Well, not strictly a tree….a set of twiggy branches, sourced from our local park because our kittens decided to chomp on anything remotely green, green & plastic……our fake tree made it to the first layer and then had to be packed away again!! We did pretty much guess it would go this way, yet of course our son and I were desperate to concoct an alternative piece of splendour! Some years ago in a different house we did something very similar and I loved it, I remember buying neon ribbons by the metre from ‘Rolls n Rems’ in Lewisham (a fab haberdashery place!) and using them to replace all of the boring old bits of cotton that had been been re-knotted each year on my growing collection of vintage baubles!

We made a tall wooden box to house them in and keep them secure from small hairy curious pets. This was screwed to the wall and voila!

Fairly safe, well not the hanging things on the outer reaches of course!!

Anyway folks, once safely installed we set to the fun decorating bit, Christmas music played and my son and I had a lot of fun with paper snowflakes, physalis leaves, which also look great over the lights as they act as tiny lanterns! We made small paper lanterns from my lino printed paper chain offcuts and on a very needed little trip to the glorious Borough Market at Christmastime (I have a Christmas birthday you see!) we bought a few dried orange rings and they went on too! Wire twinkly lights with rechargeable batteries mean we don’t have lumpy cables and plugs to deal with.

Finally, I managed to claw a couple of hours on my own which was really nice to add some bits of greenery to the house. We have a nice eucalyptus tree in our garden that didn’t mind a bit of pruning, along with some ivy from our fence. I heartily recommend bringing a bit of the outside in, it reconnects us, looks great and smells nice too! The little candle holder below was made from an olive can, with wood pellet cat litter in the bottom and a bit of soil to hold the candle upright! A few sprigs of leftover eucalyptus and we have a new holder for Christmas Day!

So, I will leave you here on Christmas Eve and say Season’s Greetings and may your days be merry & bright!

See you in the new year!