Sophie Hambleton
Westside actress Who decorated the tree this year?
Me! I wanted to do something nice for my flatmates and I’m also a bit of a control freak. This is the first tree I have bought for myself. I feel pretty grown up having my own Christmas tree now.
Do you always keep the same decorations or change them?
At my parents’ place, we have had some of the same decorations since I can remember. Some of them were given as wedding presents to my parents, and some of them were made by my brother and I at primary school, which is pretty special. These ones I got from Kmart.
Is there anything deeply meaningful on the tree?
Not yet but hopefully in years to come I can create a collection of decorations that have special meaning. At one flat, we made Christmas tree decorations out of photos of our friends’ faces, so perhaps
I’ll get crafty one evening and make some of my own “meaningful” decorations.
How does your tree today differ from the one you had as a child?
We had a fake one for a while as kids, and it was quite fun getting to stick all the branches in and “create the tree”. We started having real trees a few years back and I loved the way they made the whole house smell.
What’s on top of your tree?
An angel and her name is Adele. I got a photo of her wearing a Christmas hat, then I put some lights and stars around her. It’s beautiful.
Where do you stand on the real/fake tree argument?
I love both options. I’ve seen lots of absolutely gorgeous trees, both fake and real. I know real trees can make a mess and what do you do with them after Christmas can be a bit of a problem, whereas a fake tree goes back in its box and tucked away until next year.
If you could have a dream Christmas tree, with money being no object, what would it look like?
It would be enormous, covered in lights and the decorations would be interactive. Maybe some birds and creatures living in it would be fun, but they’d probably make quite a lot of noise and a mess.
‘I feel pretty grown up having my own Christmas tree now’