On Saturday the Attic24 boys went to purchase the Christmas tree. They know what a huge fusspot I can be if I am involved in The Choosing Process so they refused to let me come. I trusted them to choose the bestest, freshest, bushiest, evergreeny tree they could find and they did good. They did indeed come home with one big, huge, bushy, fresh, evergreen tree. It looks and smells extremely Christmassy and I love it.
But as fresh as it was, on it's journey through the front door, through the hall and into the lounge, it did manage to shed a humungous number of it's needles. And I'm not just talking a light sprinkling, nope, I'm talking pretty much full carpet coverage. I'm talking down on my hands and knees with a dustpan and brush sweeping up for a very, very long time and almost filling a carrier bag full of them. In fact, for a supposedly non-needle-drop tree, the amount of needles it shed was mind blowing. But no matter, I am not dwelling on it, it still has plenty of needles left on it's bushy branches.
Setting up Tree took a surprising amount of time, and when all the furniture moving, tree positioning, tree straightening, tree securing and needle-sweeping was done, there was no time left for the business of decorating on Saturday. That became Sunday's activity.
Early Sunday morning, still in our pyjamas and the decorating commences. My jobs come first :: the lights get put on, with only one bulb to replace. The Little People watch eagerly, there is much excitement.
Next I hang the beady garlands around the branches, all twelve metres of them, with only a very small tangly-garlandy hissy fit. So far so good.
Then it's my turn to sit back and let the Little People take over.
Brightly coloured baubles are unpacked from the bauble-box.
Delicate glass ones wrapped in tissue....
...and cheerful sparkly ones tumble from the box. Plenty to go round. One or two squabbles over who gets to hang which colour, but all is well.
Next there are bells...
...and cones...
...and Christmassy characters from years past.
Candy canes and reindeer, hearts and birds...
...cinnamon sticks...
...wooden toys...
...hearts and stars and gingham ribbon bows.
These are all my decorations gathered over the past decade or so and I love them all. I find Christmas decorations so utterly desirable, so hugely hard to resist, that I cannot help but buy more and more each year. And I have to say, that when we unpacked the boxes this year, even I was a little taken aback at just how many there were. And yet I love them all, couldn't contemplate a tree without it's branches laden with colourful Christmas treasures.
Luckily our Christmas tree has many, many bushy branches, and Little Fingers are kept very busy filling them.
It was a joy to watch my Little People so hard at work, concentrating so hard on the job in hand.
I did not interfere once, left it entirely to them. Some of the branches (on Little Lady's side in particular) did get very busy. There are some crowded spots. But I have left the tree exactly as it is and love the slightly chaotic look that it has. Love the way the upper branches are quite bare and the lower branches are jam packed (I was instructed to hang certain things on very particular high-up branches, but only once or twice).
We have a rusty tin star on top of our tree...
...and the whole thing looks quite homespun, rustic, colourful and surprisingly very *Attic24*, don't you think? It is not co-ordinated or themed, yet it is happy and homely.
The coloured baubles go wonderfully with my crochet blankets this year, the colours are almost identical.
And here is a view of the room, it does look very cosy, if I say so myself.
Tomorrow I thought you might like to see the rest of my Christmas decorating efforts?
Yes, please do stop by the Attic for a mince pie and a cuppa and I'll show you around a bit. See you then xxx
your tree is lovely! I love the happy homespun look! I get into trouble every year for picking a tree that is too big, so this year I let J choose, and guess what, it was too big - way too big!!!!
Posted by: driftwood | December 15, 2008 at 04:08 PM
your tree is lovely! I love the happy homespun look! I get into trouble every year for picking a tree that is too big, so this year I let J choose, and guess what, it was too big - way too big!!!!
Posted by: driftwood | December 15, 2008 at 04:06 PM
i have been dying for this post, kept checking to see when you were gonna post!..lol..i LOVE your tree, its gorgeous and yes very attic24!
can wait to see tomrorow's decs!
Jennifer x
Posted by: jennifer mclachlan | December 15, 2008 at 02:10 PM