Nearly Ready For Christmas

Minor Christmas tree fail the other day. I wrestled it into the tree stand (not that easy to do by yourself) , got decorating and was most pleased with my efforts. Doesn't it fit nicely into the alcove?



Then I went out and came home a few hours later to see this:



TREE DOWN!!!! Nooooooooooooooo.

I was lucky that only one thing broke but it had to be the biggest, loveliest vintage bauble didn't it? Smashed to smithereens. Minor waaaah-ing took place but the tree was propped back up and doesn't appear to have made another bid for freedom. The massive stack of presents is probably helping keep it upright!







I'm having great fun decorating the rest of the house too! The living room is obviously Christmas Central:





But in the library I have advent corner:



With my truly beautiful advent calendar:



I pinched a leftover floral decoration from work to liven up the hall:



The stairs have been garlanded:



I've even decorated the bed!



Just need to have a quick hoover round the place and then I'm ready to put my feet up and dive into my stack of special festive books. Can't wait! I chuffing love Christmas.



Merry Christmas everyone. I'm signing off for a week or so - I like my time offline over the holidays. Hope you all have a lovely time, full of as much food/drink/presents/family fun/peace and quiet as your heart desires.

Tree Time

I LOVE CHRISTMAS!

I'm officially off work until 6th January. It is bliss.

This month has been so busy that I'm planning to spend all of this week loafing around the house being as lazy as humanly possible in an effort to recuperate. I'm making a good go of it so far - didn't get dressed today! Now that I'm home and chilled out I can start to get properly into the Christmas spirit and that means it's time to buy a big tree, haul the decorations down from the loft and get cracking.

I was rather pleased with the tree this year. Not quite as bushy as some in previous years but it's a very pleasing shape, isn't it? Obviously needs some presents to go underneath it but give me time. I feel wrong sitting down to wrap things until the tree is up!





My trees always have been and always will be an utter mishmash. No colour scheme or style, just lots of much-loved favourites. Some of them are older than I am. Rockin' Robin, the cheeky chappy in the first photo, is at least 35. Being the senior and important fellow that he is, he goes on the tree first. Pride of place and all that jazz.

I do try and find at least one new bauble or sparkly thing each year but despite not having a theme they all hang out merrily together. Plus it's all part of the fun when decorating the tree to go "Ooh I remember buying/making that!"


One of the two new beaded baubles I made on holiday this year. It's either Byzantium or Anatolia, can't remember which.


From the shop in Castle Howard on a Yorkshire winter jaunt one year.


The fox was a present last year, the box of crackers was made when I was about 6 from a mega book of Christmas crafts, Shaun the Sheep came out of a cracker and Jimbo had to be bought. He's a robin doppelganger of Jimbo and the Jetset!


Every Scouse tree needs a Scouse bauble.


The world's tiniest reindeer came from a shop in Bruges. He's the same size as my little fingernail.


Peg Lady was made by one of the volunteers at work. She totally reminds me of Mrs Banks from Mary Poppins. Votes for women!

The rest of the house gets a bit of a jazzing up too.


The stairs get garlanded.


The cards get pegged onto ribbon and hung from the picture rail.


The Christmas cross-stitch comes out.


And the kitsch fawn, bought by my mum for her first flat in the late 60s, is stuck somewhere where I can see him. He makes me smile.

Now I come to think of it, I have quite a lot of kitsch Christmas decorations. Artistic and cultured I am not. Not at this time of year anyway. I went mad in a charity shop a couple of years ago and bought loads of ancient baubles. You know the ones. Sort of 70s brightly coloured things with glitter on them? Impossible to take photos of as you end up with a reflection of yourself in tatty pjs and scruffy hair in all the photos... The other half of the tree is covered with them. I love it.