Festive Special: A New Love Of Real Christmas Trees

When I was about 10 my parents bought a real Christmas tree. If I am honest I don’t really remember much about it besides the fact my mum was really excited by it all. At the time my little sister was a baby and putting everything in her mouth so my mum never repeated the experience. As a result I have never been in that mind set, always having a fake tree each year. My best friend has always had a real tree and I am always a little envious of how gorgeous it looks each year.

This year I have been completely swayed and doubt I will ever be able to go back to a fake tree again! As I write this I am sitting on the sofa, right next to my gorgeous specimen of a tree and I absolutely cannot take my eyes off it! I keep getting up to look at it in all its glory- I am in love!

It arrived this morning, all wrapped up in plastic sheeting and netting to keep it protected. Now, we should have been getting ready for nursery but instead we all stopped what we were doing to unwrap it all. What I didn’t realise was that you have to cut a little off the bottom- in the same vein as you would cut the bottom of stems in a bouquet to help them absorb the water in a vase. So there is me, sawing away like a lunatic while Little G and LJ look at me in horror. Despite the incredibly blunt saw I managed to cut it and place it in the stand.

Now it was time to take off the netting- just wow. Standing there at about 8ft it was just the most incredible thing I have ever seen. Still damp from the dew this morning it smelled divine and we all stood there amazed (if not a little worried) at how big it was. I actually had to trim a little off the top so we could fit the angel on later when daddy got home.

With it safely in the stand and Little G away to nursery, LJ and I set about decorating it. We have collected our decorations over a good few years- some are in fact from my childhood. Every year we go to a fantastic garden centre near us and we buy a new decoration (or ten) to add to the collection.

We actually bought one from a cute little Christmas shop in Athens while we were there last weekend. Was a bit weird seeing Christmas things in a hot country but they had such lovely things, I couldn’t resist!

Each decoration holds a special memory for us, this one is from Disney and reminds us of our amazing holiday early this year.

Some people like to decorate their trees in a theme, choosing a colour and having matching ornaments. However, our tree represents us as a family and the adventures we get up to. We have our girls’ hand and footprints from their first Chrismas- something that is so precious to us. Look how tiny G’s hands were!

I toyed with the idea of having no tinsel but it is Christmas and I love tinsel! Don’t you? It was a bit of a struggle to get it around the tree but when I stood back I was really pleased!

We went for a Nordman Fir from Pines and Needles, the one we chose was a 6ft although it was definitely more like 8ft when it arrived – that suited me though as it gave us extra width. It is meant to be no-drop in terms of needles- fingers crossed it lasts! I just need to remember to water it!! If you want your own then you can use code KATY and get a mini tree for free- perfect for kiddies!

Although LJ has had a couple of Christmasses already, they aren’t ones she would remember so to see her eyes light up as she hung all of the decorations was just so lovely. She has been as good as gold since and hopefully they will all remain intact until the tree comes down.

Now that the tree is up it really does feel like Christmas is well and truly on the way. There are a few more things to get ready around the house though and then we will be ready for the big day. Well, that is once I have wrapped all of the presents. Not entirely sure when I will have time to do that with LJ’s birthday coming up but I am sure it will all be fine!