A foraged Christmas Tree
What’s your festive tree of choice?
As a child I remember a mix of tree types and sizes: real and artificial; table-top and ceiling-scraping. But my most vivid memory is of the white artificial tree my mum chose to decorate with neon-coloured baubles. It was quite the bold festive statement, and the tree was used for many years to come (until it was literally so dirty and grey it just became depressing), and was a future-proofing, money-saving choice when times were hard. While the tree is no longer in the family, I still bring out those brightly coloured baubles every year, and they hold many happy, and reassuring memories.
When we moved the family to Cambridgeshire, J&J were 6 & 8 years young, we decided to opt for a living tree which we could then plant in the garden at the end of the festive season. We had the joy of watching that tree grow bigger and stronger each Christmas that passed, and lit it up annually for the festive season. (I was so sad when I saw the house on the market recently to see that the latest homeowners of our Beloved Bells had chopped our Christmas tree - and the orchard and lavender path we planted - down in favour of paving and a big, bare easy-to-mow lawn. The end of an era I guess, and I guess it only had history for us.)
Since then we’ve always had a real tree, cut to size. But recently we’ve struggled with the environmental implications, and frankly the cost, of buying a real tree. And seeing the droopy, sad specimens awaiting collection on the streets of Edinburgh…some as early as Boxing Day. So this year we decided to go foraging for our own in the form of searching out fallen, broken branches. And J Snr found the perfect one on one of his long cycle runs, and collected it to store in the garage.
This weekend I spied these fabulous pods in the photo (I’m not sure exactly what they are - any ideas?) in the macrame stash of Arienas artist Lucy Wayman, and thought how amazing they would look on our foraged festive tree. Lucy very kindly offered me some to keep, so we got the branch out and I’ve been trying them out for size this morning.
It’s too early to get too Christmassy so I won’t share too much of the tree just yet, but when we tried out the branch in situ for size we loved it so much we decided to keep it up! This also gives me plenty of time - and inspiration - for decorating it. It will gradually get more festive as the weeks pass, and I look forward to sharing more photos with you. But for now I’m just enjoying how it is, and for the way it brings a bit of the outdoors in to our garden-less home.
What are your plans for festive decorations this year? Will you be making your own?
If you’re into making your own festive decorations and stationery you might be interested in these Arienas workshops:
Festive themed lino printing for beginners on 25 November 2025 at 6pm
Foraged Wild Wreath on 27 November 2025 at 10am
Mosaic decorations on 28 November & 5 December 2025 at 10am
Mosaic wreath making on 29 November 2025 at 10am
Personalised Calligraphy Christmas baubles on 30 November 2025 at 11am & 3pm
You can find out more on the Workshops page.
