Fa la la la la, la la la la….

I LOVE Christmas decorating!  I had a photo shoot last month in the house for a Christmas decorating feature to go out next year in a magazine, and as it was not quite December it didn’t feel ‘christmassy,’ (although the photos I saw looked beautiful). Plus everything came down again at the end of the shoot.  It was quite mind-blowing how fast the stylist and photographer worked.  So it was like a Christmas-for-8-hours in a mind altering day!

But come the 1st December I get everything out of the attic and from stashes all over the house. Boxes of baubles, lights, garlands and more.  This is just some of the stash I have, it has grown over the years and I can see lots of things my children liked when they were small like little gingerbread men garlands… actually I have FAR TOO MUCH STUFF!

DINING ROOM

This year my children are 18 and 15, and I decided that for the first time we would not be doing the usual fir tree which always stands in the Dining Room, but an alternative version instead on a tabletop.  I asked the girls if this was all right, as they are the ones that the tree is usually aimed at with decorations collected over the years that they remember and coo over.  This idea went down OK-ish!  I found this really cute 3D  wooden tree at Hobbycraft, and it was a snip at £10.

Given that dining room had a recent overhaul, we did not use a lot of the existing tree decorations and stuck to gold and silver ones with accents of oranges (literally) around the room:

The mantlepiece came out really well, with a somewhat random mix of succulents, fir, fairy lights and oranges.

Little foot lasts are lined up in front of the fire.

I also found these really sweet paper origami decorations in Ikea:

And wherever I could find space I added bits and bobs:

I love the room now, and once the girls saw the gifts accumulating near the new little wooden tree they were OK about not having the usual big fir tree.  The room looks fab at night with candles and lights on.

SITTING ROOM

This is a more traditional room in terms of decor, and on Christmas Day we need all the space we can get as my house is full of revellers.  I dressed up the mantlepiece with fir, berries, and tiny potted Christmas trees.

There is never room for a tree in this room, so I use a fairy light twig tree and wire up my antlers for more festive lighting:

This room really comes into its own once the fire is lit and all of the lights are on.

 

THE HALL

This has a garland of berries up the stairs, and this year I found really sweet little robins to add to it, (in Sainsbury’s of all places).  Our polar bear is pretty much permanent all year round, so he adds to the christmas vibe.  The sideboard items gets changed weekly in December as I potter about with decorations.  The hat always comes out at Christmas, not sure quite if this is in line with my decorations but the children like it!

 

I also had a spare pom pom wreath floating, so put it on the inside of the front door, seemed a shame to pack it away…

THE BREAKFAST ROOM

This is the inky blue dark room, where I sit and chew the fat with kids, friends and family.  I have a mistletoe wreath, candles and a sweet garland made from carved wood animals.  On the windowsill are 2 very realistic little trees I also picked up in Ikea.

 

I hope you like the decorations – I love all the sparkly lights,  and am dreading twelth night when I have to pack it all away.