(and it is eco-friendly too!)
It’s the most frivolous time of the year!
And rightly so. We work hard all year round and we certainly deserve a treat. BUT… You could feel the ‘but’ coming, couldn’t you? But… it doesn’t have to be wasteful.
We all fancy a change at some point or another – it’s a human thing – so how do you change your WHOLE Christmas Tree INCLUDING all its decorations without being wasteful and without spending a penny!
No, this is not click bait. I did this last year! Here’s how…
Last Christmas I gave you my…
…Tree!
That’s right. Last year, I swapped Christmas trees with my mother-in-law. The tree and all its trimmings and it was one of THE BEST things I had ever done.
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Our tree in my mother-in-law’s home in 2020. | Our tree in our home in 2019. |
It was set to be a lonely Christmas spent without family. The pandemic was still too prevalent for us as a family to take any risks (even though some restrictions had been lifted by the government).
We wanted something to make us feel close to the family over the festive season, so I rang my mother-in-law and asked if she would swap Christmas trees with me. Being the sport that she is, she immediately said yes and it was settled.
A brand new sparkly tree
The prospect of a ‘new’ tree to decorate with all ‘new’ decorations got us both very excited! We had something to look forward to now for a Christmas that had a bleak outlook before.
We did a socially distanced exchange of our trees and decorations on the agreed day and – full transparency - I was a little intimidated at first. As you can see from the pictures, my Christmas tree’s decorations are more minimalistic, and my mother-in-law’s tree is… the opposite. That didn’t last long however, and I couldn’t wait to put it up!
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Our tree in my mother-in-law’s home in 2020. | My mother-in-law’s tree in our home in 2020. |
Tales of Christmas past
Myself and my husband met each other a little later in life, therefore our Christmas tree is fairly new. Although we picked out the decorations together, for the most part, they are shop bought and don’t have an emotional connotation.
I adored taking each of my in-law’s decorations in turn and, while my husband told stories of the fond memories that each one brought or the significance of why it was special, I hung it on the tree. Stories of childhood Christmases and the inevitable accidental breakages of decorations that goes with mixing kids and Christmas trees! Stories of travels and a safe return home of which a decoration from a faraway country is testimony.
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My mother-in-law’s tree in her home in 2019. | My mother-in-law’s tree in our home in 2020. |
By the time we finished, the tree was a wonderful collection of memories that represented a lifetime of Christmases together as a family.
It struck me just how very fortunate we are and gave me a newfound appreciation for the tradition that is Christmas. That special time of year when memories are made and re-lived with loved ones, both those that are present and those that can’t be with us.
This year
Myself and my mother-in-law are both looking forward to putting our own trees up again this year. It will be like having a new tree again as we’ve not ‘seen’ our own trees in two years.
My intention for Christmas this year is to re-live as many memories with my family as I can and make many more memories to add to my mental Christmas tree.