Blog by Lynne Pearl
DECEMBER’ 22
CHRISTMAS TREES
It’s the close of the year and so we have Christmas tree festivals. There used to be ones in every major church in times gone by, but this year there was one in Crediton where they do a splendid one. They have a splendid church to have it in. They even have the tallest Christmas tree indoors that I have ever seen. Except perhaps the one in Exeter cathedral at Christmas- time, where the tree just about touches the top of the ceiling in amongst the fan vaulting, behind the rose window. The decorations are so huge that they are the size of footballs, it is a giant’s Christmas tree. The tree in Crediton church is very tall, it drips lights, silver and gold garlands, looking as if the whole tree is alight.
SEVENTY CHRISTMAS TREES
The sheer number of trees at this festival is quite something. The programme states that there are a round seventy, every one individually decorated by a local shop, business, charity, school or some other kind of organisation. As you go around you are given a guide and a voting form to vote for your favourite tree. This is a hard task as many are lovely, silver and gold are the standouts. Some are decorated with toys, there is stained glass, gold lights, blue lights, snowmen, strawberries, silver lights, gingerbread men.
CHRISTMAS CAROLS
As we sit there resting in this Christmas atmosphere, someone is playing the organ, which of course is enormous in a space this high. There are traditional carols, Rudolph the red nose reindeer, the theme tune from ‘The Snowman’, when the snowman is flying through the night sky in a winter wonderland.
Everywhere there is noise, the chatter of families, young children, including one laying on the floor, probably bored and disappointed, really the trees don’t do much. There is the Advent wreath, with pink and purple candles, like a giant clock marking the time as we pass through the weeks before Christmas, a new candle lit for each Sunday as we get closer and closer.
CHRISTMASES OF THE PAST
High above all the lights and music are the tall arches of the church which in its’ day was a cathedral until the one further down the river valley was built and this one was superseded. The stained- glass windows glow in their rich reds and blues and when the sun comes out the light is turned iridescent, shines on the creamy stone floors that have seen so many feet pass by here on so many Christmases.
