The lights aren’t on
yet. They are never turned on until we’ve finished decorating the tree. Dad
always wants to turn them on early to check that we’ve put them out evenly, but
me and Mum don’t let him. It’s not magic if you turn them on before.
The poor tree loses its
needles so quickly that I thought it should be bare by now. A great green
puddle at the front door, where Mum accidentally dropped the tree, trickles
along the hallway corridor, curving through the kitchen and into its little
corner in the living room. Using just my hands, I scoop them all up and
sprinkle them in a circle in front of the tree, sitting myself in the middle
like a bird in a nest. It hurt my hands and I’m still brushing the prickly
green needles off my arms, but when I sit in my nest like this, it makes me
feel extra important.
The big light has gone
out! Mum is standing in the doorway, smiling at me. The faint light from the hall
makes the baubles glitter. They are old and the glossy paint is flaking away on
some of them and, since they’re made of glass, not all of them made it onto the
tree this year. Mum asks me if I’m ready and I nod, still looking at the tree.
I move to sit up on my feet, ready to jump up as soon as the lights come on.
With a click of the
switch, the tree comes to life with brightly coloured stars and I leap up and
spread my arms out. We always use the same lights and every new tree is lit up
in the same pinks, oranges, greens, blues, and reds, each bulb as big as a
marble and sitting in the middle of a flower. It doesn’t matter now that the
Christmas decorations are as old as Nana. They all look beautiful. Little boys
with chipped noses sit in their bright red sleighs and rocking horses hang down
from the lowest branches, reflected in every bauble and crystal snowflake. My
special golden apple sits on the middle branch next to the old paper fairy. The
new fairy is of course at the very top of the tree and a tree light hidden
up her gold skirt makes her glow like a real angel.
There it is. It only
takes a minute, but it is the most important minute of the year. The lights are
on and our beautiful tree is finished and there it will stay for all of
Christmas.
20 more sleeps....
