In our family we don't put up and decorate the tree until Christmas Eve and as I was doing so today I was aware of what a "memory tree" ours is. I can remember exactly where each of the decorations came from (shopping with my mother forty years ago, watching an excited child running out of school with an outsize plaster of Paris model of a bell they'd made, a tiny Father Christmas who fell out of a cracker ....). I remember all the Christmas Eves when the children were small, sitting by the tree taking it in turns to read verses from the Christmas story, all the feeling and shaking of parcels beneath it as they guessed at the possible contents.
And laying the table in readiness too - memories of Christmas meals of the past, the occasional disasters (the year the turkey didn't defrost, the time smoke from a burning duck billowed out of the kitchen ..), the family stories that came out year after year, the people who have sat with us to celebrate. No wonder Christmas features so large in many literary works - such a rich seam of memory and anecdotes!
Wherever and whenever you are reading this - I hope you have a really happy time celebrating whatever festival you celebrate at this time of year - and may it be a peaceful time for us all.
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