Ever since our new Christmas tree arrived, in mid-November, Terry has been absolutely desperate to start decorating it.
I managed to hold him off for two weeks.
“Look,” I said, “I’m willing to try my best to become a Christmas Person, for Max’s sake… but I will only be a Christmas Person in December. Any earlier than that is just madness, really, and I’m not going to repeat myself on this.”
So, then I repeated myself on that approximately twice a day, for the next 14 days.
Finally, we reached a compromise: we would put the Christmas tree up on December 1st, and not a day before. And, because we wanted to make a bit of a “thing” of it, and maybe start a new little Christmas tradition that Max will look forward to in years to come, we decided to invite my parents, and Terry’s brother, John, around, too.
“We’ll have dinner,” we said, “put on some Christmas music: it’ll be fun! And we’ll do it on December 1st, every year from now on!”
Then we decided to book a last minute holiday, leaving in the early hours of December 2nd. Whoops.
Terry was absolutely adamant that we should go ahead with the plan anyway, and still put the Christmas tree up on the 1st of December, with all of the fanfare we’d planned.
I, however, was equally adamant that I’d need that special time to finish packing for the holiday, panic about packing for the holiday, and then lie awake worrying that the plane was going to crash. (As it turned out, I also needed that time to remove all of my carefully applied eyelash extensions. It’s… a long story…) So, once again, we were forced to compromise, and that’s how we came to be Those People who have their Christmas tree up in November. And, OK, it was the very last day of November, true, but still: NOVEMBER. CHRISTMAS TREE. WHO EVEN AM I ANY MORE?
The tree, as I mentioned previously, is the Blue Mountain Spruce, c/o Cox & Cox. The extra large stars and tree topper are also from there, and most of the rest of the decorations are from The Range – with the exception of the little owl, who I found in a local garden centre, and picked up purely because he reminded me of Ron Weasley’s owl, Pigwidgeon. Well, I couldn’t possibly have left him behind after that, could I?
As you can (hopefully) also see, Terry also draped the living room in fairy lights: totally impossible to photograph, obviously, but I’ve featured them on my Instagram Stories, and am sure they’ll pop up again sooner or later, so if you’re following me over there, I’m sure you’ll have seen them.
The tree-shaped advent calendar, meanwhile, was a gift from my parents to Max, and my mum not only customised it herself, she’s also filled it up with lots of little notes and treats, which he was very excited to open the next morning:
Speaking of Max, when I posted these photos on Instagram, I had a few ‘Just You Wait’ messages from people wondering how on earth we could be so brave/stupid as to dare to have a Christmas tree when we have an 11-month-old, and gleefully reminding me that people with babies aren’t allowed to have nice things, because the baby will surely destroy them! LOL!
Well, my only answer to that, I guess, is that we’re just not planning to let him get close enough to it – or not unsupervised, anyway – for him to be able to pull things off it, or whatever. I suppose there’s always the risk of him sneaking under our radar and wreaking havoc anyway, but we live with that threat daily, and have become quite adept at pulling things out of the way seconds before he grabs them, so I think we’re just going to hope for the best with this one.
This was Max’s face when he heard me say that:
(His jumper is from H&M, btw – I can’t find it on the website, but I did find these matching booties, which I’m just KICKING myself for not buying, seriously…)
Anyway. At the time of writing, the tree is still standing, and is still intact – although, because we’ve been in Tenerife for the past week, that’s really only two days we’ve managed to get through with it so far. Wish us luck…
14 comments
I am always surprised about how some people feel the constant need to judge even the smallest decision we make, specially if they think it is related to kids. Really, can they just give others a break?
Regarding your tree, maybe you are not a Christmas person, but your tree is awesome. My kingdom for your festive decor skills!
Thank you! And yes, it’s so strange – I feel like I could post a photo of a sandwich right now, and someone would want to tell me that I’m not going to get to eat it because I have a baby 😩
Your tree looks so pretty xx
Your tree is beautiful (and totally looks real)! I’m not a Christmas person either. Mostly because it made my mom sad so she wasn’t that into it, but I’m slowly embracing the spirit.
😂😂😂😘
Your tree certainly does look beautiful and Max is adorable. He is what this season is all about so bring on all the joy and love and lets leave negativity behind. I hope you all have a magical time. – Jill x
Your tree is beautiful!!! I don’t often get Christmas tree envy. Where is the basket on the bottom from? I’ve never seen a tree done like that before <3
G is for Gingers xx
I’ve no idea, I’m afraid – my parents bought it years ago, and had been using it as a garden table until we commandeered it!
Your tree is fab, and I particularly love the tree basket, it is so pretty with your tree. Out metal stand doesn’t have the same cachet. We do have a real tree every year though, and this time took Teddy (our Max’s mischievous cockapoo) with us to choose the right one. He loved it, but naughtily peed on the trees for sale, so was banished to the car. Unfortunately, he had the idea that this was the thing to do with Christmas trees, so just after I finished decorating it, he arrived and promptly peed on it. It is now guarded by parcels and an old TV stand to protect it from the peeing hound. We had to shut him in the kitchen when we had to go out.
Our daughter thought this was very funny, but is forewarned to protect her tree.
The tree is beautiful, even though we could get a Douglas fir that we had last year and which has a wonderful lemony scent that fills the house. I wonder how I can post a picture of my tree here??
Happy Christmas and have fun establishing your own family Christmas traditions.
Ha, Rubin would 100% have peed on a real tree – probably this one, too!
Hahaha
Amber, Max is so adorable and his expressions….. delightful! This will be a perfect first Christmas for him and your tree is amazing!
Wow your living room looks like a winter wonderland! Max is so adorable!
Debs @ https://tiger-mint.com
Max is so incredibly cute 😉 And you just wait blah blah, I have four children and not one of them has ever been in the christmastree or smashed ornaments… Just a firm no at the right time makes a difference. And two of them were not even interested. Maybe some people just need to get off their phone typing other people to ‘just wait’ and pay actual attention to their own children. Your decorations look lovely and your lash-story made me laugh to tears, so thank you 😉