O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

I LOVE CHRISTMAS! I love giving family and friends nice gifts that they adore; I love the foodie treats that you're expected to splurge on at this time of year; I  love the sparkle and the glitter and the pretty lights; I love having time off work to do what I want; I love the fact that people are in a better mood (save for battling in the highstreet shops!); I love cold and frosty days when you can wrap up cosy and warm and take a nice walk; and I especially love decorating the house in all its festive finery.

Our Christmas tree is covered in completely handmade decorations and it's great bringing them out each year, remembering past craft passions of mine. 16 years ago, on our first Christmas as a married couple, hubby and I bought a huge real tree for the living room. We didn't have much furniture at that time and this tree was so big it very nearly filled the whole room! So instead of buying loads of decorations that we couldn't really afford, I decided to be crafty and make my own - and every year I add a few more to the collection.

Last weekend I took a break from making items for the fairs and my Folksy shop to put up our Christmas tree. Nowadays we just have an artificial tree, but it's a good shape and nice and bushy. So this is what we start with...

...and then I add a few twinkling lights...

...and quite a few decorations. As I said before they're all handmade, but not all were made by myself: there's a knitted snowman and santa from my mam, a couple of cross stitch stockings from my sister, a knotwork wreath that my dad made, and one or two pieces that I've bought at craft fairs over the years.

And this is the final tree - front...

...and back. I think the tree looks really beautiful and interesting.

Over the years I've played around with patchwork, applique, beading, embroidery, knitting, crochet, etc, etc. so there is a real variety of decorations on the tree. Visitors to our house spend ages looking at the tree and it's lovely to hear their comments about the individual ornaments.

This year I also have the lovely addition of the Folksy Decoration Swap which I received from Midsummer Stitches. Doesn't she look sweet?

I hope you like my tree as much as we do, and I'd love to hear your comments - What do you love about Christmas? What ornaments do you put on your tree? Do you go for the traditional red and green or more contemporary colours?

I've still got the skinny tree in the dining room to decorate, the door wreaths, fireplace garland and table decorations to make, but that will have to wait til next weekend. I'll post some more photos when it's all done!