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How are you decorating your home this festive season? Bookends authors reveal their traditions!

Everyone’s got a tradition for decorating their homes at Christmas – some of us love it, some dread the thought of those dusty boxes being brought down from the attic. But what do our lovely Bookends authors have to say about it?

Elizabeth Gill, author of Snow Angels

I never get to stay at home because my daughter works right up til Christmas Day, being in the food trade so it’s pointless to decorate my house. When she was little we used to have a real tree, the smell is wonderful. She collects snow globes. I bought one in Nova Scotia which plays Jingle Bells.

Victoria Hislop, author of Cartes Postales from Greece

The same decorations come out, year in year out – that’s part of the reassuring “sameness” of Christmas.  So on the tree is a mixture of gold and silver balls, white lights (never multi-coloured) and some decorations made by the children when they were about five – very precious and slightly more delicate every year.

Kathryn Hughes, author of The Key

We always purchase our Christmas tree from our local forest, usually a Scots Pine which tends not to be bald by Boxing Day.  The price is calculated per foot and we always go for a really tall one and then have to lop off twenty quids’ worth when it won’t fit in the house.   When the kids were small, we would put on some Christmas carols, break out the mince pies and mulled wine and decorate the tree together. We have an eclectic mix of decorations ranging from paper chains the kids made in primary school, to a long piece of tinsel c.1978, plus lots of baubles and stuff we have collected over the years from places we have visited.  The end result is not the mess you might expect, but a tree resplendent with sentimental trinkets and fond memories.

Rosanna Ley, author of The Little Theatre by the Sea

Real tree as usual, masses of holly and other greenery and lots of twinkly Christmas lights

Louise O’Neill, author of Asking for It

I usually try and be ‘very busy with work’ and/or MIA when my parents drag the Christmas decorations down from the attic.

Emily Philips, author of Trying

We have quite an eclectic collection of decorations that we’ve picked up along the way (we buy one whenever we go on a trip), so the tree will be looking gloriously gaudy as always. This is our last Christmas in our current house as we’re moving to a doer-upper in January, so we’ll probably go super cosy in case we’re knee deep in rubble next year.

 

If you enjoyed this little sneak peek into our authors’ Christmas traditions, find out what their favourite festive films are here