Memory and meaning
Christmas in Skye’s home is shaped by the stories and rituals of her Venetian childhood, gently threaded with her English family traditions. Murano baubles handed down from her mother sit alongside the stockings her family brings out every year. Panettone still opens Christmas morning - a small, sweet constant she’s never let go of.
For Skye, these gestures are what make the season feel so vivid. “Christmas magnifies everything,” she reflects.
Joyful decoration
Skye decorates with instinct and joy, leaning into pink, red and gold - festive without formality. She layers ribbons, candles and pieces collected over the years. Everything carries a story.
The result is a home that feels abundant and inviting, full of colour, character and the easy charm of things that have been loved and lived with.
Food as a tradition
For Skye, Christmas starts in the kitchen. The scents of her Venetian childhood - citrus, chocolate, warm spice - sit alongside the Christmas cakes her mother baked each year, made in generous batches, tied with ribbon and delivered to friends.
These rituals feel instinctive, shaped by the way she grew up. As she says with a laugh, “Cooking for four or ten is the same.” What matters is the gathering - the warmth, the chatter, the pleasure of being together.
The sofa at Christmas
Christmas Day in Skye’s home begins and ends on the sofa. It’s where stockings are opened, panettone enjoyed with mugs of tea, and where the family inevitably ends up gathered together - as Skye says, “wedged together holding onto the magic.”
Later in the evening, she and her husband return to the sofa to exchange one last present and talk through the day - their moment to take stock of it all.