Charlotte and Sharon keep the Christmas tree spirit alive - for everyone to see!

What a lovely Halowe'en Christmas tree!

A trainee nurse from Failsworth is determined to keep the Christmas tree spirit alive through the depths of the ongoing lockdown.

Charlotte Barker, aged 25, is a trainee nurse at the Manchester Royal Infirmary and along with her mum Sharon – who is 50 and a pancreatic cancer specialist nurse – the pair are determined to keep the Christmas message shining bright in a bid to lift the mood throughout the dark winter evenings, and beyond.

Charlotte explained: “We just love doing our Christmas tree every year.

“It’s a tradition, me and my mum start picking our colour scheme months in advance and go shopping on our days off, mostly to Housing Units or The Range garden centres.

“Last summer during the first lockdown we decided we were going to make our own Santa’s Grotto for our younger nieces and nephews, Penelope. Livaya, Benjamin and Kiah.

“I was Santa, and my mum and my Auntie Joanne were elves.

“We made my Grandma’s shed into a grotto, made giant lollipops and candy canes and had snow.

“We also did our first Hallowe’en tree too.

“Because we always have fun doing this and due to the current lockdown, we have now decided to do a year tree with different themes.

“We decide the themes through ideas from our family and friends.

“We have a St Patrick's tree lined up, Easter, a summer holiday one and Olympics one hopefully.

“We’re just waiting to see what other idea we can come up with!

“The tree is in our living room so everyone passing can see it, and we send pictures to everyone and have our own Instagram page with it.”

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