….Then I moved out.
I also had a Christmas box, though mine was decidedly smaller – my flat was also smaller than the house ;). My treasures consiated of 3 or 4 strings of fairy lights, red, gold and silver stars outlines to hang on the curtains, home-made glass baubles and icicles :), a couple of candle holders, an assortment of small Christmas figures given to me over the years and a stack of corrigated cardboard stars painted gold*. Some things stayed in the box depending on how festive I was feeling or where I was going to be. Some years I went home for Christmas, some years to friends, some years the family came to celebrate with me.
I decorated as much or as little as I wanted. Also, I usually didn’t have a tree, I didn’t really see the point of killing one if I wasn’t going to be there. One year, when my family was coming to see me, I made my own out of the branches they cut off the school one and a washing line**. It shed its needles unbelievably quickly and lived on the balcony. That year I decorated it with coloured popcorn and ricepuffs threaded onto string for the birds.
Then I moved in with DB…
* I stuck them on my wooden ceilings 🙂
** Washing lines aren’t very good at tying Christmas trees together. But I had one spare and I didn’t have any string thick enough. Yes I could have gone out and bought some, but then my helpers would’ve gone home and I would have had to fight it by myself.
I used to have a Christmas tree made out of chicken wire! I shaped it like a cone and then wrapped tinsel around it. Nowadays i have a wire card rack (shaped like a tree) that I wrap tinsel around. I’m not much for Christmas decorations now, but in my childhood they were a fabulous event, crepe paper box streamers made into glorious designs and a real tree that touched the roof and smelt delicious.