This past weekend we finally got our Christmas tree and I am so excited! I do like Christmas as a holiday. I have fond childhood memories associated with Christmas and I hope that my own children will have the same.
The first year we moved to the US I got cheap tree decorations from Ikea. It was a set with red baubles and stars which was totally fine but this year was the first year I did not even touch it. Over the years I collected Christmas ornaments from Hutschenreuther and I think they are so pretty. Last year we went to Germany to celebrate Christmas with the family and I packed up the ones that were still at my dads house so that I finally have them here. My mom used to collect them, too and to me it feels like continuing her tradition. This year our tree is filled with those ornaments and a couple of others I got over the years here and there as well some diy ornaments made by my kids when they were little. I think those are probably my favorites still especially now that they are older.
Since I was cooped up in my room the last week because of covid I also added some new snowflakes for our big front window. It finally feels a little more festive inside the house, too.
If you want to try yourself at some homemade Christmas decorations here are a couple of links:
How to make a Froebel Star – video and written instructions (thank you for google translate as the original is in danish).
Star made of kite paper – the instructions are in German but the pictures are self explanatory. I made these before in previous years and I love how the light shines through them.
A couple of more stars – if you click on any of the images you get to folding instructions for each. The Stern Vicky is one of my favorites and a good way to use up leftover wrapping paper or even catalogues.
The template for the paper snowflakes came from the Martha Stewart website.
Here is a bell shaped ornament for the ones who don’t like stars or want something different.
Home here and there 
I love seeing all the fun ornaments, especially the homemade ones. So cute!
We’re having a small gathering of people to our house on Saturday and might use one of those tutorials for us to make some holiday decorations. What a fun idea!
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That sounds like a great idea! I am curious to hear how it goes 🙂
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I enjoy seeing your Christmas decorations, and I appreciate that you explain how to make them! I’ll save this to show to my mom. She will really enjoy this. ❤️
In Chicago, we have a Christkindlmarket that we enjoy visiting during the holidays. It was said to be inspired by one in Nuremberg, Germany. Have you ever visited one?
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I have never been to the on in Nürnberg but I heard it’s great. They have Christmas markets everywhere in Germany so I have been to my fair share. The ones closest to my hometown I really like are in Celle and Bremen. They have an old town and the old houses give them a nice flair with all the lights decorations.
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That sounds so lovely!
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I love your decorations! Perhaps we will put up our tree this year. I now want to buy that bear hugging California for my friend…do you remember where you got it?
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I got it at our local mom owned gift shop but I saw you can also get one on amazon: SF Mercantile California Bear Hug Glass Ornament https://a.co/d/512J38M
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Cool, thank you!
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You made those snowflakes??? I’m impressed! I’ve never been able to get snowflakes to come out like that- I guess I need to use a Martha Stewart template.
I love your tree. Those homemade ornaments made me smile. We have one that I love from when my daughter was so little… it says “Mary Christmas.” ha ha…
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Those homemade ones are the best 😂
You have not seen the snowflakes I threw out 😉 but honestly it’s the first time they look like that – being stuck in a room and not having anything else to do helped I suppose. If you stick to the template you should be OK and once you figure it out it gets easier.
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I love your tree and decorations. I am a big fan of “stars” in any size, shape and form and I will check out your links!
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What a beautiful tree! It’s so refreshing to see a tree with sentimental ornaments rather than one following a “theme.”
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Those snowflakes are so pretty! I love the idea of decorating a window with a bunch of handmade snowflakes. I should try that as an activity one year!
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It was very relaxing once I got the hang of it. I love how it’s always a surprise when you open them up.
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