I sincerely hope yours doesn't come with existing residents...
As to what you put on top of the tree, some people prefer to have a Fairy rather than an Angel - although (judging from their comments yesterday) obviously not most of my female readers!
Anyway, many years ago, I wrote a sketch for that superb comedienne, Dora Bryan, about the seasonal contemplations of one such young lady perched amongst the uncomfortably spiky needles of the topmost limb as the average family Christmastide unfolded.
Sadly (being composed in the pre-computer days of typewriters) I don't have a copy with which to entertain you - although maybe that is just as well, since the jokes are probably a lot funnier in my memory!
So, in compensation, here's an appropriate fairy from Flower Fairies of Winter, by Cecily Mary Barker...
Anyway, many years ago, I wrote a sketch for that superb comedienne, Dora Bryan, about the seasonal contemplations of one such young lady perched amongst the uncomfortably spiky needles of the topmost limb as the average family Christmastide unfolded.
Sadly (being composed in the pre-computer days of typewriters) I don't have a copy with which to entertain you - although maybe that is just as well, since the jokes are probably a lot funnier in my memory!
So, in compensation, here's an appropriate fairy from Flower Fairies of Winter, by Cecily Mary Barker...
THE CHRISTMAS TREE FAIRY
The little Christmas tree was born
And dwelt in open air;
It did not guess how bright a dress
Someday it's boughs would wear;
Brown cones were all, it thought, a tall
And grown-up Fir would bear.
O little Fir! Your forest home
is far and far away;
And here indoors these boughs of yours
With coloured balls are gay,
With candle-light, and tinsel bright
For this is Christmas Day
A dolly-fairy stands on top,
Till children sleep, then she
(A live one now!) from bough to bough
Goes gliding silently.
O magic sight, this joyous night!
O laden, sparkling tree!
The little Christmas tree was born
And dwelt in open air;
It did not guess how bright a dress
Someday it's boughs would wear;
Brown cones were all, it thought, a tall
And grown-up Fir would bear.
O little Fir! Your forest home
is far and far away;
And here indoors these boughs of yours
With coloured balls are gay,
With candle-light, and tinsel bright
For this is Christmas Day
A dolly-fairy stands on top,
Till children sleep, then she
(A live one now!) from bough to bough
Goes gliding silently.
O magic sight, this joyous night!
O laden, sparkling tree!
Personally, I've always thought that Ms Barker (1895-1973) was a rather better artist - with her meticulously precise botanical observation - than she was a poet.
However, she definitely has sustained reader-appeal since her Flower Fairies books (which started in 1923 just a few years after the sensation caused by the supposed sightings of the Cottingley Fairies ) are still best sellers.
You can discover (or, perhaps, rediscover) more about the Flower Fairies on their Official Website which, I would suggest, they ought to re-name (in-joke for Shakesperian scholars coming up) Official Cobwebsite!
Anyway, whatever you put on the top of your tree, the Christmas Fairies will be wishing you a...
However, she definitely has sustained reader-appeal since her Flower Fairies books (which started in 1923 just a few years after the sensation caused by the supposed sightings of the Cottingley Fairies ) are still best sellers.
You can discover (or, perhaps, rediscover) more about the Flower Fairies on their Official Website which, I would suggest, they ought to re-name (in-joke for Shakesperian scholars coming up) Official Cobwebsite!
Anyway, whatever you put on the top of your tree, the Christmas Fairies will be wishing you a...
MAGICAL HOLIDAY!
And here they are to prove it...
Photo: Mandy Davis © 2008
