Melissa Davies

Newshub presenter Who decorated the tree this year?

It was a joint effort with my boyfriend.

Do you always keep the same decorations or change them?

Always the same. I have collected them from places I’ve visited around the world, so each Christmas is like opening up a box of memories. It started because I wanted to collect souvenirs from different countries, but usually everything in the tourist shops is so tacky. I figured the one time of year it’s okay to put all your tack on display is Christmas!

Is there anything deeply meaningful on the tree?

Everything has some meaning, but some of my faves are the more unusual ones. I like the Balmoral crown I got at a small shop outside the Queen’s Balmoral residence when I was there to report on the time Sir John Key and his family went to stay with her. I also like the decoration from the Supreme Court. I was there in 2015 covering the Privy Council hearing to have Teina Pora’s conviction quashed and found, quite bizarrely, that they sell Christmas decorations in the café.

How does your tree today differ from the one you had as a child?

My mum had the same kind of concept with our childhood tree. It’s full of things we’ve accumulated from different places, at different times. My sisters and I have an angel decoration each, and we still go to our mum’s place to put our own one up each year – and we still compete to get the most prominent position on the tree!

What’s on top of your tree?

I had an angel, which my boyfriend wasn’t a fan of so he bought the cone instead. The “MC” stands for Merry Christmas but it is also our initials. Very cheesy!

Where do you stand on the real/fake tree argument?

I find it’s just much quicker and less hassle to have a fake tree.

If you could have a dream Christmas tree, with money being no object, what would it look like?

This is already my dream Christmas tree. Every decoration holds some kind of significance and that’s what is important to me. There’s still plenty of room for more decorations, though. I guess that just means I’ll have to travel more!

‘I wanted to collect souvenirs from different countries’