Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

This Christmas is going to be a full on affair as my family descend upon us for a day filled with fun, food and festivities. A big part of Christmas to me is making the house look and feel as Christmassy as possible.

This year, Freddy who is four has got a real grasp of Christmas and is learning all about the traditions and beliefs associated with Christmas Day at school.  He will be performing in his school Christmas play on stage at our local theatre, and he is going to see his first proper pantomime. It has taken him to a whole new level of excitement, but he is adamant that he does not want to talk to Father Christmas when he visits to give out presents at the school disco!

My grandson Ted is one a week before Christmas so this year will be his first proper Christmas and we are so excited to have him here with us, along with his mummy and daddy.  I can't wait to see his little face when he sees his little pile of presents wrapped in pretty paper, the twinkling lights outside and the house all decorated with Christmassy things.

With these two precious little boys ready to enjoy Christmas Day, I want to create a magical setting and give them a day to remember filled with love and laughter.

Last year, I made a big Christmas display in the alcove of my living room with festive teddy bears, books stood on the window sill, candles, ornaments and a rather large, real Christmas tree festooned with baubles, decorations and candy canes.  This year, said alcove has become home to a second sofa which provides extra seating for my ever increasing family.  This has posed a bit of a problem to my usual Christmas decorating arrangement.  Space is going to be very limited this Christmas with all the extra bodies and the extra furniture.   There is nowhere obvious to put a full size tree in our living room.  Also, with Ted just getting up onto his feet and becoming more mobile, I don't want him to get injured by the needles of a real tree.

So I have been looking around at all the different tree options online such as artificial trees, fibre optic trees, cascading snow trees, pre-lit trees, ready decorated trees and pop-up trees and thankfully I think I may have found the ideal artificial Christmas Tree for us among the trees for sale at The Range.  It's a slim tree for use when space is limited. It stands six and a half feet tall but has a much smaller diameter than normal artificial trees, so I can put it in the narrow space between my corner sofa and the wall where it will be out of harm's way, yet still look fabulous covered from top to bottom with decorations and lights. It could work!

Failing that I can buy lots of little potted trees and dot them around the room.  Or maybe go all modern and spray paint a big, bare branch in silver and suspend it from our ceiling covered in baubles? Or maybe I should go all out and have a giant inflatable tree in my back garden?  Ian has suggested a Christmas tree on wheels so we can wheel it out of the room when we need the extra space!

I'm quite enjoying having to think outside the box and get a bit more creative with my Christmas decorating this year and I'm certain there is the perfect tree out there for us.  Whatever I do, I'm sure it will be enjoyed and appreciated by the two precious little boys and the other members of my wonderful family that I am honoured and blessed to be spending my day with!

Christmas Tree Baubles from Wilkinson

I love Wilkinson as they always stock a fabulous range of products at great prices.  Their seasonal aisles are always lovely to browse as they have lots of good value items.  This Christmas there are some brilliant presents, tableware and decorations.  We were sent some decorations for our Christmas tree.  They were all in whites and silvers in different sizes with different textures and effects.  We received some individual baubles and some boxes of twelve small ones.

We added them to the tree, which is already a mix and match spectacular of many designs and colours!  Freddy helped me to hang the ready strung baubles.  His favourites were the small white glittery baubles (12 for £2.50) and the individual reflective silver one which reflects sparkly rainbow colours(£1.50).

If you want to add some extra decorations to your tree this year, or if you want to buy a complete matching theme for your tree, Wilkinson definitely has some lovely stuff in store!  Or you can shop online at www.wilkinsonplus.com with delivery to your home or to your nearest Wilko's.

Oh Christmas Tree! #Project52

I never used to put up my tree until Winter Solstice but this year, infused with an unexpected dose of festive joy I have gone all out to celebrate the whole of December with my family! So on December the first we found the tree we wanted to bring into our home for Christmas.

The next morning, the children decorated the tree, sorting through decorations that spanned two decades of my family Christmases.  Each one brought with it its own special memory.

The theme and colour scheme isn't exactly like the trees you see on the TV ads, but it is exactly how my children wanted it to be.  It's loud, mix 'n' match and completely original!

Decorated with laughter and music filling the house, the tree exudes joy.

The lights sparkle in the darkness.

The crazy array of ornaments, toys and baubles are just perfect for my slightly crazy family!

Lighting Up My Christmas with Notcutt's

I love garden centres at Christmas.  The Christmas ranges are always so extensive and so tempting!  This year I have been sent a set of Notcutt's warm White LED Cone Lights to light up my Christmas tree.  They come in a brilliant re-usable plastic tub which will keep them safely stowed away between Christmases.

