The evergreen fir Christmas Tree, the symbol of Christmas.
Get it right and it's adored, get it wrong and
... you could be at our place!
Last Christmas I was in Bangkok apartment hunting ahead of our Thailand relocation. I had no clue as I searched for any signs of Christmas, that this was due the death of the much-loved King Bhumibol Adulyadej. I did wonder how it would be living in a country where Christmas appeared non-existent.
Unbeknown to me, what I was witnessing was not a Country that did not wish to mark Christmas, but a country in mourning. Most celebrations were cancelled or at the very least subdued out of a mark of respect.
I can only understand the real impact of this seeing the tremendous effort which has gone into celebrations in 2017. The Thais put on a great Christmas, despite it not being a holiday that they celebrate. It is a normal working day, which is a bit of a shock to some of my friends whose husbands will be working!
In Asia often trees have been adapted as the traditional fir tree does not thrive in the heat. At our the Central Embassy department stores the balloon theme is complemented by such an enormous up in the sky tree that I never got to see it finished! Here it is below waiting for the crane to assemble it!
Not to be left out, Bangkok hotels have been very festive! Here are the trees at the Shangri-La and the Dusit Thani hotels with their respective doormen. I hadn't realised that they had colour coded their trees with their elephants and doormen!
We were lucky to have a holiday in Vietnam recently, here at the Caravelle, Saigon in Vietnam they have gone for the red bauble tree!
After all this, I expect you can't wait to see our Aussie tree?
Well, here-in lies a sad story! I'm allergic to it!
No, not Christmas, just the tree.
The fir trees in Australia are bushier than the European ones.
This year with all our rains the trees have grown tall, even more, bushy than normal and with this pungency, that people spend a fortune to fill their houses with. This has me sneezing at even the thought of it. Not only that my daughter and I after dragging the tree from the car came out in huge red welts!
Now we have for years had an artificial tree which suited me just fine even with all the family complaints that it wasn't a proper tree! Our tree is in now in Bangkok, we are in Australia. That's helpful!
So it is currently sitting out in the garden, wonky as none of us wanted to touch it, whilst we decide whether to brave the tree inside. So just for the laugh for those of you who have shared your beautifully decorated tree. Here is ours!
Do you think I should rush out an buy a million red baubles
and make my own tree like the one above,
or do I just pop an allergy pill and get on with Christmas?
Merry Christmas everyone Xx
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