Christmas Gone!

Well I like your tree. It's very pretty. I enjoy putting up the Christmas Decorations. I always did it when I was little too - mother was unbelievably non-artistic, father didn't have patience, brother is a 'bloke' ...
I still have several of my childhood decs and I'm KEEPING THEM ! ... don't believe in minimalism.
However, we haven't put many up this year, I haven't had the energy.
Thanks for showing your tree, it's very pretty :)

I like it to,you can come and do mine next year ,I have much patients for some things but decorating Christmas trees is not one them we have two trees and all the baubles and lights
are permanently attached ,all back in the roof space today for another year.
x

I enjoyed this blog a lot! ...especially the little angel with the pickly knickers! lol.... Thanks for showing us your beautiful treasures. Can't wait for spring 2018. All the best, Honeysucklegold!

Well, I think it looks wonderful. As a person who takes two days to put up the decorations at Christmas, I can admire your hard work.

Well I just love your tree decorated so beautifully.
Wishing you and yours a very happy New Year.

I love your tree, Honeysucklegold, and would describe it as a mixture of art and love,not forgetting patience,of which you must have a bucketfull ! Your fairy is very lucky that you care about her comfort ,when pinned to the tree :o)
Thanks for making me smile,and I wish you and your family a very Happy New Year..:o)

Honey I love it, your decorating skills are perfect, I like the widlife theme and I'm delighted you have shared with us, I too have decorations that are many years old, I flatly refuse to get rid of them, they come out every year and whilst I'm around they always will, lol. I can well believe it takes hours to put together and sorry you now have to take it apart again..Lovely blog and photo's..
Best Wishes to you and your family, hoping 2018 is good to you....

lovely tree. I took mine down today and tree will be shredded tomorrow :o)

our angle is pre 2nd world war and wears a tinsel wrap and this holds her to the top branch. I keep meaning to get a new one but I've never found one that I like.

like you I have some very old ornaments from my parents time [ glass bells that were on their weding cake 1943] and the ones I got in the 60's. every year we get a couple of new ones. hardly any breakages now they tend to be plastic.

Thank you all for taking the time to read the blog. Now I feel the tree wasn't put up for nothing!
I know what you all mean when you say you are holding on to old family decorations. They may be old and tarnished, but the memories that they hold just can't be replaced.
My fairy has always been referred to as a fairy, but looking at her, she doesn't have any wings and I don't ever remember her having any, must ask my Sister who being two years older may remember. Still she will always be a fairy to me regardless. I think the old ones had cardboard wings, so perhaps I could make her some of those.
Don't get a new one Seaburn, your tree won't be the same and I love the idea of you having the bells from your parents wedding cake on the tree.
Each bauble, tinsel or ornament brings back memories. I agree with you Lincs and Hywel, keep the old ones. Both my trees are multi-coloured, full of old and some new decorations, can't go in for the themed colour trees - though they look smart in the right place.
I too have one of the collapsible trees Bjs which is permanently decorated with non-breakable baubles and stands outside on the step, then if the wind takes some of them off, it's just a matter of finding and replacing them.
The lights on the swag hanging over the door gave up the ghost two days ago, so will have to see if it's a bulb gone or just old age, not the fuse, did manage to check that.
I do know what you mean Linda, just getting everything out, unpacked and in place always gives me a 'Bah! Humbug!' moment, but I do like to see them up.
Best wishes to you all, thanks Bloomer, Lori and Stroller for looking and saying you liked the tree - see it was worthwhile!

I love Christmas trees and I love yours, Honeysuckle. We gave our big tree to Older Son this year and had two little ones instead. To be honest these were put away with their decorations and didn't appeal to me at all this year.

Our decorations are down and I have masses to give away to charity shops, if they'll have them, or the Guides Jumble Sale will benefit. The only ones left in storage are ones I used this year.

I have kept the Christmas fairy which my sister made. She used to make them for the Church/School Bazaar and I gave her my wedding dress to use. Expensive mistake when I look on e-Bay!!

Love your baubles and animals, apart from the peacocks! Yes, I love peacocks as I think you know, but I was never allowed to have an image of one, or a peacock feather in the house! Celtic superstition? Can't understand that. Yours are beautiful!

Happy 2018.

Its a shame you didn't have a bigger audience for your trees after all your artistic work! I love the idea of having a wildlife tree and your collection of animals etc is amazing! We gave over having a tree when we had a young and active cat - nuff said -and this was our first Christmas without one for as long as I can remember. I think we might abandon the big one and follow Brian's example another year.
Eirlys I remember the thing about peacock feathers in the house - very strange, I wonder where the idea originated!

I know what you mean HSG! It takes ages and then hardly anybody sees the results of your efforts. Must say though...definitely a beautifully decorated tree! We had a small rooted one this year. Its outdoors now, back to its naked beautiful self and hopefully it will survive and be redecorated again next Christmas. Happy New Year!

