Feeling Festive In Beetley

~ beetleypete

As you know, I am something of a ‘Bah Humbug’ when it comes to Christmas. However, my wife loves the season.
So this is now in the far corner of our living room, in front of the side window.

It is an artificial tree. We wouldn’t have a real one, as the pine needles would get into Ollie’s paws. It is pre-lit, so just plugs in. There are various coloured lights available, including flashing options. But we choose to have the white lights, and no flashing.

Julie has collected the baubles for the past eight years, and many have special meaning for her. Some are also ‘personalised’.

So despite my seasonal ‘Grinch’ impersonation, we are finally festive in Beetley.

73 thoughts on “Feeling Festive In Beetley”

  2. My favorite part of the lovely decorations is what appears to be a photo in a frame of you and Julie dancing! Thank goodness for her balancing the grinch tendency that shows up in you from time to time.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. That is one of our wedding photos, Elizabeth. Our ‘first dance’. 🙂
      If you look to the left, there is a better one of us signing the register.
      (My Grinch isn’t from time to time. It’s permanent!)
      Best wishes, Pete.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  5. Well done, Julie. I have never yet found a Julie who wasn’t positive and easy to get on with. I couldn’t cope with flashing lights either. We have a tiny tree that was predecorated but I use the old lights from the previous, bigger, one. I can’t put it in the window because of the radiator but I have decorated the window with a snowy scene instead. I stick cards on the internal door to cheer the place up but don’t use garlands or balloons any more. Perhaps I’m half a grinch!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Sally, if it was up to me, there woud be no tree. I have to thank my wife for her efforts, and for her undying love of the Christmas season.
      A very Happy Christmas to you, and to all your family.
      Pete. xx

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  8. I don’t know if you would’ve preferred a real live tree, but there are certain types that don’t shed their needles. I live in the desert, so as you can imagine, needle shedding is a real concern. I avoid the ubiquitous Douglas firs in favor of a Nordic. You won’t get the lovely scent, at least not much of one, but the rounded needles aren’t pokey and they stay on the tree for the most part. But I won’t lie, out here I have to check the water every day and mist the tree to keep it moist. I also get a smaller one—about four to five feet tall—and set it up on a table so that it appears taller if you’re looking in through the window. Just makes it easy for me to deal with the tree before and after.

    Well, I know you’re not the most enthusiastic about it, but happy Christmas!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thanks for the information, and the much-appreciated Christmas wishes. I wish you and yours a very Happy Christmas too.
      As for the tree, that is my wife’s domain. She likes having the pre-lit tree, and not having to have to untangle and string a conventional bulb set. I leave her to it! 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

  10. That’s lovely, the same colour scheme as our tree. Last year I got out the retro purple baubles but I’ve gone traditional this year. We put our tree up early this year as something to do during lockdown but it is in the conservatory so not in the way.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. Thanks, Lizanne. Our tree is in the corner at the back of a fairly long room. Other than when closing the curtains at the small window, it is not in the way of anything. 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

      Like

      Reply

  12. Great post 🙂 That is indeed a very gorgeous Christmas tree and your wife decorated it beautifully 🙂 Based on all of the comments on here, I am sure she is flattered by all the praise 🙂 Regardless of what you think about the season, the tree is very beautiful to look at – especially when sitting down on a couch or a chair with or without a beverage 🙂 Anyway, keep up the great work as always 🙂

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  16. It looks lovely and festive. Well done, Julie not only for the beautiful tree but for ignoring your ‘Bah Humbug’ tendencies. I have almost got ours done – seems to have taken a lot longer this year – and like you, we prefer the white, non-flashing lights. The coloured flashing ones would drive me nuts.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  19. Every year, as I get older (or should I say, just plain old), I keep trying to cut back on the decorations. In some ways I have, but then there are newer items out this year – so …. what can I say, I love the season!!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  20. Baubles can hold a lot of memories. I have given my family ones to my daughter and I used to buy her a new one each year. My favourite was a glass bird with a tail, that clipped to the branch. Must be even older than me! And I always had a real tree, for the smell. But now I don’t bother. Just some lights wrapped around the bannister.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  23. (1) What do you call a Santa Claus bauble with a spring-mounted head, a baublehead?
    (2) Are baubles on an artificial tree called artificial sweeteners?
    (3) In Roman times, the Appian Way was decorated at Christmas. During the season, it was dubbed Bauble Stone Street. (Not to be confused with Kabul Stone Street in Afghanistan.)

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  25. Looks lovely. Yes, I’ve had to give in as well and decorate an artificial tree because my daughters-in-law will moan if I don’t! If we go to them at Christmas then I don’t bother, but this year they are coming to ours…

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

  27. We got our artificial Christmas tree down from the garage attic yesterday, and will put it up sometime this week. We’ll also get – as has been tradition since we moved here – a live one for outside, which we’ll plant in the garden next year. We have one for each Christmas we have had here so far.

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

    1. That’s a good plan, Pit. Most of our front space is taken up by a driveway and our parked cars, so a tree would hardly be noticed. But many houses around here do have real trees outside too.
      Best wishes, Pete.

      Liked by 1 person

      Reply

All comments welcome

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

Gravatar
WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Google photo

You are commenting using your Google account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Twitter picture

You are commenting using your Twitter account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. ( Log Out /  Change )

Cancel

Connecting to %s

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.