Put up the fairy lights, make Christmas magic, at least for children says Isabel Morton

IT MAY well be a bad case of shell shock, but in the week when the entire nation was up in arms about losing their sovereignty, being taken over by the IMF, EU and the ECB, I suddenly became obsessed with decorating my home for Christmas.

It all started a few weeks ago, when I found myself giggling hysterically with a few other, equally deranged middle-aged women, at the sight and sound of a toy penguin family wiggling and swaying whilst singing I'm Dreaming of a White Christmason the shelves of Musgrave Cash Carry.

Don’t ask. Just accept the fact that three total strangers ended up with tears of laughter streaming down our faces, our mirth so contagious that we soon put smiles on the faces of other shoppers and staff.

Popping the singing penguin toy in my trolley, claiming it was for my grandchildren, we all broke into yet another fit of giggles.

“Let’s be honest,” one woman said, as she grabbed one herself, “we’re buying them for ourselves. They’re therapy and we all need a bit of therapy these days.”

With that thought in mind, and not having spent Christmas at home for a couple of years, I decided that I was going to unearth the long forgotten decorations and make an effort to celebrate the festive season this year.

(I admit, that having been known as the Queen of Christmas for decades, it came as a shock to my family that not only had I agreed to spend the last few years in abdication but that I had actually managed to refrain entirely from indulging in any form of decoration.)

But this year, I’ve adopted the philosophy “eat, drink and be merry, for tomorrow we die” (well . . . a recessionary version of that philosophy) which is proving apt, given what our little nation has been through of late.

However, halfway through untangling endless lengths of fairy lights, a friend phoned. “You’re doing what?” she enquired in horror, “ it’s only mid-November!

I told her about the penguins from Musgraves and how I’d discovered lovely decorations and gifts in The Little Christmas Shop in the Tram Yard in Dalkey village and how even Woodies had a great selection of vintage style decorations this year.

“Do you think its right to light up your front garden like Disneyworld when the entire country is going down the tubes?” she enquired with a slight edge to her voice.

“But fairy lights use very little electricity,” I retorted. “Not quite the point,” she replied and left me to my own inappropriate devices.

She may well be correct, as there is no doubt that half the nation is in no mood to be celebrating Christmas at all, let alone going over the top with festive decorations.

But thinking back to my own childhood, when this country was far from flush, I remembered the excitement of wiping a viewing circle in the steamed up windows of my mother’s old Morris Minor, spotting Christmas tree lights in the windows of people’s homes and how it all added to the wonderful build-up to the big day.

Do we not owe it to our children and grandchildren to create a little magic, particularly at a time when there is very little to be joyous about?

Irish houses, many of which were presented like showhomes throughout the boom times, have had their hatches firmly battened down for the last few years, so perhaps its now time to open them up again and turn on as many Christmas lights as possible, as beacons of hope for our future.

So this year I’m advocating that you pull out your old decorations, regardless of whether or not they’re looking tatty and tired or whether they match your colour scheme and make an effort to put up every last one of them – particularly those which children love and your neighbours consider tacky and tawdry. (Santas climbing up chimneystacks and Rudolfs pulling sleighs across roofs fall into this category).

It’s worth the grief of untangling your outdoor fairy lights and risking life and limb to hang them, just to see the delight on children’s faces.

And remember to share your Christmas tree with everyone, by making sure it’s positioned in a front window, with the curtains open and the decorative lights on.

Wrap up well and get out and enjoy the festive atmosphere of Christmas fairs and farmers’ markets which are springing up all over the country.

And, if you are buying gifts, try to support local small businesses, many of which rely on their Christmas trade to survive.

With the Budget looming and threats of more hardship to follow in years to come, we’ve just got to accept that we’ll all have to make do with less – but in doing so, let’s not deprive the next generation of magical memories.

So, regardless of our individual circumstances, let’s make the best of it and light a few candles, pull a few crackers, switch on the fairy lights and sing along with the penguins.

“I’m dreaming of a white Christmas, just like the ones I used to know . . .”.

* Isabel Morton is a property consultant