CHRISTMAS TREE

Nothing beats a real tree, but, keeping it green in 30 degree weather is next to impossible. When it comes to trees, the ornaments matter just as much as the tree itself.

My ornaments are a mishmash of things collected over the years. This particular owl was attached to a present a friend gave a few years back.

A little bit of velvet is peering out, I tie ribbons allover the tree every year and sourced some velvet ones from Shoppee.

This wooden miniature tram ornament was attached to some presents for my children, they were filled with the most delightful little chocolate.

My trees are always Douglas Fir because that’s the only kind that S&R sells. Its become something of a tradition for me to arm wrestle my way into a very packed S&R and choose a tree among mountains of them piled up and bundled tightly. It’s a guessing game, and a little luck is involved as it is hard to determine how thick the leaves will be or how even the branches are.

I usually trim the branches to get a more even shape, but I don’t want it to be overly perfect because then it looks plastic, totally defeating the purpose of a real tree.

And often, I can’t help but compare my tree to that of my friends who also got theirs from S&R, either wondering why theirs is bushier or calmly satisfied that mine is taller. Christmas spirit indeed!

We covered the base of the tree in a pastel green satin fabric. You can see on the bottom how much of it has shed, this was right after we hung lights and ornaments.The pinecone is from a trip my friends and I went on. It makes me laugh when I think of how much fun we had.