The Enchanted Tree.

My Holiday home is never complete until one special guest enters my house.
The Tree.
Some of you might recall that I have a particular tradition in my white house on a hill - I cut down my very own Christmas tree each year.

Well, I do get help with the actual cutting - nevertheless - it is a winter Saturday that I look forward to with almost a childish enchantment and anticipation.

In Denmark, tree plantations that grow spruce trees for this purpose, where people are allowed to select and cut the tree of their choice, are very common. The experience to walk among the trees and finding the one, which is just right - is one of a kind. It carries so much symbolism and represents an almost nostalgic Holiday sentiment.

This year the white snow added a great deal of magic to this December tradition, as the tree, its branches still heavy with the wintry precipitation, entered my home. The air grew gently saturated with the scent of fresh pine and the spices of hot wine, while I trimmed sparsely its evergreen attire - keeping it simple, the way I prefer. As the day slowly closed towards its end and the afternoon twilight brought on the illumination of my beautiful guest, the atmosphere of happiness in the company of my very good friends created a perfect Holiday moment, completing a winter fantasy...

Recycling The Tree.

Yesterday I took down my Christmas Tree. Traditionally this happens in my home the first weekend after the Epiphany.

It is the same every year; when the Holidays end, it is time to end the short visit of The Tree. As I take down each and every single ornament and place it back into the red Christmas box, I try to remember the joy that the tree spread around my home for the past five weeks. The box is placed on a shelf, where it will stay untouched for another year, until the wonderful time returns in December.

I try to recycle as much of the tree as I can. The branches are cut away and used in my garden to protect the sprouting spring bulbs and for decoration in empty pots. The trunk is cut into smaller pieces and left to dry. Perhaps in twelve months, just when new tree is welcomed into my home, it will spread cosy heat through out my house when burned in the fireplace.

Tree Decoration.

The is the last Sunday in November and this year, it is also the day of the 1st Advent. Although a religious observance, Advent is today a very traditional celebration in Scandinavia, signifying the onset of Christmas Holidays.
Families gather to drink Mulled Wine with traditional advent snacks, which can vary between the countries of the North. In Denmark, it is common to serve æbleskiver, which resemble and taste like small, round pancakes.

I have my own tradition that takes place on the last Sunday in November - I decorate my Christmas Tree. I love the laid back feeling of the day and the activity in itself connects me in a strong way to my past. The tree was such a center point in the Christmases of my childhood. Always decorated by my mother, who relished every year in creating a true artwork in the middle of our living room, making it look differently each year. This always took place on the day before Christmas Eve and I often felt that the time we got to enjoy its glory was so very short. Therefore, today, the tree in my home is decorated in the beginning of December, thus I can enjoy its presence and its beauty throughout the Holiday Season.

As much as my home is cluttered with objects and decorations, the way I decorate my tree is somewhat an opposite to that. I keep it very simple. The decorations are few and almost entirely only red. I love to leave most of the tree bare, as it is simply so very beautiful in its natural state.

The First Day.

This last Saturday in November starts at first like any other Saturday. In the early morning, when the world is still asleep, I wrap myself in my favorite blanket, slip into my big warm, pink home shoes and venture into the kitchen. Putting on a pot of coffee and placing frozen bread roles into the oven, I look out of the windows onto the dark landscape surrounding me.
I can feel something is about to change.

Unlike other Saturdays, I venture down into the basement. Batcat follows me curiously, as he too senses that the routine of our weekends is altered. I start pulling down boxes from the shelves. The ones stating "Christmas" with large, red letters on the side. I stack them all in one corner, then sit down on the floor, with Batcat watching my every move. Lifting the lids, I gaze at the familiar colours and shapes. Removing each and every item from the wrapping, I recall unhurriedly the stories and moments in time connected to these objects.

The hours pass with tranquil ease and my home gradually becomes a plethora of every shade of red, golden and green. When the morning turns into noon there is a palpable change in the air.
In the early afternoon, I get the tree. Visiting a Spruce Tree Plantation in the countryside, I cut down my very own Christmas Tree (with some help of good friends), a tradition that I have carried out for many years by now.

Slowly, the day becomes evening and the Christmas Lights light up my home. The traditional and distinctive scent of spruce and Mulled Wine spreads throughout the house, filling my heart and mind with a warm comforting feeling. It brings on a sense of joy and gentle expectation, just like when I was a child.

Today the autumn has departed.
It has left and with it, the darkness of November disappeared. As we stand in between seasons and as the winter prepares for its grand entrance, the day that began just like any other, has turned into the first day of the Holiday Season.

Christmas City Lights.

Today is weather vise one of those days I truly dislike. It is rainy and windy. Well, stormy would be a more appropriate term actually.
However yesterday was a wonderful winter day; sunny and calm, no wind to speak off. I took a walk through the city in the early evening to see this year’s decorations. I manged to visit a small Christmas marked as well and finally got to stand next to the enormous Christmas Tree in front of the City Hall, which I drive pass every day to work.
I always enjoy walking through the streets close to Christmas, especially when I do not have to feel the stress of purchases and preparations.

The Christmas Tree.

Today is the last Saturday in November and a big tradition day in my little white house on the hill; I get ready for Christmas.
This means getting up early and decorating the whole house while listening to my favorite christmas music with Nat King Cole. My very good friends will come by in the early afternoon and we go and get the Christmas tree and in the evening drink a special Danish Christmas drink called "gløgg", which is a kind of a hot, spicy, red wine.

I love getting the tree. I do not buy one; I actually cut one down myself (with some help). In Denmark, there are large plantations with trees. They grow pine trees or rather coniferous evergreen trees adequate for this use, such as spruces. These trees are also exported to other European countries, such as Germany and ordinary people are allowed to come by the plantations and cut their very own tree. I love this tradition, as a freshly cut tree is alive and lasts long while spreading wonderful scent and of course joy around the house.

The tradition of the Christmas Tree has been in my life as long as I can remember. As a child, while still believing in the magic of the holidays, the tree was not to be seen by us, the children, until the very Christmas Eve. While growing up in Sweden, we adapted the Scandinavian tradition of purchasing a tree in mid December and decorating it together. My first own Christmas tree tradition started while I lived in the US, where I always had a tree for Thanksgiving.
Today I have mixed all the traditions of my childhood, youth and adulthood, combining the east with the west and then creating something that is my very own.
Although being way to old to believe in the enchanted Christmas, the magic of the holiday season is still very evident in my life and I would not have it any other way.