I’ve been meaning to do this post for years. Over time, I’ve picked up bits and pieces while travelling and some of them come out only at Christmas. I don’t collect Christmas decorations. I know there are people who bring back a fridge magnet or a beer mat from every place they go to. I’m not consistent like that. I like to get a flag patch for my camp blanket and in the last year or two I’ve tried to get a piece of art for my gallery (usually an interesting postcard; the gallery in question is a mismatched collection of frames on top of a bookshelf) but other than that, I tend to pick up bits and pieces that catch my eye. I’ve got a couple of Norwegian trolls, I’ve got a miniature Sigulda walking stick, bits of rock from Iceland, a Swedish Dala horse, bits of amber jewellery from the Baltics, some pretty dice from Denmark. So I don’t set out to bring something for Christmas back from every trip but gradually, I’ve built up a small collection.
This is not a tree of taste or styling or theme. This is a tree of “throw everything at it and see what sticks”. I will say we gave up on tinsel when I was tiny – we use strings of beads instead and it’s not complete without as many large red velvet bows as possible but other than that, it’s absolutely covered in a mixture of things that are too old to not put on there (the Santa disc at the bottom, the red bell near the top), new and interesting bits (the huge red & gold stripy bauble), stuff we’ve picked up on our travels (everything in the post below; the Innsbruck bauble) and some elderly decorations that were mostly there to fill up space before it all got so busy (those red and green metallic stars)
The first thing was this felt reindeer from Finland in 2008. I spied it in Stockmann and thought it was cute. It’s quite big and living in the Christmas box has given it a certain glitter it didn’t have when it was new.
Next is this little troll/angel/red person from Bergen in 2012. It’s cute but it’s also very easy to replicate as a craft at Rangers, which is why I own three of these now, although the third one lost its string and I haven’t seen it this year. It’s so cute and so Scandinavian.
This one was a bit of an error. I picked this up in Rovaniemi in 2014 but it tends to get squashed and misshapen in the Christmas box, which is why it’s no longer round. I’m very fond of it, it’s very pretty, but it permanently looks like someone sat on it.
I have quite the collection from Iceland. This is Gryla, the Christmas witch. She eats naughty children. She’s accompanied by the Yule Cat, who eats anyone who doesn’t have new clothes for Christmas. My mum hates Gryla, she thinks she’s ugly and scary and will be delighted when I have a house and tree of my own and take her away.
Then there’s this big felt angel, or maybe witch again. She’s enormous so she always has to go at the bottom. Maybe gold on black isn’t a very Christmassy colour theme but I like it.
A crocheted bell, which is permanently misshapen. I need some kind of mould to hold it open throughout the year so that it looks like a bell and not a scrap on the tree. I’m reasonably sure this was from the Christmas shop on Laugavegur in Reykjavik.
I’m reasonably sure I bought this glass angel at the same time. I really like glass stuff for the tree. Much as I like the idea of keeping my own tree entirely glass, I’m cut from the same throw-everything-at-it cloth as my mother, which is why there’s no theme or pattern to the Christmas bits.
I’m not certain about this at all. It might not even have been me that bought it but I think I remember in 2013 or 2015 going into the Christmas shop in Edinburgh and if I did, this might be what I bought. But part of me wonders if I actually bought the wonky metallic ring in Edinburgh, in which case, where did this come from?
Not as exotic, but I think I bought this glass present in Winchester two or three years ago. I said I like glass stuff.
Upstairs in my office, I have a small Christmas tree on top of a shelf. There’s nothing very interesting on it – the decorations were just from Homebase but it’s topped by a phoenix and there’s a polar bear on it, both from Longleat. But sitting underneath is another Icelandic felt thing – a Christmas tree. Kind of. It’s more like a whirly cone with a face. It’s also not quite the shape it was when I bought it. It definitely came from the restaurant at Gullfoss, along with the fairy/witch but I’m not sure when. Winter, surely, but not December 2011, which is the first time I went there and the only time I can remember Gullfoss in winter off the top of my head. When a waterfall that size freezes over, you remember.
Also not exotic is this, from Salisbury Cathedral. It’s a velveteen Christmas tree which hangs from the tree. But it’s hinged and it opens up to reveal a miniature nativity set. The only religion in my Christmas is the enforced Christingle service with my Brownies but I like to have a symbolic nativity set around. We have a bigger one downstairs which got relegated to a corner of the dining room this year in favour of some nodding snowmen on springs, until I put my foot down and the nativity set got restored.
And last, because it does now live in my office full-time, is this postcard that combines a Sami reindeer herder in traditional garb with a Santa who looks like he could actually survive at the North Pole. I sent this in 2014 from the Santa Village in Rovaniemi, so it has an Arctic Circle stamp with the Northern Lights and Arctic Circle postmarks, which is the main reason anyone sends anything from that post office.
Maybe from now on, since there’s a tree of my own lurking in my distant future, I’ll make more of an effort to bring something back every time. Or maybe I’ll keep going how I already do, with random things that delight me all year round.