Have you decorated your house for Christmas?

[sheddie]

Well have you put any decs up and tell us about how you display your cards and your tree... is it real, if so what sort? Come on you have so much to share. X:)

[jazzactivist]

No, not yet, sheddie. We always leave our decorations to Chritsmas Eve, as it makes it feel more exciting over the festive season and we don't get sick of looking at them. We go for a minimalist style - just a tree, branch or group of twigs decorated with what we hope are tasteful individual decorations that we have bought from craft fairs over the years, or hand made, and greenery from outdoors. We also have a wreath for the front door that I cover in greenery with the the odd baubel. We don't put up nother decs like lights or tinsel. I like to see a lone lighted Christmas tree or string of lights in people's gardens, but not gardens full of mass produced outdoor lights, although some people do that for charity. We don't have many cards either, as we don't send any, instead we give a donation to charity and most people that we know do the same. I think that low key Christmas decorations are more tasteful and wouldn't like a house full of Victorian style decs like on Kirstie's Hand made Christmas Home last night. I was amaed that she had all those nice decorations and then just heaped them together which I think defeats the purpose of how nice each one is. Less is more is my mantra!

[Crocus]

Up till last year I decorated the house, but this year strangely enough I wanted to scale down and rather change my decorations each day. But the boys want decorations to be put up, so I will do that over the weekend.

To not get bored of the decorations I decided this year to rather have a central type of decoration and change it every day or second day to keep it alive, interesting and different. I also now use more natural stuff like flowers, edibles and whatever I can find. I just felt like having things as natural as possible this year. xx

[franbee]

I have a good clean round the weekend before, then put up my artificial tree, with simple lights and mostly vintage or hand made decorations. I also make table decorations with candles, and stand up my cards on the piano and mantlepiece. Last year I made a swag of greenery for the front door, might do the same again. The decs and tree stay up til 12th night, and only emergency cleaning is done in that room.

[Gentian]

I am in the process of decorating and will get the artificial tree out of the shed tomorrow. I have a red and gold colour scheme in the lounge, with clear lights on the tree, and silver and white in the entrance hall. I have the craft group party here on Tuesday so want it nice for them. I have candles too, but all have batteries so no danger.

[dragonfly]

Not yet and don't have time to do much this year but next year I shall go way over the top on home made things like Kirsty did. I love her house and decorations, it is my ideal home. I might even try glass blowing and candle making.

[Catriona]

We don't put up our tree until Christmas Eve but we have our Advent wreath, tomorrow (Sunday) we'll light the 3rd candle which is the pink one for Gaudete Sunday. We don't have lights or tinsel anywhere, we like to have greenery from the garden and the tree is from the garden too.

[sheddie]

Well my tree is artificial and is standing proud with lights on and decs, we also have our fireplace decorated, I don't go too over the top as my room is very busy all year.We will be putting a wreath on the front door and a tree I planted outside my front door for my lovely Mum will have white lights on in rememberance. X

[Crocus]

Last year we had a "real" Christmas tree - more a large branch - but of course it dried out and went off quite soon. I haven't actually seen any trees being sold here so far. The boys would like christmas tree, so perhaps I'll reconsider.

Piccie please Sheds? XX

[Gentian]

My tree is up and the house is ready for Christmas.

[Crocus]

Wow, that's quite a tall Christmas tree Gen - it looks quite the part! X

[jazzactivist]

I don't think that you get real Chritsmas trees in South Africa, crocus. It must be that the climate is too hot. I can remember as a child getting a branch off a giant fir tree each year, and we used to decorate that. I had the same thing in my house last year. A big branch snapped off a yew tree opposite our house, so we brought it in and decorated it. The key to keeping your branch or cut tree fresh is to stand it in a bucket of water with stones in to hold it upright, rather than sand. Then water it every day. Remember to put any electric lights higher up, though.

[Crocus]

Hi Jazz, no, real Christmas trees are not available here, it's more a conifer type. I didn't put it in water the last time because it literally was only for about 4 days we had it standing in a bucket with sand. I've noticed some branches at the veggie shop, but will have to send the boys to get it as it's to heavy and tall for me to handle! x

[Ivy]

I not only have decorated my house I actually moved furniture! What used to be our dining room is now our Living room and what was the Living room is now a great and spacious dining room . We will be 10 people for Christmas Dinner and with the old room it would have been a bit crammed in the dining room but now I have space for two tables to merge as one long festive table and a much cosier living room. The only problem so far was that we can't move the tv as there are no tv sockets but we all have laptops so we watch there if we must or in the dining room.

[Crocus]

Goodness Ivy, that must've been quite a job!

[jazzactivist]

That's a big shift, Ivy, it sounds as if it has worked out very well for you. With this house I too have come round to the idea that a small, cosy sitting room is better than a big one, which can be used for other purposes. We have a small room off the kitchen that is meant to be a downstairs sitting room and had the table and chairs in the kitchen. Yesterday I moved the table into that small sitting room and a comfy chair into its space in the kitchen for me to read in while I'm cooking. It is definately a better arrangement. Our main sitting room is upstairs, and is smaller than we are used to but it works very well. I can certainly recommend an upstairs sitting room as it has the best views. I'll be out on Chritsmas Eve looking for a nice, twiggy branch as my Christmas tree.

[cindy]

Your tree is very pretty, Gentian. I haven't thought about decorations yet!