The lights themselves are shaped like fir cones and are multi-function.  The warm twinkling glow is just lovely.  There are 100 lights on the green 8m string which is suitable for indoor and outdoor use.

The overall effect of the lights on my tree is very festive!

Check out the range of festive treats in the Notcutts Christmas range online.  While you are there you can enter the Festive Giveaway where you could win a beautiful mink Christmas tree and all the trimmings worth well over £100. 

The Magic Of Christmas

Still in their pyjamas the children donned their Santa hats.  Christmas music was playing and everyone was singing along.  Dad had been up in the loft bringing down the boxes of decorations.  Each bauble, Christmas toy or homemade Christmas card from years gone by that had been carefully packed away, brought back a host of wonderful memories.  A nativity scene from my childhood, the children's "My First Christmas" baubles and a candle that my sister gave to me back in 1992, three years before she passed away, made my emotions run high.

Giving the kids free reign to create the kind of Christmas that they want to celebrate, really fills my heart with festive joy.  Watching them together, lifting Freddy to hang his baubles on the highest branches of the tree and talking excitedly about all of the family activities that we plan to do is simply heartwarming.  Feeling the love and the connection between my children at this time of year, to me, is the magic of Christmas.

This is my entry for the #O2GuruMagicofXmas Linky, sponsored by O2 GuruTV – the home of tech help and inspiration.

How To Make Lollipop Christmas Tree Decorations

I love decorating my Christmas tree with the children.  It is one of those magical moments of the year that heralds the beginning of Christmas.  We like to hang sweet treats on our tree and one of the decorative goodies that adorns it is our Lollipop Tree Decoration.  They are really simple to do but very effective.  You can choose fabric to compliment your Christmas colour scheme.  I love to make them with my older kids and they can be remade year after year if you keep all the bits.

You will need:

8 x 10cm squares of lace or net material in your chosen colour scheme

8 x 8cm squares of pretty fabric in your chosen colour scheme

8 x 12cm lengths of thin ribbon in your chosen colour scheme

8 x Lollipops

How To Make Lollipop Tree Decorations Step By Step

• Place the fabric square centrally onto the net or lace square.
• Wrap the top of the lolly into the fabric layers.
• Tie the ribbon around the neck of the lolly stick.
• Attach a loop of thread to the stick or attach a small screw in hook to secure them to the tree.
• Hang them on the tree!

Lollipop Tree Decorations

#Project 52: Our First Day of Christmas

In the run up to Christmas we intend to do as much together as a family to make it a festive season to remember.  Today we started things off with a trip to Cadbury World followed by a visit to Ikea.  We saw Santa twice which was an unexpected treat!  We bought our Christmas Tree and some pressies and had a wonderful day!  Seeing the look of delight on my children's faces has filled me with so much festive cheer that I am feeling more excited about Christmas than I have done for years.

This is Our First Day of Christmas!

Oh Christmas tree...Oh dear!!!!

It's still ten sleeps until Christmas.  The Christmas tree is still standing, but only just.  Freddy adores baubles.  He thinks they are brightly, coloured little Freddy sized balls, hung tantalisingly on the tree just for him.  His delight in removing them from the artificial bows is palpable.  The grin that spreads across his little face, is a physical reflection of the joy he feels, at the moment when the shiny projectile is hurled across the room.  The satisfying sound as the plastic sphere hits the nearest wall, has Freddy literally jumping for joy, as he runs on the spot on his tippitoes.  It is an activity that has not grown old.  The novelty which I thought would wear off in a couple of days, hasn't!  However many times I return the now rather battered baubles to the tree, I know that within minutes they will be removed again in the same exuberant manner!  Consequently, to a height that is equivalent to Freddy's reach, the tree is pretty bare!  But, who I am to dictate how a 17 month old expresses his love of Christmas!

However, I think even by Freddy's standards, things have been taken to extremes.  He managed to get a hold of his Graco Symbio pushchair and, thanks to its super easy manoeuvrability, wheeled in straight into the tree!  Does he love his new pushchair so much he wanted to put it on the tree alongside his newfound favourite toys, the baubles??  Was he trying to share his new game with his new wheels?  Who knows what goes through the mind of a toddler...but he was very pleased with himself for doing it!

I wonder if the tree will be standing by Christmas?  Only time will tell.  But I'll be keeping the brakes on next time I leave the Symbio indoors!

Best Sleigh'd Plans (see what I did there?)

Today, we thought it'd be a lovely treat for Freddy to take him to the Local Garden Centre to visit Santa.  At the weekends it gets so busy, so when a midweek window became available, it was too good to resist.  We planned to get some lunch in the lovely restaurant and look at all the wonderful Christmas displays that Bridgemere had to offer!

