The Spicer household is the proud possessor of an artificial Christmas tree. It was purchased 23 years ago (in the UK and then flown to Tokyo, so the air miles will probably take another 23 years to offset) when we lived in Japan. I got tired of paying US$ 200 for a tree (albeit a perfect tree), travelling to Yokohama to collect it and then having a devil of a job to dispose of it post Christmas. It remains with us today and is still in pretty good nick despite years of hands-on attention from the Boys.

However, every now and then I would get a yearning for a real tree and about 15 years ago, I bought a little real fir tree, in a pot, with the roots on it, to stand in the hallway. It did about as well as all the other houseplants I have had responsibility for in the Spicer household, which have an average life expectancy of about 4 weeks (plants under Catering’s umbrella generally fare much better). So the little fir tree lasted through Christmas and into the New Year and then began to look decidedly peaky. Catering stepped in and decided to pop it in the ground at the bottom of the orchard to see if it would survive. Left to its own devices, not only did it survive, but it thrived and, like other occupants of the house, grew to an impressive height and girth. The only problem was it was positioned directly in front of the bee hives, and we recently noticed it is now so big it is stopping the hives getting any sunlight in the winter months, so sadly it would have to go.

There is however a silver lining to this cloud. The COVID-19 closure of the Henley Business School meant the village did not have a Christmas tree this year (each year HBS kindly passes on their tree to the village, once they are finished with it) and so one Sunday morning in early December, a collection of villagers, armed with chainsaws (thank you Steve), chopped down and repositioned the tree outside Hambleden Church. It was decked with lights and slowly residents of the village and valley have added baubles to its branches. It is, even though I say so myself, truly fabulous.