A Blessed Christmas to you !!

 

From our li'l ole abode to yours, may your Christmas

be a blessed one,

decorated with many, many happy times

 with your family and friends;

and may your new year be filled with many, many warm and special memories!!

 

Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree......

........yes it's that time again. The month of December has once again come aknocking impatiently on my bright pink, front door heralding the Christmas season; informing me 'tis time to unearth the Christmas tree and all the decorations and festoon both tree and house; as the festive season is nigh.

For more years than I can remember my family has always enjoyed a real, ridgy didge, pine, Christmas tree oozing with a delicious pine fragrance. There is nothing quite like the fragrance that emanates the home from a real tree. The getting of our Christmas tree, year after year, is one of which fables are written.

Just the very articulation of the phrase "let's go in search of our Christmas tree" is enough to send a shiver down every member of my family's spine and cause them to scurry to some dark hidey hole where they cannot be found!!

We have so many hysterical, rollicking tales of  the search of the perfect tree. So many funny, funny incidences of me, my husband and daughters; and on the odd occasion, some very, very patient and long suffering friends, embarking on the perfect Christmas tree hunt. Of searching acres and acres of pine trees, marking the ones that could perhaps sit rather handsomely in our parlour, then forgetting which couple of hundred that we had chosen, and after many a long hour of searching, wielding the chainsaw, cutting down the 'chosen' tree and lugging it back to the car.

Stories of squeezing the tree through one back window of the car, through to the other window, so that the tree sticks out both sides; terrified of being pulled up by the local constabulary; who would have been perfectly justified to throw the book at us, ummmmmm..........we did violate a few traffic by-laws!! Oh.... and of course, upon arriving home, trying to squeeze the tree through the doorway that all of sudden seemed to have shrunk!! Oops........it's amazing how a tree looks lilliputian in a forest!! The size of the tree really should've been a visual cue when our tree, sticking out of both sides of the car, nearly side-swiping cars in the other lanes, with drivers honking their horns and giving us murderous looks!!!!!! I am normally a law-abiding citizen but the very thought of the perfect Christmas tree, turns me into a maniacal woman!!

So then, out would come the saw and bit by bit, branches were removed in a symmetrical fashion (it had to be the perfect Christmas tree) so that it could fit through the door. Oh and that's not all; once the tree is in situ, after an age of my husband trying to get the blasted tree upright jamming in bricks and sand and goodness knows whatever else; and hours and hours of decorating the tree, it collapses and falls to the ground, with water and sand and bricks muddying the white carpet; and children  happily playing board games close to said tree, flee in all directions in fear of their lives as 'father dear' cries out 'TIMBER'!!

Oh......these are just a few chapters contained within  "The Sharman's Christmas Tree Chronicles"!! I am afraid that our Christmas tree stories do not resemble those movies when the getting of the Christmas tree enhances a symbiotic, happy family outing, filling everyone with a warm and fuzzy feeling. No indeedy....ours always seemed to be somewhat more akin to a Chevy Chase movie....where if anything could go wrong, it most certainly would!!

So.........finally we decided we would buy a faux Christmas tree!!!!!! Oh no!!!!! The earth will stop spinning on it's axis!!!! Unpardonable, I know but we all just decided that enough was enough and we wanted to make our 1st December a little more pleasant!!

Well that was the plan. It's just that our faux, perfectly symmetrical Christmas tree is 9 feet tall!! I must admit it is a beauty.....BUT......it means that I clamber up a ladder and scurry down again, ad nauseum for hours, festooning said tree with lights, beaded garlands and then the decorations which take an age to decide where they would look best......oh alright.......perfect!!!

I have often thought that it would be wonderful if only my husband could build a 9 feet plus cupboard, so that his dear wife could just wheel the tree in, close the cupboard door, and each year, when the season of great joy comes aknocking again, I could just wheel it out fully decorated; ready to go!! Easy!! He, of course says, "but think of all the fun you would miss out on"!!!!!!! Mmmmmm......I don't believe him...........because, strangely enough, after he has connected the cords for the lights and asks if I am in need of his services anymore, he disappears......probably in search of a stiff drink!! Not that I blame him.......as the woman before him on the 1st December, is not the same 'sweet' woman that he married. No the woman before him kinda vaguely resembles that of a shrew-like Shakespearian character!!

But......with Bing carolling in the background and my spirit somewhat calmed with the end of my mission nearing to an end; the tree finally begins to resemble that of which the "Oh Christmas Tree" carol waxes lyrical. It's lovely branches are laden with both handmade and a few store bought decorations. The lights are twinkling and the angel has taken residence at the very top, smiling ever so ethereally down upon us mere mortals!! 'Tis a lovely tree reminding me of the hope, love, joy and  the peace of the Christmas message.

With the tree standing ever so pretty in the corner of the parlour and my mission complete......I'm off to sprinkle a li'l more festive spirit to other rooms of our li'l ole abode!

 

 

Candles and candlelabras abound!

Parisian stockings which I have designed and stitched by hand, are scattered throughout our li'l ol' abode.

 The entry window adorned with doily bunting and a sprinkling of spangles.

  

I love how the floor reflects the shadows of the doilies and decorations.

The kitchen window bedecked with snowflakes and candles in glass jars and bottles.....oh and not to forget the bucolic view of green, green paddocks and the roving kaleidoscope of black and white  bovine.

A nativity scene that my husband cut out and which I painted many a Christmas ago!! It is a timely reminder that Christmas is the 'birth'day of Jesus!

 Done!! Well......almost. There is the matter of a wreath to be made for our bright pink door, but that will have to wait. For now I am just going to sit, put my feet up, relax and enjoy our bedecked home for a li'l while and reflect on the spirit of Christmas.....and then I will begin to think about those mere triflings such as presents, gift wrapping, Christmas dinner etc etc!!

Until the next time................