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While decorating your house for the holiday season might seem like a heartwarming annual milestone, for one mother in Australia, this time of year is her worst nightmare.
Instead of grinning and baring the masses of tinsel and multitude of pine needles, single mum-of-four Krystan has a more controversial means of avoiding the at-home Christmas carnage.
Though the 31-year-old Gold Coast resident - who is mum to Bentley, 9, Jaxon, 2, Tyler, 1, and Matilda 10 months - claims she prefers to get ahead of the festive decor every year, she adds that insecurity over the way she decorates it has resulted in her reaching out to others for support.
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"I decorate our tree with the kids every year and love to get it up early because it’s been a rough few years for everyone, and once the excitement of Christmas starts in the house, it gives you something to look forward to,” she told Kidspot.
And in an attempt to take back control during the understandably stress-inducing holiday season, Krystan - who is currently expecting her fifth child - admitted to scrolling through the 'Christmas Mums Australia' Facebook group, only to stumble across some impressive looking trees.
It was then that she discovered fellow yuletide-loving mum, Tamara.
“I saw a picture of her tree and thought, ‘Wow, that’s incredible, I would love to have something like that’,” self-employed photographer Krystan recalled.
But instead of taking inspiration from Tamara's decorating skills, she instead opted to reach out to the fellow Gold Coast resident directly.
“I said, ‘How would you feel if I paid you to go shopping for ornaments and decorate my tree?’” she remembered.
Much to Krystan's delight, Tamara subsequently accepted her offer, and after receiving a generous budget of AU$300 (£156) for ornaments, the decorating began.
“As soon as I knew she would take care of everything from the shopping to decorating, it was a massive relief,” Krystan said. “I said to her, ‘You just do what you think will look good’”.
Though Krystan admitted she had no idea what theme Tamara would opt for to decorate her 7.5 foot tall Costco tree, she was overjoyed to see the finished results within a matter of hours, with the final bill totalling $600 (£313), which includes both Tamara's labour costs and the cost of the decorations.
“You can’t put a cost on it because the tree has become so special to us already,” Krystan later admitted.
“Seeing the kids’ reaction when it was all set up was amazing. I was worried about them being upset that they didn’t get to do it, but my nine-year-old said it looked so good that he didn’t even want to re-do it.
"It looks so beautiful. I would haven’t done anywhere near as good a job as she did.”
Tamara chose to decorate Krystan's tree far more elaborately than others she'd adorned before for herself, replacing the usual baubles and tinsel with flowers, glass birds and a glass blown tree topper.
“She used things I never would have thought of, and that’s what’s really made the tree what it is," Krystan proudly explained, before opening up on her 2024 plans.
“I might go for another theme and have Tamara come and do it again and go through the same process with me not knowing what it will be like,” she teased. “It’s a really nice surprise for me and the kids.”
Rhianna Benson