Most people who opened the first door on their Advent calendar today will have found a picture or a piece of chocolate. But at St Helen’s Church there’s a different kind of calendar.
Each day, a new figure is added to the Jesse Tree, tracing the family line from Adam all the way to Jesus.
Today, Monday 1st December, it began with Adam and Eve — complete with serpent and apple. As the first people in the biblical story, they mark the beginning of humanity and the start of the journey that the Jesse Tree will follow through Advent.
Traders and community groups welcomed shoppers and visitors to Abingdon’s annual Christmas Extravaganza, which brought together entertainment, a parade, a market, and the Christmas lights switch-on.
The day began wet — a good excuse to visit somewhere indoors, such as the St Helen’s Christmas Fair, also taking place during the morning.
Or the Preloved clothes sale in the Guildhall, thanks to One-Planet Abingdon.
By the time the parade was ready to set off at 12 noon the rain had stopped. (These are members of Abingdon Drama Club who will be performing The Snow Queen in January.)
The parade was led by the Oxford Caledonian Pipers, followed by Amanda Alder’s Dance Academy; Guides and Brownies; the cast of Beauty and the Beast from the Cornerstone in Didcot;
the Abingdon Traditional Morris Dancers;
Abingdon Town Council;
Abingdon Music Centre;
and finally Father Christmas, brought to us by the Abingdon Lions. He had a grotto outside Poundland for the rest of the day.
The parade route was closed for about twenty minutes, and the parade participants ended up in the carpark behind Bury Street where I took this picture of members of the Beauty and the Beast cast with the Mayor and Town Councillors.
Bath Street was closed for the craft market, with performances running there throughout the day, as well as on the Market Place.
The final act on the Market Place was Courtney Reddy performing as Avril Lavigne.
Then Duncan Brown led the traditional countdown from 10 to 0, the Mayor pressed the red button, and the Christmas lights came on instantly.
There was a prize for the most festive market stall. There was no prize for the most festive shop front but plenty of good competition. This is Fabulous Flowers.
The Extravaganza was organised by the Abingdon Events Partnership with sponsorship from lots of local businesses including the Bury Street precinct, Fairacres Retail Park, Missing Bean cafe and Wenn Townsend accountants.
Here is a video of the Parade and the Oxford Caledonian Pipe Band:
The Town Council’s artificial Christmas tree and large candles were being unloaded today — a clear sign that the festive season is almost here. There are now just five days to go until the Abingdon Christmas Extravaganza, when the town’s lights will be switched on.
According to the Fat Face countdown, however, there are still 31 days until Christmas itself (as of Monday).
Over on the Market Place, I arrived too late to choose from the smaller Christmas trees; the only one left was an XXL size.
Helen & Douglas House launched their Christmas season yesterday with a rare Sunday opening and an eye-catching display of Christmas jumpers, ties, and decorations. By today, some had already sold, but there were still plenty of good ones available — including these XXL jumpers.
While doing the ‘What’s On’ last week, I missed two Christmas fairs and an Agnostics Anonymous meeting. Both fairs take place on the same day as the Extravaganza: one is at Abingdon Baptist Church and the other at St Helen’s church. Agnostics Anonymous meets on Tuesday 25th at 7:30 pm, asking the question: Can you believe in science and the Bible?
One moment this fine fir tree was growing in a forest, and the next it’s been cut, hauled across the country on a lorry, and stood up in Abingdon-on-Thames Market Place.
By Saturday 15th November a fence had been placed around it, and a Palestinian flag was on display as part of a pro Palestinian protest. (Bethlehem, where the Christmas story begins, is a Palestinian city in the West Bank, and so the connection is not that far fetched.)
Today, the tree was surrounded by Monday Market stalls and their vans. On the stationary stall are notebooks and 2026 diaries. 2025 seems like the fastest year ever.
