"Mothers are the makers of Christmas magic and memories." This is my mother's Christmas philosophy. This is what drives her every year to transform our house into a veritable Christmas wonderland. Nobody tops my mother's Christmas creativity. Nobody. I exaggerate you not. When I was 17yrs old, my family was invited to the White House to meet then US President Bush and have morning tea. It was December and the most famous white house in the world had been decked in Christmas splendor from top to toe by the finest interior designers that America had to offer. Were me and my siblings awed? No. Why? Because Mrs Bush's house looked just like ours. ( Ok, so her house was bigger. And whiter. But otherwise, same level of Christmas panache.) That's how amazing my mother's decor is. My mother starts styling our house in early December and she uses an assortment of native Samoa foliage combined with accessories from around the world to create a new Christmas Fantasy house every year.
And we hated it. Why? Because unlike Mrs President Bush, our mother did not have an army of minions at her beck and call to style her house. No. Our mother had the housekeeper, the gardener and us. Transforming a house is exhausting work. We had to clean, chop fir trees, scavenge for shells, coconut shells and flowers. Clean some more. Put up decorations. Take them down and move them over two inches to the left because they weren't 'just right'. Then take them down again and move them over two inches to the left because they clashed with the angel that was 45 degrees over from it. And we had to do this all with a smile on our faces. Or else we got the Christmas lecture. "You lazy, ungrateful children never want to help me. Every year I work my fingers to the bone...Don't you know that mother's are the creators of Christmas magic? Do you think this magic just falls out of the sky?! You're so useless, move away and let me do that..."
And then once the magic had all been successfully installed, we then had to tiptoe around it for the next 29 days and maintain its magicalness. 'Don't touch that. Don't break that....you're ruining all my hard work!"
Christmas Tradition Message There is a fine line between creating Christmas magic memories and instilling a loathing for Christmas decor of doom and destruction. Try not to cross it. I love the beauty of a beautiful Christmas but I'm
