Four trees, three reindeer and too many Santas to count. For Marie and Nelson Gibb, no festive season is complete without the incredible decorations they spend a month putting up to enchant their six grandchildren.
The home in Dubai’s Al Safa 2 also has colour-themed rooms and an entire Christmas village at this time of year. Marie places hundreds of baubles and ornaments around the extensive house, both indoors and out, in a tradition that has spanned decades and brings as much joy to her family and her as it does to visitors and passers-by.
Tis the season
Marie arrived in the UAE from Scotland in 1986 with her husband after a couple of years spent working in Muscat, and has a deep affinity for the festive season. “I just love it,” she says. “My mum loved Christmas, and my siblings and I were always the first ones up on our street. The neighbours would come in and our grandparents would stay; it was always very exciting.”
From her early Christmas memories in East Kilbride to her Dubai home, Marie credits her annual Christmas Eve party as the catalyst for sparking her ever-growing decoration collection.
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We take a peek inside Marie Gibb's home in Al Safa 2 just ahead of Christmas. All photos: Antonie Robertson / The National -
The Dubai resident, who is originally from Scotland, has three children and six grandchildren -
The home has three colour themes – gold in the lounge, red in the dining room and a white winter forest in the TV room -
The outdoor space, too, is given the full festive treatment -
A mini Christmas village is full of intricate ornaments and figurines -
Gibb says she always manages to finds space for the decorations she buys or is gifted year on year -
The pieces range from tiny baubles to life-size decor -
Gibb also collects and displays Swarovski crystal ornaments -
New this year is a red Swarovski ornament advent calendar, a gift from her husband Nelson Gibb -
Gibb starts putting up the decorations at the beginning of November -
She switches on the Christmas tree lights on UAE National Day, on December 2 -
Gibb is known for her annual Christmas Eve parties -
Even the guest bathroom is given the festive treatment -
Gibb says her six grandchildren find great delight in visiting her home at this time of year -
Several baubles gifted by friends over the years, hold great memories for Gibb -
No detail is too small for Gibb's discerning eye -
It takes Gibb eight days to pack up the decorations, only to break them out again when Christmas rolls round
“I’ve been hosting a Christmas Eve party for 24 years,” she says. “I used to have more than 300 people when my children were teenagers, and they would invite all their friends, plus there would be visiting friends and family. Over the years, people have left, but while the party has got smaller, the decorations have gotten bigger.”
It’s impossible to put a number on the decorations, lights and baubles Marie has amassed, largely because the collection regularly gets bigger. “Each year, I go out to the shops and end up coming back with decorations. I’ve never just bought one bauble,” she says. “People give me decorations as gifts, and I always know I’ll find a space for them.”
Marie is a mother of three and grandma of six; her two sons live in Dubai, while her daughter lives in Scotland. So, what do they think of her collection?
“My eldest grandchild did once say: ‘Granny goes overboard with the decorations,’” she says with a laugh. “But all my children love Christmas. When I’ve occasionally said: ‘I’m not doing this again’, they say: ‘Oh you have to do it for our kids.’”
A very Marie Christmas
Marie’s decorations are colour-themed and spread across the three main rooms of the house – gold in the lounge, red in the dining room and a white winter forest theme, complete with animals, in the television room. Outside, a real tree, candy canes and fairy lights bring a Christmas vibe to the pool area, as well as the downstairs bathroom, because why not? “Sometimes you buy something and think: ‘Where will I put it?’ Then you’re like: ‘I’ll just put it in the bathroom', and that’s how it started,” she says.
So how does one begin festive decorating on such a grand scale? “I start decorating at the beginning of November,” says Marie. “I give myself four weeks to do it, maybe eight hours one day and a couple of hours the next, which allows me to do it at my own pace.” It also takes her about eight days to pack everything away, in early January.
“When I first start to think about doing it, I do feel a bit overwhelmed. But once I start, I’ll do a little bit each day. Then all the decorations start coming out and I think: ‘Oh, I’ll just do that and that’, and before you know it, it’s all done.”
Marie starts with the tree in each room, “as that’s the longest job”, and she switches on all the lights on UAE National Day, on December 2. Her collection of Swarovski crystal ornaments takes centre stage on revolving platforms in the gold-themed room, allowing them to catch the sunlight. Taking pride of place in the red dining room is a new Swarovski ornament advent calendar, a gift from Nelson, who not only loves the decorations his wife goes to so much trouble with, but is only too happy to add to her ever-growing collection each year.
“I love my crystals. Swarovski does new Christmas pieces each year, and the kids will always get me something,” she says.
Ringing in memories
When it comes to picking her favourite pieces, Marie says it’s less about the ornament and more about the story behind it. “One of my friends, Pat, died a while ago, so it’s the pieces she bought me over the years that hold special meaning,” she says. “There are also baubles from other friends that remind me of them when I’m unpacking them.
“To be honest, I’m quite minimalist in my everyday decor, I don’t have that many ornaments on display throughout the year. Christmas seems to bring out the maximalist in me.”
Does there ever come a time when she thinks this might be the last year she goes all out on the decor, and limits the decorations to a tree and a few fairy lights? “I think it every June,” she says. “Then the summer goes and the festive season comes around. But I like it, it cheers me up. I think old age might stop me doing it. I give myself another five or six years because it is hard work.
“But I will never get tired of being Christmassy. Everyone’s Christmas is their own. You make your own memories and traditions.”
