Reading chapter 11 today.
My grandparents decorated the tree on Dec 24th (Juleaften, the main celebration day). It was always very tall but not too bushy - they used real candles on the tree so sparser needles and more space between branches was safer for that purpose. It also wasn’t too wide at the bottom, to allow room for us all to dance around the tree and sing hymns and carols, as is traditional in Denmark. They did used to have much bigger trees when they lived in the big old house I remember from my early childhood, but later on they downsized and moved to a flat.
There weren’t too many decorations, to allow the beauty of the tree to shine through - the tree is really not just a vehicle for lots of pretty things IMO but an integral part of this winter/Christmas ritual in its own right. A handful of baubles, a set of dinky musical instruments (drum, trumpet, oboe, and so on) tied with ribbon, which were my favourites as a child; I’ve always loved miniatures. I now have my own little set and every time I hang them on the tree I get such a warm glow inside. Also, woven hearts in brightly coloured metallic paper - reds, golds, purples, blues, greens and so on. Made by my grandfather. These are very traditional in Denmark. Mostly done in red and white, the colours of the flag, but sometimes people use other colours. These hearts were used every year for many years and now my mum and uncle have them and they are still used every year. Finally, Lametta, which looked absolutely beautiful draped over the branches like icicles.
Pictured, some examples of the hearts. They can be very basic or very intricate with all sorts of complex patterns. My grandfather made some very clever ones.