Decorating the Christmas tree was always a big deal in the Bentley house, recalls Essex reporter Ross Bentley as he looks back on his favourite Chrismas memory.

No sooner had Dad lugged the pine through into the living room than my brother and I would be sorting through the tinsel and baubles, and deciding on what shambolic arrangement would adorn the year’s festive foliage.

Noel is a time for tradition and there is nothing we get more nostalgic about than the personalised Christmas decorations that – like old friends - have kept us company over the years.

We would coo with delight as the bedraggled Santa Claus - made at infant school from a toilet roll, cotton wool and red crepe paper – was again lifted from the decorations box. While the rediscovery of Mum’s mini-teddy bears in Austrian lederhosen was always met with a sense of excitement.

And Christmas just wouldn’t be the same without the time-worn angel – more Miss Haversham than Tinkerbell – adorning the top of the tree for another year - like she had since we could remember.

Fast forward 35 years and my young sons are slowly but surely building up a bank of trusty Christmas decorations guaranteed to resurface every December.

Already we have the festive Koalas bears – a nod towards my wife’s Australian heritage, the Union Jack bauble and the plastic vampire bat (don’t ask) - but, fortunately, no sign of a toilet roll Santa Claus…….yet.