The Tree is Trimmed

Finally!  We were waiting for Kate to get home from university to decorate our Christmas tree so this past weekend we did our thing.  

I want you all to know that procrastination pays.  I saw lots of trees being sold for $35 and we got ours for $20.   The other part of that is that we have a fairly wonky tree.   It was all bundled up when we bought it so I had no idea what it looked like until we got it home and unwrapped it.  We then were able to see that it has a flat side, a hole part way down one side, and had an uneven bottom - until I pruned it that is (you can see the difference from the first to the second tree photo on the bottom righthand side).

We always have hors d'oeuvres for dinner when we decorate the tree.  It seems to be just the motivation that is needed to get teenage boys to think decorating a tree is a fun activity.

We had many new decorations to add to our collection this year which is always exciting.


There were some jute bell ornaments that I bought in Bangladesh this summer.

Kim and Paul, my friends that I traveled through Bangladesh and India with, surprised me last week by giving me this ornament that they bought at the Khan Market in Delhi.  Isn't it the prettiest and the design looks so Indian.  I'm tickled pink to have an ornament from India as I didn't get myself one when I was there.

I even hung the little bag it came in on the tree - can you blame me?  How cute it that!

When we were at the Toronto Christmas Market in the Distillery District a few weeks ago there was a booth selling food and ornaments from the Netherlands.  I bought myself this Delft blue-and-white ball and am excited to finally have an ornament from the Netherlands - only 35 years after I was an exchange student there.

We always get the kids an ornament every year representing something from their interests or what they have done during the past year.  William has worked hard all year learning both the acoustic and electric guitars.  He performs at church every Sunday and even did a solo last week.  Naturally, we got him a little guitar ornament - well actually two of them since he has two guitars.  

Kate is going to University at King's in Halifax and loves it.  King's is the oldest English-speaking university in Canada and Kate always says it is like going to school in Hogwarts.  They even wear academic gowns to dinner once a month.  So it seemed fitting to get an ornament that looks like Hedwig the owl from Harry Potter.  

This sweet little ship made of words fit with the maritime location of Halifax so it had to come home with us too.  Kate and I hit a 50% off sale at Anthropologie so that is where we bought her ornaments.  

I also Christmasified the shelves in our kitchen.  Since the kitchen is open to the dining room and I used red and white on the sideboard I wanted to carry the same colours onto the shelves.  I also wanted to add a few sentimental things from our travels.

The house tin is from our French friends and I taped a little wreath to it so the tin family could celebrate Christmas too.  The two little jute bells are from Bangladesh, but didn't get put on the tree because I liked how they tied in with the red on the sideboard and the orange on the house tin.

The two little glasses on the left come out every year as they were bought in England the year we celebrated Christmas there.  

Only a few more sleeps left until the big day.  We still have some wrapping to do, but will tackle that tomorrow night.  In the meantime I'm wiping my drippy nose and using lots of this so the rest of the family doesn't get my nasty cold.  

Are you almost ready for the big day?