Retro Christmas ornaments take Cardiff woman ‘back to childhood’

For Lisa Watts, putting up her vast collection of vintage Christmas decorations is a “magical” experience which takes her right back to her 1970s childhood.

Lisa, 53, has filled her two-bedroom Victorian maisonette in Cardiff with more than 1,000 decorations, amassed over more than 30 years of collecting vintage ornaments.

Her retro decorations include a 1970s TV set turned into a festive diorama complete with snowmen and angels, a bottle-brush Christmas tree – fashioned by machines that made household brushes – and a light-up Santa figurine dating back to the 1940s.

“I think I’m just trying to go back to my childhood really,” said the mother-of-one.

“I think people are going back to simpler, happier times, and for a lot of people childhood was the best time,” she said.

Lisa said her collection of decorations evoked memories of her childhood, when she would enjoy going into town with her family to look at festive shop-window displays.

She remembers the joy of opening traditional advent calendars, with festive pictures behind each door, rather than the chocolates or treats, such as beauty products, which are on sale nowadays.

Lisa’s home can be seen in a previous Christmas special of BBC’s Wales Home of the Year show – which is being shown again this Saturday.

She said one of the judges on the show, Glen Thomas, was moved to tears when he visited her home, which he said brought back memories of visiting his nana’s house.

“Christmas is very much like a feeling, isn’t it – and you can’t make feelings like that – so it was lovely that he got it,” she said.

“He thanked me on camera and said I had taken him back to his childhood.”

Lisa began collecting vintage Christmas decorations because she likes “quirky, fun, colourful, kitsch stuff”.

“I just think it’s nice to be yourself at Christmas, and do what you like,” she added.

“You can be much more individual when you buy vintage decorations.”

She also prefers retro ornaments because they are more sustainable than new decorations.

She said Wales should be proud of its festive heritage, citing its once “huge Christmas industry” making products for shops and for the US market in the 1960s.

Her collection includes a 1950s aluminium tree, a 1960s white tree – which was made in Wales – and a 1980s fibre-optic tree.

Lisa said she bought her first Christmas decorations from Woolworths when she was first married, at the age of 21, attributing her love of vintage decor to her late father, who also collected kitsch ornaments.

Nowadays she finds unusual festive items in charity shops and by scouring car-boot sales.

She said her husband, Keith, and 18-year-old son, Jake, are happy with the decorations, “as long as they don’t have to put them up or take them down”.

“If I was single I’d probably put three times as many up,” she added.

Christmas is a busy time for Lisa, who runs a retro festive ornament stall at Cardiff Indoor Flea Market, with people travelling from as far afield as Scotland to visit.

She also runs a Christmas club, where she and fellow lovers of all things vintage share their displays.

“Some people think my house is over the top but it’s nothing compared to what some of my customers do,” she said.

“One has a two-bedroom cottage and she’s got 32 Christmas trees.”