Christmas THINGS TO DO THIS

Taaa-daaa! I’ve dragged the boxes of baubles down from the loft. Although now they’ll sit there for days in the hallway, taunting me for not putting the Christmas decorations up.

Every year we have the same bickering session over how the tree is dressed. I like to hang traditional, rustic felt and wooden baubles of wildlife. While The Dark Lord likes to hang the desiccated remains of her toddler craft days, which lost all their cuteness when the glue and Santa’s beard disintegrated.

But a new calculator created by Christmas Tree World works out exactly the number of lights and baubles your tree will need based on the height and shape, bauble size and how full you’d like your tree to appear. You can find the bauble calculator here: www. christmastreeworld.co.uk/christmastree-decoration-calculator.

I’ve tried it and it tells me I will only need a fifth of the babbles I currently own.

Now I’ve really got an excuse to retire The Dark Lord’s scurvy-ridden Santa…