Christmas Decorating

There's nothing quite like decorating for Christmas: nativity scenes, fairy lights, tinsel, candles, handmade ornaments and other decorations. All this combined with family gatherings and feasting, it is not wonder it is one of my favourite times of the year.

Christmas Themes

There are many different themes to choose from. Each year shops and magazines tempt one to go for this trend or that one. All look marvellous but remember they are principally designed to help you part with your money each year. Some like to change their themes every year or two and that's great for them.

Source: Micha L. Rieser/CC-by-SA-3.0

Personally I like a traditional colour theme. I guess with red being my favourite colour, it is no surprise. As I am allergic to pine sap, we can’t have real trees. A large evergreen tree is central our main lounge room. I guess the height just makes it a dominating feature. We have a large house and I am tempted to have a second tree in the family TV room too, though I haven't gone down that path yet!

Glossy and glittered coloured baubles, handmade ornaments, fairy lights & tinsel ropes are all part of our tree. An assortment of handmade be-ribboned gift boxes are placed under the tree, some empty waiting for filling closer to the day.  This year I am considering making a tree skirt and mounting the tree up on a table for additional height since we have cathedral ceilings in the lounge room. I wonder why I haven't thought of that before???

Nativity sets

As Christ is central to our Christmas, it is only fitting that we have a couple of Nativity related items.

My most treasured item is the very cute “Precious Moments” nativity set we have had for years.

My treasured nativity set

We also have inherited a hand painted wooden nativity scene that was painted by my husband’s sister for their Mum who passed away in 2011.This is quite tall at about 60cm and stands at the front entry so it is seen as soon as you walk in the door.

My daughter helping her niece decorate the tree

I love to display all our handmade Christmas stuff. With lots of lovely glittery store bought cards available cheaply, I am getting less and less of the handmade versions each year. Boo Hoo! The handmade cards get special attention on the top of the fireplace. The rest of the Christmas cards are displayed on the wall in a metal card hanging wreath all together.

A handmade ‘snow’ wreath adorns the front door. It is getting a bit tired and so needs replacing soon. Maybe I will make a bauble wreath as seen on my Pinterest board here. It looks simple enough!

A cottage crafted padded Noel sign hangs just inside the front door to welcome everyone to our house at Christmas time.

A gorgeous gifted handmade country style Snowman adorns the top of our wooden dining table.

How to make your own Chocolate Poinsettia

Chocolate Poinsettia

Come back next week when I show you how to make this fantastic chocolate poinsettia that I used as part of my place settings at our Christmas table. They would make an excellent gift topper or just a lovely way to present a small gift such as a teacher gift.

By the way, the baubles you can see behind the flower are part of the handmade ornaments I made last year!