ornaments to be hung are always my fat mermaids – I found them in a little antique store in Sydney and couldn’t resist their siren song. They remind me of an old Esther Williams movie!
Christmas 2000 – Moo sent us this homemade star. We’ve hung it up every year until now, as the cardboard has finally worn through on the top. (Moo, don’t forget I need a new star!)
When he was in Japan more than twenty years ago, our best man bought me this little cat bell (at least, I think it’s a cat – it could be a chipmunk). It’s been on our tree ever since. It also gets dragged out whenever I have laryngitis and need to attract Pete’s attention.
Here is our very first homemade Christmas decoration, made by hot gluing scraps of velvet and gold braid to a polystyrene ball. It’s now more than ten years old!
One of my other enthusiasms, jewellery making, led to these Swarovski ornaments, made from vintage crystal beads. Over the years, I’ve made about thirty of them in various designs. They have an old world charm to them, and when the lights are flashing, the tree coruscates like a glittering diamond.
I found these funny little plastic shapes at Reverse Garbage, an industrial reuse co-operative in Sydney. We simply tied tassels to them and hung them on the tree. To this day, we have no idea what they are, but we still try and guess every Christmas. If anyone out there knows, please enlighten us!
Every year, we try and make new decorations to add to the tree. This year I’m thinking of hanging some of Marilyn’s Christmas geese – or maybe I’ll gather a gaggle of them on the adjacent mantelpiece…
I’m sure your tree is full of memories too. I’d love to know about your favourite decorations, and the stories behind them!
Fig Jam and Lime Cordial 