Decorating the tree is always the beginning of something special in our house. Nothing eases the stresses and strains of planning like rummaging through the boxes looking for that special, favourite bauble. We all have our own and each of the children have theirs too. These 3 are my favourite; baby Jesus for our son James, white first Christmas bauble for our daughter Sophie and Rudolph for Mummy & Daddy. Merry Christmas everyone.

We've gone for one of each again this year. I'd echo the sentiments of the smell of the real tree being almost magical. The real tree is in the sitting room - and this is basically the wife's. She has full control over this bad-boy. She chooses the decorations, the lights, where things go, what colour scheme (for some reason the lights in this picture look blue. They're not, they're just a different 'white' - phone cameras hey). The fake tree is in the kids room (aka the conservatory) - this is decorated by the kids, and basically they just stand there and throw as much stuff as they can get their hands on in the direction of the tree and see what sticks. I did have to wait till they went to bed to 're-locate' some of the accessories, as 90% of is was only decorated up to waist level.

Hi, As a result of people asking how to make home made decorations look high end. MK Designs and I are running a Christmas styling workshop in November at Skandium. We will be making Christmas wreaths, clay tree ornaments and exploring unique ways to personalise your gift wrapping as well as giving styling tips on how to decorate. We thought it would be interesting to see what tips and advice you guys had for how to decorate for Christmas. We are especially interested in how you make DIY decorations look less crafty and more stylish? What are your ideas and tips? We might even include some in the workshop! Here are a few ideas If you are one of those people who wants to learn how to do all of these things, check out the workshop details here. It will be held at Skandium, London on the 12th of November and will be a great way to kick off the festive season!

nordmann firs are quite wide BUT they are sturdy (perfect for heavy baubles) the needles hardy drop at all, soft to touch so great with kids and pets too. With all real trees, keep away from radiatiors and fires as tgey don't like heat and potted live trees do love a drink so keep your eye on it ( I put mine in a trug)