The Fur Coat Christmas Tree!

I love Christmas time, especially in the northern hemisphere. I love the crisp days, the cold air, the lights, Christmas trees, mince pies, mulled wine, cashmere, coats, hats, gloves, Christmas Fairs - everything really.

This year, my husband and I decided to really indulge in the meaning of Christmas. I know that sounds corny, but what I mean is that we wanted to get back to basics and show our children all the traditions behind the Season. We began with Stir Up Sunday in November, when we made the pudding together. We put in a (cleaned with Coca Cola) penny each and had a turn stirring the mixture. We put it in the oven and then stored it and waited! We won't mention the fact that as we tried to limit the amount of alcohol that went into the pudding (I hate the taste!), it started to go mouldy in early December. We relented and poured the stuff in and cut off the mouldy bit - don't worry, there was a miniscule amount!

We then set about buying the tree from our local fruit monger in early December. He gave me a discount, which was very Fur Coat! I bought a seven footer, which looks very majestic in our home!  Then to the decorations. We don't spend too much on them and steer away from themed tree decorations. Rather, we favour each child having input into what they put up. Every year, each child buys a decoration of their choice which is faithfully put up each year. And this includes the orange fake grapes chosen by our then 5 year old son in 2004! Very ugly but full of memories! There are baubles made at nursery and school; and any decorations given to us as presents. It's not very coordinated, but there is a lot of love floating around!

We always buy our lights from the pound store! Full stop really, nothing more to say. They are cheaper and generally these stores have great selections.

Another tradition that we have is that we choose one Christmas book to buy each year. We spend December reading them to the children. They love listening to us reading to them, no matter what the content! Check out my suggestions that you can find at your favourite bookstore and Amazon. A note about the first book. This can be bought at a substantially less cost if you buy the paperback. The hardcover is pretty special though.