june at noon

Well, we’re there. It’s Christmas Eve. I’m sliding in one more eleventh hour addition to the gift list, but despite all the scrambling to be ready, I really have been able to truly enjoy the holiday season this year. I hope you can say the same!

This leads me to my last Handmade Holiday post, the topic something I’ve enjoyed very much: our Christmas tree.

Every single year I insist on stringing popcorn and cranberries for our Christmas tree. It may be a little “ordinary” or cliche for some, but to me there’s something so simple and classic about a cranberry and popcorn garland.

It’s the perfect compliment to our mismatched collection of ornaments, given to us by our family and friends over the years. Our tree just doesn’t look the same without the red and white garland, and I love the way it adds to our “Handmade Holiday” feel.

So every year, I pop a bunch of kernels and gather a few bags of cranberries and my invisible thread and get to it. I always end up designing a pattern instead of sticking to something simple (per Hubby’s suggestion), which makes it take longer, but that’s part of the fun, too.

By the time I get to the bottom of the tree, where the strands don’t go around as far as they did at the top, I start to get weary of the process. But once the final piece is added and the lights are turned on … warm, homey, Christmas-y magic.

Hopefully in years to come the smalls will give me a hand with the popcorn and cranberries too, and it will become one of those special traditions that they remember a long time from now. Lovely branches, indeed!