Jane Malyon has her Christmas tree up, lights on and other little festive touches around the house, 365 days a year – and she’s always ready for a Christmas celebration
TikToker explains why she keeps her Christmas tree up all year round
While the thought of Santa in spring might give you the shivers, Christmas fan Jane Malyon has a heartwarming reason for keeping her Christmas tree up all year round. Jane, 68, who resides in one of The Rodings in Essex, keeps her Christmas tree, lights and other festive decorations up throughout the year.
The mother-of-two also keeps a turkey in the freezer, a box of crackers on standby, and stockings at the ready – all in anticipation of her two children’s visits. Jane is prepared to host Christmas for them at any time of year – be it April or November – or even multiple times. Her now adult children, George, 36, and Edward, 41, both live overseas, and rather than feeling the sadness of their absence at Christmas, they have started a new tradition – which involves celebrating Christmas whenever they step through the front door.
Jane, who runs a small business called The English Cream Tea Company with her husband Roger, 68, says they are a very “Christmassy family”, but as circus-man George often travels for work and Edward resides in Canada, they aren’t often able to return home in December.
She exclusively told The Mirror back in 2024: “We gradually got to the situation where I realised our tradition of having everybody round for Christmas and doing all the things we had done before, in that way, had evaporated. Those days had gone and I really tried very hard not to be sad about things.
“For example, my son Edward, who is in Canada, I don’t want to be sad that he’s far from me. I want to be thrilled that he’s leading a life he loves to live and that is more important than me wishing my boys were by my side. And so we just came to the realisation that we needed to celebrate Christmas whenever we could, any time at all throughout the year if we were together.
“So what I’ve lost in the way of a traditional, December, the normal thing that other families have, I’ve gained Christmas throughout the whole year.”
Rather than enduring the hassle of putting their artificial tree up and down, Jane and Roger decided they may as well leave it standing – and it’s remained in pride of place beside the piano for six years. Each room features “little touches” and “nods” to Christmas.
“It might be a doormat that’s got reindeers on it,” Jane explained. “Every room has a little something. If you looked for it, you’d find it.”
For the family, the Christmas tree represents a “symbol of family togetherness at a moment’s notice” and keeping it up year-round serves as a constant reminder of that bond. The couple always have to be prepared for a spontaneous Christmas celebration due to the unpredictable visits from their sons.
Jane doesn’t want to waste any “precious time” setting up Christmas decorations when her “free spirit” son George could arrive at any moment. She recalls how George once travelled from China via plane, coach, two trains and a bus without giving them any notice of his arrival.
“I can’t be wasting a quarter of a day of George time putting a tree up. I want it to be at the ready,” the mum shared.
Jane keeps “turkey and cranberry sauce on standby”, and after interpreting some hints in George’s messages back in March 2024, she said she “placed an order for two shirts” in case he showed up. “And I’ve been buying up Christmas stocking presents for him, so we will be ready if he appears.”
If George did make an appearance, she planned to connect with Edward via Zoom so they could celebrate Christmas together.
The family’s festivities include opening presents, enjoying a Christmas meal, singing carols, and Jane even has her Jingle Bells sound effects ready to go. “We’re quite musical and we will play together round the piano. Except my husband, who does not enjoy music at all, poor thing. He goes and makes that tea. And we’ll just make a racket and have fun. We’re not aiming to be the Von Trapp family, we’re just having a blast.”
While Roger doesn’t partake in the piano singalongs, he has his own unique tradition that the entire village is invested in. He creates a stocking for Jane, filled with items from the supermarket, and within it, he hides a £50 note.
Jane elaborated: “But I mean, hidden with a capital H, like cocaine smuggling level hiding. So it’s been inside the banana, but he has superglued the banana shut, it’s been inside a satsuma, it’s been inside a walnut whip.”
Jane, who also shared her charming tradition on her @afternoonteajane TikTok account, revealed that some trolls cruelly labelled her “lazy” for not taking down her tree – but the majority of responses have been overwhelmingly positive. Her viral Christmas tree video back in 2024 had been viewed by over 223k people, with many calling it the “sweetest and loveliest” video they’ve seen and others praising it as a “beautiful idea”.
One touched viewer simply wrote: “This warms my heart”.
In fact, after seeing the lengths the teatime expert goes to, many people have pleaded with Jane to adopt them. One person recently asked: “Would you like a daughter? I would love a mum, especially a mum like you.
“That has been the most interesting side effect of TikTok,” Jane explained. “The number of people that feel their inner child is not nurtured. And I would adopt everybody. I should open an orphanage for adults.”
Whilst Jane invests considerable energy in preserving the festive magic for her loved ones, she reveals her children reciprocate in equal measure. “George, who at one point didn’t earn very much money, would always think, what can he do for us,” Jane explained.
“And he banned me from our living room on our so-called Christmas Day, and I was allowed in after an hour, and he’d lit 16 candles round the room, and he put on a Frank Sinatra record, he’d cleared the furniture, he’d dressed in a dinner jacket and he had his arms out, ready to dance. It’s just so darling. They are so sweet back to us. I didn’t know if they would get the bug of doing kindnesses for each other, but they so have. I live on these memories.”
Recalling an occasion when George inscribed a festive greeting in one of her puzzle books, she added: “I’m blown away by it. And so any sadnesses I would have about not being within the rest of the time. I’ve got these fantastic, memories in my heart of, either what we’re able to do for them or they could do for us.
“I think I’m the luckiest girl, really. I celebrate Christmas all year round and at a moment’s notice, we’re ready.”
