On the second day of Christmas

We have a lovely purple artificial tree that we bought when we were first married.  Most of our decorations date from around the same time.  There's no real theme or pattern, just a mishmash of colours and patterns that I love.  I really like how pretty it looked with simple white lights.  Can you tell I'm not a fan of tinsel?!

Some of the ornaments have come from a tree my sister and I used to have in our bedroom at home when we were teenagers.  Others were made this year by Isaac at his childminders.  We have a beautiful turtledoves bauble that was a gift a few years ago.  I spent ages trying to find a star for the top of our tree.  I wanted something simple but not too small.  Definitely not a fairy, and not an olde-style angel.  I found this one 2 or 3 years ago and it's almost perfect.

We had a wreath on our front door last year but it's become worn and damaged over the years.  I looked around for one to replace it this year but couldn't find anything quite right.  Andy favours something with pine branches, whereas I'm all for small neon baubles.  Maybe next year we'll find something that suits us both!

Our stockings are handmade, though not by me.  I bought stockings for Andy and I years ago from a seller on notonthehighstreet.com and ordered a matching one for Isaac's first Christmas.  Sadly, she wasn't accepting new orders by the time I tried after having Anna last year and I can't find her or her stockings anywhere online.  So I found a similar-sized personalised stocking on the same site from a different seller this year.

I love nativity scenes and I love the idea of having them scattered around the house in the run-up to Christmas.  This little crocheted set came from Just, a fairtrade shop in St Martins Square, Leicester.  The wise men's gifts are folded crisp packets!