'Doing' the tree

On Sunday, the Calis Carnival Fundraising Committee held the fourth Christmas Fair. It was a great occasion with locals and expats selling mostly hand-made items, from pickles and cakes to jewellery and cards. Santa arrived to hand out presents to the children and there were carols and some great mulled wine for the adults. The only damper was the weather - which picked that one day to pour down. Still, Brits have plenty of experience of coping with bad weather!


Having got in the Christmas spirit (and got some of the 'Christmas spirit' into us!) we - actually Cem - decided it was time to 'do' the tree. We have settled into a routine over the years. This starts with me (the only one with any patience) spending half an hour bending the tree back into shape after being squashed in the cupboard for a year, followed by Cem putting the lights on (obviously this is a sufficiently technical job to require a man!) The children then hang the decorations, pausing only to squabble about what should go where, after which I’m left to wrap tinsel round the barer sections.

This year, the routine was slightly modified due to a Fenerbahçe (football) match on the television, which meant that Cem did his light-hanging in record time and Kaan and I were abandoned to finish most of the decorating. Still, the finished effort makes me smile a goofy smile every time I pass it.

this year's tree

Now I know our tree would not win any ‘chicest tree’ award; nor do I want it to. For me, the Christmas tree is like a family monument and the odd assortment of things on it nearly all bring back memories.

So, there is my mother’s favourite decoration – a delicate crescent moon – which every year I unwrap with trepidation, knowing that one day I will find it in pieces. Then there are the Scandinavian wooden ornaments that a friend used to give me every Christmas back in the UK and which we added to on a trip to Finland a few years ago. There are some angels and reindeers which I made with the children with modelling clay and cookie cutters and there are even a couple of gold-sprayed pine cones that Emre and I collected and painted back in the days when tree decorations were hard to find in Fethiye. This year, Kaan and I have added to these with some knitted candy canes and a snowman.

And looking down on all of these is the oldest item of all. It doesn’t come close to the 124 year-old mini Christmas tree belonging to one English family I read about yesterday, but our fairy is as old as me. To other people she might be looking her age but to me she brings back the memories of forty-something Christmases.