Christmas tree, O Christmas tree

… 🎼 Lit up like a star. ⭐ Anyone else love hearing that song? It always reminds me of Home Alone 2 when Kevin McCallister causes the cardboard Christmas tree to fall down! 😅

Decorating the Christmas tree is definitely one of my favourite things about this time of year. As a child I’d beg for our Christmas tree to go up as early as possible but my parents would always make us wait until 12 days before. Which is a tradition I’ve stuck to, more or less, since moving out of (and then back to) their house. We always had a real Christmas tree which was bought from a local tree lot every year.

Today I’d like to share with you our Christmas tree decorating traditions.

Christmas Music

We always start with a little Christmas music when we decorate the tree – Rocking around the Christmas tree is a firm favourite. To me it’s the perfect Christmas tree song! Once the decorations have been sorted from the loft, we use a plastic Christmas themed table cloth to protect the carpet, and to catch any falling needles, and pop the tree in a star shaped stand.

Fairy lights

With the Christmas tree in place, the first thing to go on are the multi coloured fairy lights which my mum always insisted on doing herself. But they’re not only for our tree, we also dot them around. With colourless ones decorating the window sills or our fire place.

Baubles

Our baubles are a mix of novelty and plain colours. The novelty ones usually go on the Christmas tree first with the plain coloured ones filling in the gaps.

I think everyone has their own ideas about baubles, some like symmetry, some like minimalism and others like novelty trees. So while ours may seem cluttered to some, each novelty bauble on the tree has a story, from the childhood favourites to the keepsakes from family members no longer with us and the ones gifted by others.

These are the ones that I’ve owned the longest. 😊

Fabric egg

I made this one when I was a child from a polystyrene egg, some pins and cuts of fabric.

Eeyore

There are a few Eeyore’s dotted around the Christmas tree but this one was my first. Also he’s sat on a purple bauble which is my favourite colour.

Fabric snowmen

These came from Woolworths before it closed down. They’re a soft material and I think they look very cute.

Santa and his reindeer

These two belonged to my Gran, so they’re pretty old now, but still in great condition. There used to be more in the set, I remember a red glittery Santa and a nativity scene.

Penguin

This one was a gift from one of my old school friends and is over ten years old. I used to have a penguin hot water bottle cover that looked just like it. 😊

Our tree also includes “sheepy” which was a sheep I made from a toilet roll in my first year’s of Primary school.

Mini Crackers

I’m not sure if anyone else decorates their Christmas tree with mini crackers or if we’re alone in this? We think they’re a great touch and great for filling up any gaps in the tree or to balance on less sturdy branches.

Tinsel

Our tinsel goes on the tree last and we keep this very minimal, simply using it as a splash of colour peaking through the branches and to fill in any gaps. The tinsel is also used up the banister, in our hallway, and around the fish tank stand.

Topping the Christmas tree

A star usually tops our Christmas tree, depending on how sturdy the top branch is, with a angelic figure on a lower branch nearby. This year however, the branch isn’t as sturdy so we used our back up Christmas tree topper – Darth Vader! Yep, the Sith Lord himself is top of our tree this year.

Turning the lights out

With the topper in place we turn out the lights to see how the Christmas tree looks in the dark before settling down to watch a Christmas movie.

Do you have a routine or any traditions when decorating the Christmas tree?