Luckily for me as I live in the countryside there is enough greenery in my garden and around where I live to supply me with some seasonal essentials - holly with berries and pine cones.
So here's what Ive done to decorate the house this Christmas.
I like to group the mercury glass on this old over mantle. The mirror back is great at throwing the candle light back around the room for a soft mood.
I treated myself to some beeswax candles. I have become a bit candle obsessed and along with a real fire, I like to have some nice smelling ones burning during the day. My absolute favourites this year came from Amalia who writes the blog "these small finds" and can be found on instagram as _apothecary_ . Amalia found some beautiful blue bell jars from the USA and filled them with soy wax candles, she finds the most lovely containers including the little cake tin ones on my mantlepiece.
These cookie hearts came from a supermarket in Sweden. I added a bit of icing to them. They are called Pepparkakkor and have a lovely gingerbread smell. I included them into my banister arrangement. Im so happy to finally have a house with open wooden banisters on the staircase, for no other reason than to decorate it in December.
Some of my Swedish lights for the front window combined with the paper stars, bringing a bit of that beautiful place back home with me.
I didn't decorate this gingerbread heart myself, it was already iced with Kurbits decoration from the Swedish supermarket and luckily made it home in one piece. The top garland is from an online dried flower company and made from cotton pods, I've never seen one before but I absolutely love it.
The design motif called Kurbits is traditional in Sweden and can be found on many things. It is a style of painting normally, based on vegetables and floral organic shapes, it was originally a fertility symbol. You can find it on the little wooden Dala Horses, embroidered onto clothing and painted onto furniture.
In a nearby village there is a Christmas barn which opens at weekends in December, it is the most stunning Tythe barn you have ever seen and is full to bursting with decorations and presents. I topped up on a few new pieces like the string of bells and the metal birds. They also have candles from the candle makers St Eval which are great quality. The Tythe barn in Haddenham is the perfect place to get you in the spirit and mood for a time of cozy evenings with friends and family, a sparkly and fairy like grotto which can be recreated at home.
I wish you all a healthy happy holiday with good food and warm drinks to help you relax and have a few days of nesting in your very own grotto. Sending you love and peace from my little village in Buckinghamshire.
