Mrs Christmas of Okuku
words and images: Amelia Norman
One of Jodie Paterson’s earliest memories is sitting on the couch in Christchurch as a young girl, singing along to ‘The 12 Days of Christmas’ on the record player. “I just loved it, because it went on forever,” she recalls. “And I’d go over and put it on again and again. It was magical.”
Decades on, Christmas magic is a driving force in Jodie’s life. “There’s so much bitterness and so many horrible things happening in the world. It’s nice to bring some magic where you can. And Christmas is magical.”
Known locally as “Mrs Christmas”, Jodie’s remote Okuku home becomes a beacon of Christmas cheer come December 1st every year. Unlike most of us who pull out a few dusty old boxes of decorations and perch them on the tree, Jodie’s decorating begins when she unlocks her 20ft shipping container, full to the brim of Christmas joy.
“I always set up on December 1st. It takes a good two to three days to set everything up,” she explains. “But we make an occasion of it. Mum always comes and helps, and we put on the Christmas music and everything. It’s great!”
It’s one of many Christmas traditions that Jodie and her family recognise every year. They have traditions around present opening, around reading The Night Before Christmas, and around the way the Christmas pudding is made. Another Christmas tradition happens in August.
“My mum gives me a Christmas decoration for my birthday each year,” says Jodie. She adds each one to her vast collection, which started back when Jodie was 10 years old and saved up to buy her own decoration from iconic ‘90s department store DEKA; a scene of Santa careening through a blue night sky on his sleigh, with a shining full moon above. She still has this decoration today. Now, of course, it’s accompanied by 20-odd Christmas trees, 40-ish Santas and countless elves, baubles, wreaths and reindeer.
Every corner and surface of Jodie’s five-bedroom home is tastefully adorned with decorations. There are miniature scenes complete with lit-up houses and snowy trees; there are Santas large and small, travelling by parachute, by jeep and by golden sleigh; mini rock’n’roll dancers who twist and jive to Christmas music; a Christmas train that merrily loops the base of a tree. There are twinkling lights, flickering candles, green, red, silver and gold galore.
The family’s Scottish heritage features strongly, with more than one Santa in full tartan, and one huge tree adorned completely with all things Scotland and bagpiping, for which the Paterson family are renowned. Another tree serves as the final resting place for much-loved teddy bears and cuddly animals owned by Jodie’s two sons, now in their teens. “I can’t throw them away, so they go to the tree. Then we get to see them each year.”
The locals know that Jodie’s is the place to go for some Christmas magic. When COVID put a stop to public Santa photos, a neighbour asked to use Jodie’s place as the backdrop for their Christmas photos. Other years, Jodie and husband Richard have taken friends and their kids out on a tour of their deer farm to pick cherries and spot “Rudolph’s helpers” in the paddocks.
“The kids love it,” says Jodie, as she hangs a shiny blue and white bauble on one of four full-sized Christmas trees in her lounge. “There’s a lot wrong with the world, so why not create a bit of magic where you can?”