It's only six miles from our house.  We had our annual festive compilation CD playing.  The gorgeous rural setting was a wintry wonderland wrapped in shimmery frost and the sky was blue.  A beautiful day. 

On arrival, we realised Freddy had just dropped off.  We expected the cold air would wake him up when we popped him in his Graco Symbio.  However, once in the comfy, moulded seat, with his fleece lined foot muff toggled up to his chin, the lure of sleep was too great. 

So, with a slumbering baby we made our way into the garden centre.  I love the effort they make to show their wonderful range of gifts, food and decorations in such eye catching displays.

However, the comfortable seating of the Symbio was just too comfy!  Freddy slept on!

In the nativity scene, the donkey seemed very interested in the Symbio with the sleeping Santa Baby inside!  Meanwhile Fred snoozed some more!

Even the big guy himself wasn't enough to wake up my little boy.  His peaceful slumber was uninterrupted. 

Not even Frosty the Snowman with his festive tune blaring, could disturb Fred from his dozing!

We left to go back to the carpark.  We enjoyed looking with wide eyed wonderment at the displays and would have loved to have seen Freddy's delight too!  But, sleep in such a vital part of a toddler's day, that his uninterrupted restful slumber was worth its wait in gold!  The Symbio is the comfiest pushchair I've ever owned, and the seating position lends itself perfectly to napping on the go.  So even if our best laid plans didn't quite turn out how we expected, Fred had a lovely kip!!

My Childhood Christmas Memories

This post is not going to be a sugar coated version of events.  No rose coloured glasses are involved in my recollection of events.  It's an accurate portrayal, an exposee if you will, of our family Christmas experience in the 70's!

Our home was a small two bedroomed semi in Slough.  Given that there were five of us (mum, dad and three daughters), it immediately posed a problem.  The solution was that my parents made the front room of the house their bedroom.  This left one small backroom as our sole living/dining area.  At Christmas this really presented a challenge. Space was extremely limited and my parents' style was sadly the antithesis of minimalistic.  With the extra demands of the festive season, coupled with the whole family together in that one room, the result was an atmosphere akin to claustrophobia!

Our green tinsel style tree was put up and took its pride of place on top of our old Radio Rental TV set.  The decorations would be hung by our Dad, who was quite protective of his job, with us three girls fighting over who'd bagsy which wise man and where they'd be hung on the tree.  This would inevitably result in me crying, a common theme to my childhood with sisters aged 5 and 10 years older than me, who'd tire of their attention seeking younger sister!  My Dad would keep the plastic gifts from the previous year's crackers and put them onto the foil boughs.  Plastic moustaches and false teeth adorned the branches, and woe betide us if we dared touch them!  If and when we did touch the tree, tempted by the lure of the fake red lips, the tree would topple off the TV, spilling its booty into the exposed vents.  How there was not an electrical mishap, I do not know!

When it came to the big day, we'd be up early and race downstairs to a pile of presents positioned on our pre-allocated sofa seat.  We'd dive in whilst the parents busied themselves in the tiny kitchen peeling sprouts and stuffing turkey.  By now Dad would have started his first rum and coke of the day and, on account of the fact that he was a non-drinker all year round, would get progressively more slozzled and tearfully profess his love for his kids.  They never shared in the unwrapping of presents nor did they see the delight on my face as I received my much coveted Rolf Harris Stylophone or Girl's World.

After presents, Dad would bring in the table in readiness for our dinner.  As previously mentioned the room was small.  TV in one corner, real fire adjacent to it on the back wall, three piece suite squeezed around the remaining wall space.  The table was a big, heavy duty wooden affair that filled the floor space.  The five mix and match chairs were positioned around, meaning we had to climb into our seats and squeeze into the gap between chairback and table edge.  We children were left to our own devices, whilst our parents continued to make dinner.  Now, this often resulted in unfortunate situations.  One year I decided to see how close I could get my Christmas cracker over the table candle.  Great game until...WOOF...up it went in flames.  I spent the rest of that day hiding under the table crying!  Barring any pyromanic disasters, dinner would be served.  By this point though, the seat that was directly in front of the fireplace would be getting quite hot. leading to complaints.  These protestations would go unheeded.  Similarly, one person would be sat with their back to the TV.  Telly was permanently on in our house.  When Top of the Pops coincided with Christmas dinner, the person sat in the telly seat would have to twist and crane their neck to see, whilst the rest of us would moan that they couldn't see past them.  More friction!  I don't remember the food...only the arguments!

