Source: The Guardian >> Read Full Article and Comment

Lucy Mangan, Saturday 12 December 2009

‘My belief in Santa Claus is stronger than my belief in the existence of people who buy their decs anew each year to accord with changing fashions’

Illustration: Demetrios Psillos

It’s the unmistakable sound of ribs snapping that always marks the true beginning of Christmas for me. The ribs are my own, the snapping is produced by my sister’s elbow as she barges me out of the way to get to the box of Christmas tree decorations brought down by my mother from its not-so-secret hiding place behind Boggle every year on the second Saturday of Advent (this date having been determined by maternal algorithm to result in the least needle-drop before Twelfth Nightwhile still accounting for thickness of crowds in Homebase, amount of holiday traffic on road, plus increasing parental inertia over time).

I spend the next three weeks clutching my lower torso, taking shallow breaths and listing dangerously to the left but, although I do occasionally wonder what Christmas must look like from the perpendicular, I don’t mind. What’s a little agonising pain in the service of family tradition? ..   Continue Reading

Last year, for the first time, I met one of those people – well, two, actually: they were a couple, friends of a friend of a friend – who buy …    ………….  We have, however, broken with one tradition this year in that we sourced our tree not from Homebase but from caringchristmastrees.com, which raises money for the homeless and has just opened a new branch (branch! Christmas trees! Oh, brilliant!) in south-east London (if you’re reading this before 14 December, there’s still time to order one online and pick it up in Catford, Sidcup, Deptford or West Norwood – if not, stick the address in your diary for next year and we can all start a new tradition). Covered in ancient ugly tat from yesteryear, its natural beauty is soon as firmly obliterated as ever. All that is left now is to sit back, admire the handiwork and take my painkillers. Beautiful.    Continue Reading