This year is going to be a truly special Christmas in our household, as it’s the first one in our new home!
As a result of a mega house upgrade in Autumn 2017, we’ve become the family household with a large enough space to host our family of 16. GULP. With that in mind, this year I’ve decided to seriously ramp up the Christmas decorations.
Once upon a time (pre-2014 when I was childless) Joe and I would put up our Christmas tree around mid November. I know some people will shudder at this date but I’m just such a sucker for the season and I want to get the absolute most out of our twinkly lights! We would buy some bargain bin decorations and put Joe’s Darth Vader helmet on the top of the tree in replacement of a (Death) star. We’d spend Christmas split between our families homes and it was easy peasy.
Skip to 2014 and everything changed. We’re parents now and Christmas is magical all over again but in a new way (although we now have to wait until December due to our daughter’s birthday) We’ve added a Luna stocking to our collection. The old decorations have been binned and over the past few years we have slowly but surely began collecting “investment” pieces especially for the festive period. Instead of 99p tinsel, we now have colour coded decor and super special “my first christmas” trinkets.
As I unpacked my “Christmas” boxes from the big move, I did make note however that I really had been committed to the “throw it all together and hope for the best” method in the past few years. Now, with a bit more space to work with, I’ve instead split it into themes and decided that there should be a tree visible anywhere you are in the house. DEDICATION.
So enough with the life story. Let’s see my 3 trees (yup 3) this year, and how we added bundles of colour to each one.
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The Rockin’ Rainbow Tree
Subtle isn’t something I do all that well at Christmas. So here it is in all of it’s unbelievably over the top, batshit crazy, kitsch neon glory. The Rainbow Christmas tree from Treetopia.
Christmas is so much about kids for many families around the world, and yet we decorate Christmas trees with antique decorations and “not allowed to touch” arrangements. Parents, if your toddler is anything like mine, just own the madness and accept the chaos. This rainbow tree is a whopping 7 foot tall and lifting Luna to put a star on the top was such a milestone parent moment. She must have felt enormously proud going all that way up.
She adores the colours (can’t think where she gets it from…) and if you’re after something memorable, a coloured Christmas tree is certainly the way to go. Particularly if you’re a non-traditionalist. I love that pink and white trees are popping up more around the country and it’s a great excuse to go absolutely nuts with your decor making it the perfect fuss-free family tree.
The rainbow tree is already so bold when it comes to design, that when it came to decorating it I went for simple. (Besides, it sits in a playroom which was once part of a childminding business so it’s likely to blend in with the kids decor seamlessly.) I’ve paired it with pom pom lights from Cox and Cox (it took 3 boxes of them to get around this enormous tree!) and added plain white baubles (our entire bundle was only £9 from B&Q).
If you want to take it further, you could colour co-ordinate your baubles with the colour of the branches. Maybe I’ll do that one next year…
Shop the look: Rainbow Tree from Treetopia | LED Pom Pom Light Garland from Cox & Cox | Baubles from B&Q
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The Classy Christmas tree
I’ve slowly been collecting blue and gold tree ornaments over the past few years and it’s one of my all time favourite colour combinations. It just so happens that it’s also the colour scheme for our new lounge! (Although you may notice we’ve not quite finished painting yet) I’m not usually such a matchy matchy kinda gal, but that shimmer of gold against the blue is to die for, and a really elegant but colourful way to decorate your traditional tree. This is particularly the case if you’re looking for an alternative to traditional Christmas red which can often clash with many household interiors.
You may not be able to tell, but this artificial tree is absolutely knackered. It’s just shy of 6ft and almost 10 years old now, so we’ve given it a really good run! It’s the one myself and Joe bought in a sale, when we moved into our first flat together. Sentimental value is there for sure, and I love that it will now be the place our daughter opens her presents on Christmas morning. I think if we do end up replacing it next year, we will go for a pre-lit tree. It’s something I’m never fully happy with and untangling them is no fun if you want to get your kids involved.
In my opinion, the tree in your lounge, whether it’s your only tree or 3rd tree, should 100% look beautiful. Your own idea of what is considered beautiful will differ, but remember that one day when kids are looking back at their childhood Christmas, it will be the pictures you take of them reacting to presents under the tree. Make it one to remember.
Shop the look: Gold Ribbon M&S | Cool White LED Lights B&Q | Variety Pack of Blue/Gold ornaments B&Q
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The Fuzzy Feelings Tree
Whilst many family homes make an event out of picking their annual real tree, having a toddler meant that artificial fits us better. BUT, there’s no harm in having a mini real one, right? Besides, if you’re an early adopter of the festive season, a real tree may not always last so faux is the way to go.
This is my memory tree. I’ve always been drawn to felt ornaments for Christmas. They remind me so much of massive toy sections in department stores that we see in the movies. I’m also a collector of ornaments that truly mean something to you. I always buy an ornament when I visit a Christmas market around the world (Manchester, Berlin, Hamburg and Copenhagen firmly ticked off thus far), and our daughter has started receiving some from family members each Advent. I’d love to think that one day when she comes to leave home, we will have this little treasure trove of ornaments all with special memories, to start her off when it comes to starting traditions with her own family. For now, we pick our favourites and pop it on a miniature tree in the landing so anyone entering the home gets an automatic bit of festive cheer.
And yes, we have our own Santa.
Shop the look: Miniature pine tree Sainsburys | Felt decorations Paperchase | Felt garland TK Maxx | Mini wooden trees from Etsy seller Rocket and Fox
So there are my 3 trees this year. All colourful in their own way. All full of meaning in their own way! What do you think? If you’d like to see more inspiration, check out the other bloggers in the Christmas Mornings with Treetopia blog series via the links below.
Kristin Jones | Lisa Dawson | Pretty Life Girls | From Evija With Love | Tried and True | All Things With Purpose | A Beautiful Space | Southern Mom Loves
