The Most Wonderful Time of The Year

Christmas is now less than ten days away which feels strange because this time last year the world was covered in snow more or less constantly... or maybe I'm remembering it all wrong and that was actually January. Either way, despite the fact that I'm not particularly a fan of the snow I feel like this season should be more snowy! 

However, the Christmas spirit has definitely entered our household. It really started kicking off 9 days ago with the arrival of our second Christmas tree. 

Now, I know opinions can be very divided on the subject of Christmas trees but for me it has to be real. Ideally picked from a forest so I can go and immerse myself in the wonderful fragrant aroma of fir trees.

mmmm.....

Anyway, this year we went to a warehouse locally with my parents and picked up our beautiful tree.

It doesn't shed needles because of an amazing stand we have for it. Honestly would completely recommend the one we have and it made the tree really easy to put up. Not that I was particularly involved in that part! 

We put on the Michael Buble, got out the shloer and danced our way through the lights, baubles and beads.

We are not particularly tinsel people. I say not particularly... I don't like to touch the stuff! I have seen trees look absolutely beautiful with tinsel but I'm not a fan of the texture so putting it on our tree (or anywhere in the house) is a no-no for me. It is fine seen from a distance. Much like wigs. 

Finally, we got a tree that looked something like this: 

The pinnacle of the decoration, really, is the picture at the top of this post. Our nativity decoration. 

I was speaking to a friend who is religious recently and she was bemoaning the fact that everyone stresses out so much to celebrate one day that in reality doesn't mean much to people who don't believe in Christ. The commercial elements of the season are sometimes overpowering, that's true, but I'm still grateful that the non-religious people in the world do acknowledge Christmas and use it for spending time with family and friends. 

Because, you see, ultimately the message of Christ and subsequently Christmas is love - and whatever you do or don't believe at this time of year it is always nice to surround people a little bit more with love. 

This is a scene from a Mr Kruger's Christmas, which I hope you enjoy: 

Merry Christmas!