A Christmas Story
As we move into another year and the village's Christmas decorations begin to disappear from sight, it's nice to remember how and why the Montgomery family display was started, the reasons for collecting donations and what happens when the lights go out at the end of Christmas.
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Many years ago (around 17yrs) the Montgomery household Christmas lights were simple, elegant, even tasteful.
Like most folks we put up a tree indoors and a few lights outdoors. It was a more simple, relaxing time. |
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Then, the combination of two adorable children and a lot of business travel to the US in the run-up to Christmas, prompted the purchase of an American airblown (inflatable) Santa and an igloo. Both were purchased from Walmart and both are still resident today, all these years later, as can be seen in the picture.
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As the years progressed myself and a dear friend of ours (Chris Bagnall), who lived a few doors away, began a light-hearted one-upmanship on an annual basis. In fairness Chris won most of the time, one of his final entrants being the singing Father Christmas, shown in the photo, which he surprised us with on arriving for Christmas eve drinks. I swear that those are devil horns protruding from Chris's head, given he goaded much of what followed :)
So, after a few years, not only had we collected a few of inflatable decorations, we were also regularly putting up 4-6 Christmas trees through the house. This is still the case today. We also gained a few more decorations when Chris moved away from the village and donated some items to us, one of which being the singing Father Christmas. He still sings and dances, although it rarely stays on for more than the first 3 minutes as the singing is awful. It's Chris's devil legacy :) |
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At this point I also want to thank some of my friends in the US, where most of the inflatables originate. These folks know who they are. In the run-up to Christmas I tended to visit Seattle and/or New York. One-time while in Seattle, I needed to collect two large inflatables from a Home Depot many miles away from the Microsoft campus (The big train and the balloon). Aware that time was short, Microsoft didn't hesitate in arranging a limo to go to the store and bring them back for me. These boxes measured a metre square each. They even helped me secure the boxes together so that they could travel as outsize luggage. So I'd like to thank the lovely folks at Microsoft, plus good friends that were at Infor in New York over the years, for their collective help enabling our display. Like I say, you know who you are and most of them remain friends to this day.
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It's always been a family affair. In the early days we could take our time erecting and securing each piece as there were so few. The decoration on the right in the first picture was my all-time favourite. It was a 12ft long train with moving parts. It cost a fortune but lasted one year before the motor seized and the moving bits stopped working. The snow globe is still part of the display.
Here you'll also see Victoria undertaking some running repairs inside the balloon in 2013. |
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In 2016 we lost Debbi's mum following the onset of Alzheimer's. Until this point we had not collected donations, merely put the decorations up for ours and local children to enjoy, plus to welcome Santa as he visited on Christmas eve. This was Phyllis welcoming Santa in three years earlier.
Since Christmas 2016 we have collected each year for this very worthy cause and Horspath's Santa and his team have supported the cause every year. Thank you Santa. 
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Today, we have 14 inflatable decorations, three lasers and more lights than I dare to think about. And the collection is still growing.
Christmas 2020 has, I think, been important for us all. It has certainly provided the most humbling experience of my life. The enjoyment expressed among people visiting has been completely overwhelming. I have truly loved seeing scores of little children (and some big ones) enjoying the display, taking pictures alongside their favourite decorations and generally having a great time. It truly makes the effort of putting on the display completely worth it. Full disclosure though, the guy that visited in the plucked Turkey costume scared the life out of me :) Add to this good cheer the generosity of visitors, and even those unable to see the display, in donating over £950 this year alone (that is twice as much as the total collected across the last 4 years) and I can only say that I am both touched, given the tough times people are having, plus unbelievably grateful to everyone concerned. Honestly, this has been a massive tonic at the end of a very sad year. Thank you to everyone. |
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So, What Happens when the lights go out?
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I often get asked about what we do with the display once Christmas is over.
I guess that most people forget about decorations once the New Year is in and life returns to relative normality. They box them up and move on. But that's not so for the Montgomery household. Each decoration spends up to two weeks inflated in our conservatory, drying out and being cleaned. As you can see from the photos, the inside display is often more entertaining than the outside display. Trust me, Inflating an 18ft Father Christmas in a conservatory is no small task. And don't get me started on the balloon! Personally I like the indoor dinosaur as it makes me chuckle when I see it in the morning. Once each decoration and light string is completely clean and dry, it's the turn of our eldest daughter Joanne, with her fiancé Chris, to help us put the 47 boxes of decorations back in the loft. Fortunately Chris is pretty tall, so that helps. There the boxes reside until the following November, when the cycle begins again and Joanne and Chris are called upon to help us get them all down again. Thank You Again For Your Generosity and we all hope that you have a safe and loving New Year. |
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