Our dining table seats six, and every December it has to feed eleven. This is the story of the Christmas we stopped fighting the small table — and the five ideas that finally made it feel like a celebration.
My brother’s balcony held a drying rack, a broken chair and a plant he was slowly killing. One evening, Rs 850 and two strings of battery lights later, it became the seat everyone in the family fought for.
My sister’s flat is one room, a corridor, and a kitchen you have to turn sideways in — and the first Christmas tree I bought her blocked the front door. The second Christmas, we did it properly, and it cost less.
The first thing guests read at my door was not my welcome mat — it was a crooked little name plate I had hung in a hurry. Fixing it taught me what actually makes an entryway feel finished.
One December week, a leaning tree, a $9 ribbon and a strand of lights one window too short — how this house actually gets decorated.
