I remember as if it was only a few months ago that I said: “thank you lovely Christmas tree, and see you next year!” Here and now Christmas is ready to accelerate passing through again soon.

It is always such a joy to unwrap the beautiful baubles as if they were early Christmas presents. I have had most of these decorations for years but somehow they always manage to surprise me as I am taking them out of the cake box where they had been carefully wrapped and lying quietly for the entire year.

When I first moved here I bought 80 per cent of the tree decors in that first year and ever since had only been adding one of two each year as I come cross them serendipitously in little gift shops. Some of my favourite pieces: a furry robin tree toy, a holly and robin bauble and a decorative bird nest. I guess they remind me that there are so many robins around the area I live, many households have robin designs on their tinted windows and doors from the Victorian era, for me it is a pair of singing robins on the vestibule door.