What's your favourite decoration?

[headinthecloudsnow]

Off the back of another thread re favourite Christmas foods, what's your favourite decoration and why?

My favourite is our candle arch, it goes in the front kitchen window and I love the warm glow. My late grandmother gave it to us, so it means even more now. I leave it on all evening and I love going into the kitchen with the lovely warm glow. I miss it every year when it goes back in the loft.

What's yours?

Just me then

That’s lovely. I remember reading a story where a candle in the window is a sign to our loved ones who can’t be with us that we’re thinking of them.

We don’t have any family heirloom decorations (unless my mum’s gold tree fairy that look as if she’s getting in at 3am after the work do counts!)

I have a beautiful clear teardrop with a snowflake etched on it that my mum bought me from Liberty London years ago. It catches the light beautifully and just feels special.

I get a new photo bauble each year with DS’s Christmas picture in (He’s 3 now) and I love putting those up.

Ah I haven't heard that story, that's lovely, thank you!

I think I've posted about this before.

When I was a child in the 80s my parents bought a big wall decoration of a cardboard cut out Santa in his sleigh with the reindeer and red ropes for the reins - it was about 6 feet long, and I adored it. Every year my dad would blue tack it to the wall and it immediately felt like Christmas. It was hung on the wall every year even after I'd left home for many years until it got lost or damaged (can't quite remember) when my parents downsized and I was devastated.

I hunted high and low for one on ebay, charity shops, facebook pages etc etc but never had any luck until one day I happened to mention it to my MIL. Turned out she had had one in the cupboard the whole time, ever since my husband was a child (although they hadn't used theirs for years). She gave it to me and it has pride of place on the wall every year. I still love it just as much and would rescue it if the house was on fire over and above anything of actual monetary value. My daughter loves it just as much as I do.

Second favourite is the collection of Newbridge silver decorations - my mum has bought us one or two every year since my daughter was born. I love them, but not as much as the sleigh.

Well that brought back memories evilharpy
Ours used to go up the stairs above the bannister.

They sell for daft money on Ebay now!

How lovely! I will have to have a think about
my favourite decoration- ours are still hidden away at the moment.
I do like anything personalised and couldn’t find my daughters name on any baubles so I ordered one from a seller on Etsy for her first Christmas. It’s lovely, and getting it out every year brings back memories of her pudgy little hands reaching out for it as a baby 🥰

The fairy on the top of my tree. It's a tiny rubber doll that when we were kids my older sister dressed for me in a green silk ball gown and gave to me for Christmas. Clothing eventually wore out but I redressed it in a silk remnant from my wedding dress the year we were married, and gave it foil wings. It has topped my tree for more years than I'm going to admit to. Everyone else in the family regularly ask when I'm getting a new Angel, fairy, star. The answer is never because I love her and look forward to unwrapping her every year (even if no one else appreciates how lovely she is).

@evilharpy we had one of those big Santa & reindeer decorations too! Ours must have been from the 1970s. Long gone now, sadly.
My favourite decoration is a Nativity set made by my MIL. She spent ages handsewing every person and animal. After she died I asked DH to ask for it on my behalf (as only a DIL I didn't want to seem grabby) but to my surprise none of her own family wanted it. I absolutely love it, when it comes out of the box it is my Christmas starting.
I also have some Australian animal Christmas decorations which I am very fond of as I bought them when living in Australia and then brought them back to the UK with me about 20 years ago now.

I posted on here about them under a different name. Glass baubles that belonged to my Great Grandma and are around 70 years old.

They’re on the tree in my bedroom.

Mine is the fairy on top of the tree as we’ve had it since before I was born.

Wow, how do you choose? I love my Spode Christmas tree dinner set - have been collecting for 20 years but not really a decoration. I do also have a collection of vintage/crazy/ugly santas that I started and people keep adding to. I have a special glass Christmas ‘hedgehog’ from Poland that no one is sure about that always makes me smile - it’s like choosing a favourite child this thread

Mine is a battered old robin my Nan gave to my mum, and my mum gave to me. It’s older than I am and is absolutely precious to me.

Oh I have loads! I think my top favourite is a stand up cross stitched nativity scene: stable backdrop with manger with removable baby jesus, shepherd's, camels, wise men, everything. It's exquisite. It was made for my Dc1 as a gift from a family friend who passed away the following year so is sooo special. Dc1 played with it on the table it goes on for many hours and she's now 23 but two younger siblings have and still are enjoying it every Christmas.

Hard to pick I change my mind all the time.

At the moment it would be between my China snowman advent calendar and the Christmas Eve Sleigh my husband made to replace the cardboard one my Mum made when I was a child and had become too fragile to use.

Oh mine is always our Christmas tree... Every year we go to to buy one from our local seller out in the sticks. They have magnificent trees, really bushy and smell fantastic. The drive home with the car filled with the scent then putting it up in the house is magical. We put on Xmas songs and drink Bailey's and sherry.

I swear most years we say 'it's the best tree ever'

I've got lots of favourites... just today I bought a glass gold balloon dog
Don't ask

But I have a China Santa mouse from my childhood and I love it.. it's also winking

I lost all my grandmothers 40/50/60,s decorations when my stupid ex bastard threw them out one year.

Never forgiven

Mine are baubles we got from a pottery painting place on the DCs first Christmases. They have their hand prints on. I worry they will break every year as they are irreplaceable!

Wow @evilharpy I can't believe your MIL had the same one all along... unbelievable! I seem to remember something very similar.

These are all such wonderful stories. I bloody love Christmas!!!! It evokes such emotion and wonderful feelings for so many people. I have my own DDs now and it makes me realise how lucky and how loved I was as a child. Such happy memories of Christmas and I hope my children feel the same when they're older and look back.

Evilharpy that is such a lovely story. I have an antique mercury coloured glass bell that was my great grandmothers, and my mums hideous mini tinsel gold Xmas tree from the 70s that we used to laugh about until it suddenly became a treasured possession.