Deck The Halls

Maya Angelou said: “I’ve learned that you can tell a lot about a person by the way (s)he handles these three things: a rainy day, lost luggage, and tangled Christmas tree lights.”

Well I can tell you that all of those scenarios are better with good company!

In the old days Valentina’s visits meant dancing our nights away in the West End, high heels and champagne.

Now?

We’ve hung up our sequins in favour of cosy pjs, and climbing on velvet sofas is purely to reach the very top branches of our tree!

But I’ll leave that bit to others this year…

Nutcracker pjs // Brussel sprout pjs

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We donned the tree in creams, blues, whites and reds.

Spreading the fun over a couple of days & nights together.

Navy velvet sofa

I picked up lots of ceramic Delft ornaments on my trip to Holland (which I still need to blog about! Will share next week!). Sadly I can’t find a good online store for you, but you can find lots of individual ones here.

Tiny perfume bottles – for guests to choose their favourites on Christmas morning!

Gold & cream baubles // Red baubles

With a few candy canes and chocolate baubles thrown in for good measure!

Gingerbread Breton // Gingerbread pj pants // Alpine pjs

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Under the watchful eye of Mr Custard, we successfully finished up the tree.

Before moving onto the mantle.

Filling vases with red berries and the most incredibly fragrant eucalyptus from Portobello Market.

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Either side of my berry & pine garlands (I doubled up for thickness).

A fireplace filled with more pine!

And some little Dutch canalhouses.

Topping it all off with some celebratory bubbles!

Oversized shirt // Red earrings

Sparkling apple & lemon juice from Whole Foods, not quite Dom… but a quaffable alternative if you’re not drinking this festive season!

Finally putting our feet up to celebrate a job well done.

A toast to you & your decorating!

May it be merry and bright!