One of my favourite holiday traditions is putting up the Christmas tree. As far as I’m aware, I’ve had one in my home every year – except for last year when I decided that I was just too pregnant to worry about it.
There’s so much I love about my Christmas tree – from its lovely glow and sparkling ornaments, to the story it tells.
Some of the ornaments on our tree – the left-hand photo shows the oldest ornament on the tree (Santa putting gifts under a tree is from when I was a year old). The Baby’s 1st decoration is the newest.
When I was growing up, my parents gave me a new Christmas ornament to add to the tree each year. I always looked forward to getting the new bauble and adding it to the branches.
Most of those ornaments are still in the US (although I do have a few in the UK) – but this is a tradition that I’ve carried on with my own tree. I’ve bought Daddy-man and myself a new decoration every year – and now Pumpkin gets her own too.
This year’s ornaments. Mine is the fox, Daddy-man’s is the owl and Pumpkin got the robin.
The eclectic collection of ornaments might not match, but each one means something special to me.
I also have a set of decorations that my mum made. She has made a set of these for almost everyone in our extended family and when she started making mine, she asked what colour I would like.
Since purple is my favourite colour, that’s what I asked for – it might not seem like a very Christmassy colour, but I think the ornaments look wonderful on my tree. The stocking is my favourite.
This year, Pumpkin gave me some help in putting up the tree – ‘help’ might not be quite the right word though. It’s a new tree this year. I really loved our old one, but it was always a tight squeeze to get it to fit in our small flat – and now with all the baby stuff around, there was just no chance of getting it in here.
So, I bought a pencil tree. It’s taller than the old tree, but much skinnier. I wasn’t entirely sure how I’d feel about it once I got it up, but I love it.
I bought the angel at Kelvingrove Museum in Glasgow several years ago. She reminds me a lot of the angel that we used for most of my childhood.
I also opted for new lights – the old tree was pre-lit and had plain white lights. For the new tree, I went for colour-changing LEDs. It’s a subtle effect, but I love the way the changing colours make the tree appear different each time I look at it. Plus, the lights really make some beautiful patterns on the wall too.
Pumpkin has actually been really good about not bothering the tree. The first day after we put it up, she wouldn’t leave it alone and I was a little worried it would have to come down.
But I decided to teach her that it was okay to touch the ornaments, just not grab them. She seems to be figuring it out – and the tree has lost its newness too, which I’m sure helps.
Taking a good photo of Pumpkin with the tree has been really difficult – especially when she suddenly decides she’s done with the tree and wants the camera instead (right)
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