Christmas is a big deal at Always Sunday HQ; we go all out and we love an excuse to party. Recently, the team got together to chat about their plans for Christmas, the right way to decorate a tree and their top tips to help you give your entire home the AS festive feel. This is the Always Sunday Guide to Christmas.
In conversation with:
Bella, Managing Director
Lauren, Merchandising Manager
Nat, Store
Amy, Store
Sophie, Accounts
Gail, HR
Hannah, Marketing
Zoe, Assistant
The most important question: Coloured lights or white lights?
Nat: White always.
Hannah: Agree!
Lauren: Warm white over coloured lights.
Zoe: Coloured! Why go for one colour when you can have all the colours?
Stocking or sack?
Nat: Stockings, we still use the same ones from when we were kids.
Sophie: Sacks because my mum made our Christmas sacks with our names on.
Hannah: A bit odd but my mum actually used pillowcases so sacks i suppose.
Zoe: Me too!
Bella: Well, it’s got to be our Sack of Sh*t, surely?
What kind of Christmas decorations do you pick?
Gail: Ours is a collection of over thirty years, many are special pieces from when the kids were little.
Amy: I live at home right now so I don’t have any but if i did get a tree I think i’d want decorations to have a wholesome, homemade feel. I’d go around Christmas markets and only get ones handmade by local makers.
One a year or bought in bulk?
Zoe: One special decoration every year, something handmade/ handblown or maybe a Wedgewood.
Bella: My partner Connor and I choose a decoration per year together, the rule is it has to make us laugh.
Nat: My boyfriend and I do that too, we pick one for each of us every year and they tend to be handmade or from independent shops.
Sophie: I’m going to let my daughter Poppy (she’s only 1) pick a special decoration each year as she gets older.
Sophie, Hannah and Zoe: You’ve each bought your first house this year right? Are you excited about celebrating your first Christmas in your new home?
Sophie: Yeh, need to get some decorations though because we’ll be starting from scratch.
Hannah: Definitely excited, we lived in a flat before so never bothered with a tree. Now we have a loft for prime bauble storage and I want to make the whole home really festive because we’re hosting.
Zoe: I’m excited to make an all day Christmas grazing spread. Not traditional but all the different forms of potato and dips; smiley faces, wedges, curly fries and waffles. Maybe some pigs in blankets tucked in to make it more Christmassy.
How will you all be decorating this year? Any particular theme?
Gail: Same as every year, it comes out the box and onto the tree!
Lauren: Yeh, same theme as always; whatever I have from previous years. Although I liked the rustic orange Christmas shoot we did this year so I’d like to make it more like that in future.
Hannah: I tend to prefer a natural, minimal look. I've got some tiny porcelain bells and metal woodland animal decorations from my pre: flat days so I’ll bring those out.
Any AS decorations you’ll be adding?
Sophie: I love the mistletoe decorations.
Zoe: Me too! In the gold.
Lauren: Love the sequined quail.
Hannah: I know I just said I like it minimal but I can't stop thinking about the oversized green velvet bows, I think I'm gonna have to take one home with me.
Bella: Mm, I don’t normally do tinsel but ours is epic and it’s handmade in the UK so I might need some of that.
What about gifts? What’s on your list from the Always Sunday Gift Guide?
Amy: I’m definitely excited about picking presents out from the shop. i think the offensive tea towels and the Arctic Fox scarves will make great gifts. I also love the Christmas Market Stroll candle but maybe for myself!
Bella: As an 80’s child, the steam train set gives me the Home Alone vibes.
What are your top decorating tips?
Sophie: Make sure you have nothing else planned, it almost always goes wrong in some way.
Gail: It might sound obvious but lights first on the tree, turn them on and see how they look before you get to decorations.
Bella: I have these amazing Christmas lights that come on a halo so they don’t get tangled and you just unravel them to put them on the tree and then loop them back round when you’re packing away.
Hannah: I like to buy or forage foliage and berries to tuck into the tree, it makes it look fuller and adds depth and interest when your decorations go on. Also Lauren and I put gingerbread men on the tree for the rustic shoot and I actually love that idea.
Lauren: Tinsel up the stairs (if you have stairs that is), and on the fireplace, always feels like Christmas to me.
Zoe: I’d say just do whatever brings you joy.
Amy: Agree, you don’t need a set theme or colour scheme.
Nat: Go all out, more is always better! You only do it for a month of the year so you might as well make the most of it.
Christmas tends to be about the nostalgia, what traditions did your family have growing up? Do you still do them now?
Nat: When we were little, my siblings and I would pile on my mum and Dad’s bed with the dog and open our presents Christmas morning. I think we’re all too big to do that now though.
Lauren: We used to make cutout paper snowflakes to decorate all the windows.
Hannah: My mum always put the obligatory walnuts, orange and Cadbury’s selection box in our festive sack. She still does it; during lockdown she posted our presents and put in the orange and walnuts but by the time we opened them the orange was so green and fuzzy.
Amy: My mum actually kind of hates Christmas because it’s become so commercial and there’s all that pressure and expectation. I think that’s rubbed off on me so now I value it for being about spending time with my family, playing games and sharing a cheese board.
Who will you be celebrating Christmas with this year?
Bella: It’s actually Lexi’s birthday on Christmas day so it’s fast becoming a tradition that Connor, Lauren and I spend it with her, her partner Tommy and their kids. We call it Lexmas!
What’s your ultimate Christmas day treat?
Zoe: Baileys!
Hannah: Pebernoder. They’re tiny Danish spiced biscuits we found in Copenhagen years ago and i can’t seem to find them in shops in the UK, they’re delicious though. I should probably try making them but if anyone knows where I can buy them let me know!
Amy: Christmas dinner of course and I actually like Christmas pudding, I don’t care what anyone says!
Sophie: I prefer Boxing day lunch, all those leftovers and bubble and squeak.. yum!
Bella: It’s not Christmas without cheese and pickles.
Amy: Yeh, got to have all the cheese. My boyfriend’s dad has a woodburner so we actually put a camembert on top, and it melts perfectly. It’s so good!
Lauren: Red wine, lots of bottles because it’s better to be safe than sober!
We hope you have a wonderful Christmas wherever you are and with whomever you choose to spend it with.
Love from Lexi, Bella, Lauren and the entire Always Sunday Team.