FLUFFING UP
I was in Springmount Garden Centre recently and I saw three attendants taking an artificial Christmas tree out of a box and they were assembling the constituent parts in proper order so that the tree could put it on display close to the huge Christmas 2023 display section of the shop.
Being inquisitive by nature I asked them what they were doing, and I was informed that they were fluffing up the tree. My brain’s back memory box went into overdrive.
I remember my late mother making cakes and pastries and she was always adding more flower or some other ingredient to make the mixture nice and fluffy. No, I could not apply this floury context to the tree.
Then I went back to my drama days when the producer would get annoyed and tell some actor that he was fed up with them fluffing their lines. No, those lines of comparison could not be applied to the Christmas tree. They would be just too dramatic.
I was talking to a friend of mine last year who had gone for her 3rd driving test and she told me she had fluffed it again and she was going to buy a bike.  I think I could not wheel that one out for the tree even though the branches were like spokes attached to a central hub.
 I love bird watching in our back garden and I often see birds dipping into the water trough and emerge fluffing their feathers and spreading them out to dry. This is so nice to observe and enjoy. Well now maybe I was getting close to the meaning of fluffing the tree, so it was time to consult some dictionary and a birdie book for the lexicographer’s true meaning of fluffing.
 I look up the birds mating season when the male sticks out his chest to its full extent while contracting their muscles to fluff up their feathers as they try to impress their female chosen bird.
Parent birds often brood by perching on the branch above the nest and fluffing their breast feathers out to cover it.
I think that is closest to what my friends in the garden centre were doing in straightening out or fluffing out the branches to their full extent to show off their artificial green magnificence in readiness for displaying Xmas lights and baubles.
It’s a tricky little bit of stuff that fluffy word but we had best fluff on as the fluffy, festive season approaches.
I just loved their choice of word which was so appropriate and apt for the job they were doing.
Its funny that last Christmas, around the same time, I went into Lily Blooms shop in Gorey. They were taking a pre lit Christmas tree out of a box to straighten out the branches to put it on display. We liked it immediately and purchased it.
So, whether its straightening or fluffing of branches of artificial Christmas we seem to be attracted to artificial Christmas Trees.
They all look so cheery and festive and add greatly to pre-Christmas buzz and excitement.
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