LET'S EMBRACE OUR CHRISTMAS TAT!

Becky Dickinson explains why she'll still be rocking around her tinsel-strewn tree this year

-  BECKY DICKINSON. CHRISTMAS REINDEER

It’s time to deck the halls with an expensive, yet effortlessly elegant, Scandi-themed Norway spruce. Or perhaps a glittering Douglas fir, dressed with carefully selected Venetian glass baubles and lights. Real or artificial, Christmas trees have come a long way since the days of tinsel and foil angels. These days, it’s all about making a statement with a simple-yet-striking scheme. Unfortunately, this is one aspect of adulting I have yet to achieve.

My partner and I inherited our Christmas tree 17 years ago, when we moved into our first house. It was December and I was eight months pregnant with our first baby, so getting a tree wasn’t high on my list of priorities. But, as luck would have it, the previous owners had left an artificial one in the loft, along with a box of (unanimously horrible) decorations. Think purple tinsel, shiny Santas and lurid baubles. There was even a clear globe containing a miniature train. You plugged it into the fairy lights and the train went round and round, like a goldfish in a bowl. It was weirdly captivating.

MERRY MELTDOWN