December 11, 2013
Entertaining

Oh Christmas Tree…..Oh Christmas Tree…..

Last week the Castle Christmas tree arrived much to everyone’s excitement as we decide this year we would bravely increase the size from 14ft to 20ft, when it arrived on our bright red tractor (looking very much like Santa’s sleigh) I thought I may have made a mistake, this was confirmed by the look on Diana, our housekeeper’s face – she clearly thought I was mad and it was far too big!

With the promise of fresh mince pies, lots of volunteers (over 15) came to help get the tree in (easy bit) and then up (tricky bit). I began to feel nervous and worried but grateful that my husband was not there to see it all go wrong as I would surely have ended up out of favour. Luckily it didn’t go wrong as David our new carpenter had made a proper tree base made with strong thick angled struts rather than our normal rather Heath Robinson affair.

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It was a rather wonderful team effort getting the tree in and up with help from the farm, gardeners, the office, housekeepers and other staff. Putting up a Christmas tree in any home is very much a family / team effort so having the Highclere Castle staff help, reminded me of the wonderful team we have here, so with the tree up and decorated with twinkling lights and glass baubles balanced slightly precariously on the top the tree, we are now feeling very festive and I want to take the opportunity to thank everyone who is part of the Highclere Castle family for a successful 2013 and a very merry Christmas!