If we survived lunch we'd spend the rest of the day packing away numerous chocolate bars, satsumas and sneaky shandies!  We wouldn't have been so greedy. but the Christmas food would be out on display for the whole of December and we were forbidden to so much as look at it.   "Not until Christmas day!" was the household mantra, meaning that when the day arrived we'd stuff whole boxes of Maltesers, bars of Galaxy and Just Brazils, until we were green!  I remember eating eight satsumas one after the other.  Also being dared to eat Quality Street concoptions by my sister, consisting of all the suspect flavours squeezed together by hand into a melted mass of chocolate and fondant centres!

Tea was another stressful affair.  Masses of buffet food laid out alongside the turkey carcass and leftover lunch.  My Dad always used to make stilton, brussel sprout and digestive biscuit sandwiches. It was a tradtion.  But when we helped ourselves to the excess of festive food, we'd get in big trouble.  My big sister took five varieties of cheeses from the cheese board.  She thought she was being sophisticated, sampling the dairy delights.  The shout of "Five cheeses!!" was bellowed in disbelief by Dad, crumbs of Brussell Sprout, Stilton and Digestive biscuit spewing from his mouth.  Even as a very young child, the irony of this exchange was not lost.

Tensions always ran high on Christmas Day and it'd often end in tears.  However, the limitations of an inappropriate house were responsible for most of the problems.  Money was tight but Mum and Dad always worked hard and did their best to give us girls a good Christmas.  I thank them for my unique experiences and blogging material!!

Oh Christmas Tree...

Against my better judgment, I have put up my Christmas tree.  I never put my tree up until after Winter Solstice on December 21st.  This year though, seeing Freddy's delight at displays in shop windows, I decided to try to create a magical December for my little boy by decorating the living room with fetsive splendour! 

This year for reasons of safety, we decided to go with our artificial tree.  We sent daddy up into a freezing loft to fetch our tree and the numerous plastic lidded boxes filled with all manner of Christmas-y bits, some dating back to 1988 and my eldest son's first Christmas!  When opening the boxes, a sense of nostalgia comes flooding over me.  A history of 22 past Christmases is contained within those boxes.  Although the older pieces only represent a small fraction of the contents, which has been added to by January sale purchases in more recent years, they never fail to raise a smile and sometimes a tear.  A book of press out cardboard Christmas decorations (which I never pressed out) has been with us now for almost 20 years.  A present from my big sister Carol, who is no longer with us.  It's typical of the sort of gift she'd buy.  And it's typical of me that I never made them, not wanting to ruin the beautiful book!  Every year, I take out the book.  I flick through its now creased up, aged pages, then return it to the bottom of the box where it will remain until I repeat the ritual again next year.

It's like a display of our family history seeing Baby's First Christmas Baubles lying alongside a wooden mouse on a candycane that my eldest son's first teacher gave him.  Each decoration holds its own memory of Christmas.  I am also reminded of my own childhood.  The one over riding memory I have of Christmas, when all three of us sisters still lived at home, is our fighting over three particular decorations.  They were the three wise men, represented by three different colour, felt covered cones with a featureless ball for a head and stick on headwear.  For some reason, the allocation of who got to "bagsy" which king was theirs for the duration of Christmas became a major event.  As the youngest sibling, I usually got last dibs and would inevitably end up in tears because I had wanted the red one and ended up with the green one!

One other memory that putting up the Christmas tree evokes is from 1990 when my eldest boy was two years old.  We had dressed the tree and covered it in foil wrapped chocolate decorations.  One morning as I came into the living room, I realised something did not look quite right.  I realised that where once had hung Cadbury's finest chocolate discs, now hung  single golden threads with a spent foil wrapper hanging from each one.  Little Joe sat there with a chocolate covered face and an "It wasn't me" expression!  He had painstakingly worked his way around the tree eating the festive treats insitu, leaving only the inedible bits behind.  Nothing has really changed with Joe.  Up until last year when he left home, I still bought him a choccie advent calendar, the contents of which he had totally consumed by the morning of December 1st!

This year we have used only plastic baubles, which the girls helped hang.  Freddy loved delving into the box and pulling out the sparkly trinkets.  But as predicted, the lure of the projectile properties of the decorations became too much and we had to duck out the way of Freddy's missile attack!  We got him to hang a few on the lower branches of the tree, but he just as readily un-hung anything within his reach.

Today, the lower branches are all bear.  Anything within Fred's reach has been removed, thrown, secreted in the seat of his sit n ride truck or rolled under the sofa!  I've stopped replacing them hoping the novelty will wear off.  Then I can put them all back on the tree in time for Christmas!