Strictly traditional

I've blipped my Christmas tree in previous years, and I always use more or less the same decorations and think it always looks the same - but this year I feel it's ever so slightly different. I've not yet become accustomed to the modern lights, even though my antique Pifco set died the death two or three years ago now - I keep marvelling at the number of lights I have to play with these days, and at the brilliance of the blue. But the thing about this year's tree is its relative slenderness; it's 5' tall but not as wide as past trees that have had me crawl under the branches to reach the power switches for the television.

So I decided to be rather more sparing with the baubles - the two in this photo are the fragile glass ones I bought 42 years ago, and I supplemented them with a set of small, heavy ones with facets of glass set in metal. There's the tiny Santa on his camel, the robin with the wire feet, some tiny silver bells, the tinsel. And that's about it. Quite restrained, with a good bit of greenery still showing. I like it.

It's been up for a week now; I'm one of the few people left in this country, it seems, who won't put it up until the end of Advent. (I may relent a little when Christmas Day falls on a Monday). It won't come down until the Epiphany. It will still look lovely, the needles will barely have begun to fall, and I shall feel sad, briefly, to see it go. Now that I'm home from my lovely family Christmas, I'm enjoying it again. Happy Christmas!