This year will be our first Christmas in our home in Seattle, and I really wanted a Christmas tree. I grew up with real trees, and love the smell. Realistically though, putting up a Christmas tree with all the ornaments that our parents saved from our childhood, plus the ones we started collecting, with an 8 month old puppy loose in the house seemed like a recipe for disaster. I was in total denial, and ready to go to some sort of Christmas tree wonderland where you get to pick and cut your own tree. It was going to be the highlight of this holiday season. Fresh fluffy snow on the ground, somewhere in the mountains. A hot latte, strolling down the tree field, finding the perfect tree. I was clearly dreaming.
I woke up when Noodle started going crazy for a neighbour's wreath and jumped at their door. Now, that neighbour also happens to have a Golden Retriever that Noodle is obsessed with, but still. I imagined these childhood memories broken on the concrete floor, and resigned myself to skip the Christmas tree this year.
I did settle for a Christmas-tree-shaped rosemary plant, which hosts the smaller ornaments quite well. And placed other ornaments in a bowl as a centre piece. But that did not seem festive enough. I needed more Christmas spirit, especially if I wanted to convince my husband that a Tofurkey was a brilliant dinner idea. I'm still working on it.
Garlands are festive, and I had the wavy yarn I tried to learn knitting with and quickly discarded lying around, as well as some felt. We live in an open loft and therefore have we have a lot of open space, but minimal surfaces. Hanging decorations are the way to go. I decided to make a triangle felt garland, which you can easily reproduce in no time.
| Material: Yarn, rope or ribbon. Felt. I chose red, green, grey and off-white. Scissors. Hot glue gun if you accept the risk hot glue on your finger tips. Needle and thread otherwise. Instructions: Cut various sizes of triangle in felt. Cut off the corners of the side you will use to attach to the yarn. Put glue on that side of the triangle and fold over the yarn. Press for a few seconds. Repeat at variable intervals, alternating or varying colours as you please. Make sure to always glue/fold on the same side. Voila. |
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Even though it isn't the same as a live tree, what about a pre-lit tree? It is easy (no fighting with lights), fairly animal-friendly (our cats routinely paw/chew at them and no harm), and you get that pretty warm glow when the lights are out. Love the garland -- makes me think of our first Christmas in Saudi when we had *nothing* -- we'd only been there about a month and a half, we hadn't gotten our shipment from the US, and of course, in a Muslim country there's little Christmas decor to buy. I made construction paper chains out of red and green paper (I was 9). So simple, yet something that made it feel a bit more like the holidays.
ReplyDeleteVery true about the tree. What I like the best about the Christmas tree is the smell, which is probably why I chose the fragrant rosemary "tree"! Glad you like the garland. Must have been very interesting experiencing a first Christmas as a child in Saudi. Great that you made it more festive with handmade decorations!
DeleteThanks!
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