Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree!
It’s the most wonderful time of the year! And boy do we need the festive cheer more than ever this time. I for one am going totally all-out on the Christmas dec’s in a bid to cheer myself up! Aside from the obvious, it’s also a marked celebration. This is the first Christmas where we have all the rooms (okay, except the master bedroom) decorated and so it feels apt to celebrate by making the house look and feel its best. It’s also an opportunity to look back with fondness on the previous Christmas drama’s; like when we didn’t have a kitchen or the time the whole ground floor flooded on Christmas eve because Tom drilled through the underfloor heating trying to fit the loo before all the guests arrived!
But this year is different. I won’t be opening up my home to lots of guests, and instead, it’ll be mostly us three, with our bubble of 2 other families. This year we have two of my best friends coming with their partners and kids, so it will be amazing to see the house filled with laughter…and chaos that comes with a house full of children! And yet I want to make more effort than ever before. It’s also a wonderful way to make the house look a bit different as I feel like I’ve been staring at the same four walls for a very very long time! Bringing new colour, sparkle and foliage into the house has been a real mood booster.
In our house, I carry on the traditions of my family. We all get involved in choosing the tree, bringing her home and getting stuck into the decorating. It’s time to get the Christmas carols on and unpack all the decorations, like old friends, and mark the start of the festive season.
Sophie Robinson at Christmas photographed by Alun Callender
So if you’d like to bring some festive fabulousness to your tree, here is how I decorate.
- So first up to you go real or do you go faux? There are strong arguments on both sides which I covered in more depth on my post here. However, I keep it real all the way.
- Start with the lights, starting at the top. After the top third of the tree, I don’t wrap them all the way around the tree but zig-zag back and forth. Because my tree is in a corner, I don’t need the lights to go all around, although if you position your tree in a window, you will need to. Nestle them into the branches so you cant see the flex. I like a warm white light rather than the very bright white LED lights you can get because its a nicer light in the living room. The bright cool white ones only really work outside.
- Next, it’s on with the tinsel. Yes! You heard it right. I’m 100% all about the nostalgia at Christmas and for me, its got to be the familiar small and sparkle of tinsel. I’m a late 70’s-80’s kid! I suggest you buy really good quality bushy tinsel for the best effect. I got mine from John Lewis.
- Next start with your biggest baubles. I think its good to have a mix of scales so collect large baubles all the way down to smaller decorations. Dot these around randomly, with some towards the back as well as to the front.
I have been collecting my tree decorations for years. Some were my grandmothers, others Arthur has made.
- Then you can start to add all your other hanging decorations. I don’t theme my tree- it’s pretty much the same every year and I enjoy getting out all the old decorations, even the ones Arthur has made over the years. I sometimes get gifted baubles, or I might invest in a couple of new ones each year. I avoid plastic for environmental reasons- however as long as you keep your plastic decorations for many years, then that’s sustainable.
- Next, it works well if you can have some decorations that sit on the branches rather than hanging down. I have a collection of little bids that attach on with wires that I got from Covent Garden flower market years ago. This year I have updated my tree with pull bows, similar to the ones florists use. They are impossibly kitsch but that’s the whole point for me! They come in some tremendously bold colours too!
- I finished off the tree this year with strips of ribbon loosely tied to the branches as they add another streak of colour. It really is more is more for my tree and I embrace the absurdity of having a real fir tree in the living room absolutely covered in a rainbow hue of sparkling kitsch decorations. It makes everyone’s who sees it smile and that’s the result I’m after! For me, good taste doesn’t really have a place at Christmas (or any time of year if I’m honest!)
- Until the presents arrive I’ve filled the bottom area with a few paper ball decorations. These are easy to find on sites like Amazon, eBay and Etsy.
- Finally, if you do have a real tree, be sure to water it every few days and it will stay looking splendid for weeks!
Sophie Robinson at Christmas photographed by Alun Callender
Whatever your situation this Christmas I know it’s going to be very different for us all and challenging too in equal measure. But I want to extend heart felt goodwishes to you and those you love, with good health and happiness and a little bit of rainbow tinsel joy!
All images photographed by Alun Callender
