The Memory Tree

The inevitable painted pine cones

Our Christmas tree is the brunt of many a teenage joke.

Why?

Because they like the 'Next' or 'M &S" christmas trees.

You know the ones.

All sparkly and completely colour co ordinated.

....and in my mind STERILE! with absolutely no creativity or feeling (I apologise if you have one of these)

Ours isn't like that, and as I took down our decorations this week I thought I would share our memory tree with you.

Beautiful bells in a variety of sizes and colours

Many of our decorations come from Prague. I scoured the Christmas Markets there to find some wonderfully unusal things. When we lived in Eastern Europe, health and saftey was virtually non existent. Christmas Tree lights were little copper clip on holders that you put small candles in. I bought the copper holders but never quite had the courage to light the candles with so many small children running around!

All these little decorations come from Germany and Austria. I loved the markets in Salzburg at Christmas but they were very pricey!

Pottery and ceramics are very traditional in The Czech Republic, so many of our decorations have broken now after so many years of being humped in and out of boxes and attics. These are some of the remaining ones.

Little Mole is a very famous Czech children's TV series. It is featured just before children go to bed around 6.30pm. We have all the videos, dvd's and hand puppets and our children still love these cartoons.

Many decorations in The Czech Republic feature fish as Carp is the traditional Christmas Day meal. When we lived there, huge barrels of fish would appear about a week before Christmas. In temperatures of -22, the fishmongers would let you choose your fish. You could take it home alive and keep it in the bath for a few days or they would clock it on the head ,  and gut it for you then and there, washing the remains down the street with a hose pipe, colouring the fresh snow with a bright red tinge.

This is the traditional style Czech Pottery that everyone has. There are many little decorations based on the most popular designs,

Wooden cut out shapes are very popular with the children who paint these and give them out as gifts.

Woven corn decorations are also very traditional and very beautiful.

Bead decorations with little leaves and ribbons.

Every year we choose a Christmas Decoration for Joshua. This is what we have collected over the years. There is also a little one for Lily, the baby I miscarried in between Joshua and Mair.

What Christmas tree would not be complete without a selection of the crafts the children have made at school. We keep a box of these in the attic and rotate them alongside the new ones each year.

Beautiful little wreaths from Salzburg, Austria. I love buying these every time we visit but it's hard to know how to display them other than on the tree.

I belonged to The International Women's Club in Prague. Every Winter they held a fair, with each country represented by a different stall with traditional goods from that country. It was an amazing event as there were well over 40-50 stalls and the most lovely Christmas things on display. I raided as many as I could. This first set are all from the American Stall.

These filled Walnut shells were from The Czech Republic.

These are all from Africa.

And of course our kangaroo from Australia!

This one rather speaks for itself and was a present from a student.

These were from Scandinavia.

These are a little selection of what the children have chosen when they were little.

These decorations are all from my own childhood. The santa candle is particularly special as my father bought me it in Germany (where we lived at the time) the Christmas before he died.

This is St. Nicholas, and the devil. Traditional European figures.

They come with the angel on December 4th and children all around Europe celebrate St. Nicholas Day. In Prague all the teenagers go out on the streets dressed up as one of these characters (the devils are particularly scary) and give out sweets to children who have been good and can sing them a song (Abigail and Miriam can still sing the songs they learnt and remembered for this event). If the child was naughty then the devil gives them coal instead. Christmas is then reserved for baby Jesus who brings their presents on Christmas Eve.

And finally our Santa Lucia candle holder, another gift from a Swedish Family. Santa Lucia is celebrated in Sweden on December 13th, the shortest day and celebrates the fact the darkness will now get shorter as the days get longer. Swedish children bake very tasty saffron cakes for their teachers! I like this tradition.

I hope you have enjoyed our unusual Christmas tree.

I love it!

It holds so many happy times and memories for us.