Countdown to Christmas

The countdown to Christmas is well underway – the major supermarket retailers are competing to produce the most attractive TV adverts, streets and shops are lit up and decorated as the shortest days of the year approach.

In many ways, Christmas is all about stories, both listening to them and watching them. There are magical worlds which open your eyes in wonder, ballets and theatres, books of beautifully decorated fairy tales, the Nutcracker and the Snow Queen, as well as the story of Christmas itself. 

At its heart, Christmas Day is, of course, a Christian religious festival but today it is observed as a major celebration and public holiday around the world by Christians and non-Christians alike. In some countries it has simply become incorporated through global cultural influences which has led to many of the more secular aspects of Christmas such as gift giving, decorations and Christmas trees being enthusiastically adopted 

So much of our traditions are due to Charles Dickens and his much-loved book “A Christmas Carol”, as well as the influence of Queen Victoria and her husband Prince Albert. Based on that, our theme this year for Christmas at Highclere is deeply traditional using shades of red and gold. These colours interspersed with twinkling lights look spectacular against the dark green of the Christmas trees. In fact, it was the continual theme that Geordie remembers from his own childhood when his grandfather lived at Highclere. Unlike today, the same box of Christmas decoration came out each year, rather reassuring in itself!

However, in a world in which we invite visitors in, we have to ring the changes each year and furthermore each room must look a little different. Thus, one of the trees in the library has little books hanging off it whilst the drawing room is covered in frosted Victorian roses. This is such a pretty room, and the icy roses look fabulous against the pale green silk on the walls.  As you walk round the State rooms, the theme is interpreted differently in each one until you reach the Saloon which sticks to the red and gold with a spectacular garland running down the main staircase. The red and the gold is continued outside and looks wonderful against the mellow stone in the winter light. 

Christmas at Highclere combines both ancient rituals bearing witness to centuries of traditions and more modern customs culled from our own families. It is about memories, reassuring but also sometimes sad as there may well be empty chairs at the table despite life continuing on. My sisters and I always remember our father making the brandy butter on Christmas Eve and then the furore when Nanny ate rather too much of it before Christmas Day. Our Pa died far too long ago but Nanny is very much still here despite eating all that butter. The stories still make us laugh. 

If we are lucky and the weather behaves, Christmas can be such a very beautiful time of year here, the Castle etched in frost, the cedars stretching out their strong dark limbs and the cold wintery views enticing us all to go for good walks. The original story was of course set in a very different landscape and climate but here in the UK, it is all combined with staying warm around fires, feasting and looking forward to lighter brighter days. 

Part of the essence of Christmas is a little bit of old-fashioned magic mixed with laughter and friendship and perhaps just a touch of indigestion.