For me, Christmas is all about tradition, when you blindly do things the same old way, just because that’s the way you’ve always done it. (I try hard not to live like that for the rest of the year!)
Every family has its own traditions, many of which seem very strange to me. One of my friends has an orange-smashing competition before dinner, and in another family they’ve been passing around the same (unopened) box of chocolates for 26 years.
One of my favourite traditions, inherited from my parents, is that the youngest child in the house has to put the angel on the top of the tree. (In my family, I was the youngest for only two years, before being usurped by my brother.)
My daughter Annie has had the dubious honour of angel-placing for all of her 21 years. Even though she’s been tall enough to do it on her own for many years now, part of the fun is that her dad has to ‘lift’ her up to reach the top of the tree. Each Christmas, this scene has been captured on film, and while there have been some hilarious photos taken over recent years, I’ve been forbidden to post them. The pictures below have been carefully censored by all involved.

(This post first appeared on www.girlsheartbooks.com)