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Over the course of the day, Dad’s been removing the Christmas Lights: taking down the various boards, stripping the blue tissue paper off the walls, and tearing out now-redundant wires.
All that remains of the Lights are a few scars on the wallpaper, but more obviously the large control tower. That’s because Dad’s hoping to rebuild it in time for next Christmas’s display, using more modern technology that can be more easily replaced – unlike the vintage telephone exchange components that run the current system.
I decided against producing a video for family archive purposes of the show, knowing this can take many hours. That said, I’ll need to do one next Christmas, as the 2009 video (the only motion-picture record we have) has a very noisy SD picture, having been filmed on my old tape camera.
However, it was essential to get some good-quality photographs before the demolition began, and the best of these follow (rollover for captions).
The Christmas Tree
Standing proudly in our living room, our Christmas tree has served us well as the centrepiece of our celebrations, with a knitted nativity scene reminding us of the true meaning of the Christian festival.
Santa’s Grotto
Every year, as a spin-off from the Lights, I decorate my rather small bedroom as a suitably cosy Santa’s Grotto, where a video-message from Father Christmas plays out on multiple video screens around the illuminations.
The Christmas Lights
The pinnacle, of course, of all our decorations are the Lights on the landing – Dad’s annual Christmas Illuminations show.