Thanks Eirlys. We have a very large hall, who knows why in a bungalow, but that's the way it was built. It's almost the same size as the rest of the rooms, which is weird, but great for the Christmas tree. We were always told not to take the decorations down until 12th night, but everyone round here seems to have done, so I expect mine will be down tomorrow.
There's a site here which gives some reasons for Peacock feathers being unlucky, but I would take it with a pinch of salt!
http://www.thepsychicwell.com/metaphysics/superstitions-irrational-beliefs-or-cultural-mores/superstitions-about-the-peacock-and-their-feathers/

As for the wedding dress, mine went the same way, cut up for dolls clothes. Shame as you say they make a fortune now.

Thanks Stera and I understand about the cat and a lovely glittery tree! My wildlife tree came about really because I had accumulated loads of animal related decorations, so I thought they would look better all together on one tree and keep the old ones for a different tree.
You can get half trees now which you can hang on the wall, possibly, and I say only possibly, out of reach of the cat!

I like the idea of the rooted one Stera, it will gain memories every year. When we were children we had a Holly tree, which was cut from the top of the Holly hedge and brought in and decorated. Also we had Holly and Ivy swags hung in the corners of the room. Somewhere in the depths of my mind I think you are supposed to keep one piece of Christmas greenery to burn on the cooking fire - but can't remember whether it was for Easter, Shrove Tuesday or when! We probably had Holly as my Father was a bit on the 'careful' side when it came to money!
We went and had a prowl around the Garden Centre before Christmas this year to see their decorations and were horrified to see the rows and rows of Christmas trees all with chopped off stems. Even big ones that must have taken years to get to that size and all to be discarded after two weeks. Sad, like your idea much better. For the New Year you could always do as we did in my youth (decades ago) and decorate it with nuts and fruit for the birds.

Just something to add to bottom of this, a site all about Christmas superstitions.
http://superstitionsonline.com/christmas-superstitions/

“For the New Year you could always do as we did in my youth (decades ago) and decorate it with nuts and fruit for the birds.” What a lovely idea! :)

I too love your tree my daughter is just like you with the way she does her tree uses the same fairy bought first her son's first Christmas 26 year ago she went on to have another two boys so her decorations grew with every school year as they made them every year we discuss which son made which one ...
Happy New Year !

Just a thought Karen!

Lovely to add to a collection Kidsgran, with all the memories that entails. My other tree has oddments made by my Son when he was small (now 28) and mini mock crackers which I made then too. These were made from the inner plastic tubes of adding machine rolls - who remembers adding machines? Still I expect till rolls have inner tubes as well. These were covered with Christmas fabric and decorated with various ribbons, ric-rac, stars, sequins and buttons. All different and dotted about the tree. Easily amused us country people!

So pleased you put your beautiful tree on here for us to see, so many gorgeous decorations I love it....
We won't take ours down until the very last minute, but before the twelfth night!
Like you, our tree takes ages to put up, its a 6 ft tall artificial Bavarian Pine with real cones and berries and snow covered (sheds loads of snow every year on me and everything else) but looks gorgeous even without any decorations,several of the family went down with the dreaded flu this Christmas so hardly anyone saw ours this year....It makes me really bad tempered putting it up, as it has so many branches to straighten, but when its finished it makes it all worthwhile.
Happy New Year Honeysuckle.....

Thanks Dottydaisy, as you say it is worthwhile when it is up. It came down today and is sitting in the huge boxes waiting for a break in the weather so it can go back in the shed. Don't want to put the containers away wet from the rain. Blowing a gale here again now so shan't stagger out with boxes in that either. OH had the winter vomiting bug, but I managed to avoid that, I think we were brought up coming in contact with all the germs you get from living on a smallholding! Happy New Year to you too, and everyone else.

Took ours down yesterday...... just waiting for the energy to close up all the branches, and pack it away, treated ourselves to a couple of zipped bags with handles last year from Amazon.....so much easier!to transport to the spare bedroom! instead of the roof!

Have just looked at the site re the feathers being unlucky.
I have taken the pinch of salt...

We didn't have a Christmas tree because we were away before Christmas, so I have thoroughly enjoyed looking at yours. It is a tree of real treasures and is so artistic.
Really beautiful.

I too splashed out on huge plastic tubs last year to pack the tree branches in Dotty. They always lived in the loft with all the rest and it was a real pain just forcing everything through the loft hatch. So last year they all got packed in boxes and put in the shed, all one level, stuff them on a barrow and wheel them to the front door and.... I don't have to worry that I am bringing a mouse down out of the loft - just can't keep the little blighters out!

Glad you had a look Stera, not sure about a lot of that!

Thanks Wildrose, I usually add a couple of things each year when they reduce them after Christmas! This year it was yet another reindeer and some lovely wooden acorns - now what they have to do with Christmas, who knows, but they fit with the wildlife/outdoor theme (sort of).