Jule Tide

Christmas Decoration: An Overview

September 2nd, 2007 Subscribe To Our Feed

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Christmas Decoration in the Basement

My brother’s wife groans when he asks her to drag out the Christmas decorations every year. And she has good reason. Their decorations are ‘chucked’ rather than stored. They have two small children, so by the time Christmas is over they are exhausted. You can see this if you push open the creaky door into their basement, turn on the light and peer into the dusty yellow glow. You can imagine my brother and his wife tearing down their Xmas decorations, stuffing them into cardboard boxes and throwing them into the basement from the top of the stairs, letting out a huge sigh of relief as they slam the door shut and scurry back to the open embrace of the sofa. Each Christmas decoration ends up concealed behind summer items, such as garden furniture that has been brought in for the winter months, so my brother usually has to set aside an entire day for his seek and drag-everything-up-to-the-ground-floor mission.

Boxes Full of Decoration

His wife loves Christmas decorations, as much as he hates Christmas decorating, which doesn’t help the situation. They have boxes and boxes full, and they’ve only had their own place to decorate for about four years. I really don’t know where all of their decorations came from. He inherited some of my grandmother’s Christmas decorations, which of course are his most cherished. They may not be the most beautiful or valuable antique Xmas decorations, but they hold special meaning and many childhood memories so they are displayed most prominently. Then there are the decorations that my mother purchased for us, or that his wife’s mother purchased, or that friends and extended family purchased. They have a huge amount of Xmas decorations, and despite the furore of retrieving them from the basement they are always tastefully displayed.

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An Argument for Storing Christmas Decorations all Year Round (including Christmas)

Now, my mother-in-law’s house looks like Santa went amok with his prototype toy and Xmas décor machine every time Christmas rolls around. She is a total arts and crafts nut, so she has countless Christmas decorations scattered liberally around the house. I don’t think there is one inch in that house that is not covered in red, green or gold during the holiday season. There are knitted tissue box covers, toilet seat covers, wall hangings, quilts; you name it and it is there. So many contmeporary and antique Christmas decorations that you can’t even distinguish where one ends and where another begins. But she loves them, and we never have to stay there very long when we visit, so I suppose that is all that matters.

An Uneasy Marriage

Then there is my family. There are hardly any decorations because they clutter the house, and they have even started using an artificial tree for the last three years, which they leave tastefully bare. There are a few poinsettias, a few smatterings of gold bows and green wreaths but nowhere near the volcanic eruption of my mother-in-law’s home. I suppose I would say that the home my wife and I have created is an uneasy marriage of both of our backgrounds, both of our styles. As long as my grandmother’s antique Christmas decorations have pride of place, I don’t think I’d have it any other way.

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Eoin Beckett is a freelance author and editor. Although he stems from Ireland, he currently lives and works in Copenhagen, Denmark. Read more about Christmas Decorating Ideas at Juletide - the ancient and magical word for Christmas.