xo amys

‘December 6th, Happy Independence Day Finland’

Finland is celebrating its 101th birthday today and in honour of our Independence, the tree gets embellished! Decking out the Christmas tree is the highlight of my Christmas preparations as it brings so much magic and peace to the house. I just love the way the tree smells and the soft twinkle lights woven loosely through the branches sparkle through the night. This year the bauble colour scheme is a bit warmer than usual as I incorporated some soft rusty gold hues to the mix. I used colours from cream to muted pink, goldish, silver, clear and everything in between, from soft fuzzy tones to shiny metal. The juxtaposition of materials in a softened palette adds that texture and interest without overdoing it. Our tree is carefully picked from the forest, so it has less branches than the “perfect shaped” ones sold in stores, so the finished look is more delicate as it is less dense in style. Decorating the tree has a lot of meaning to me as together we have made it into a tradition to go hunt one down making an entire outing of it.

We brought back some Arabic almost Moroccan style baubles from Dubai, so the tree has a slight Middle Eastern touch to it this year. This little bird ornament is from Dubai as well, picked out by my husband, that will get center stage in our household during Christmas time. The birds outfit really reminds of D&G’s 2018 fall collection with its gold jacket and top-hat, that is ultra chic. This arabic coffee pot and gold cups also came back with us from holiday and lately I’ve been enjoying all kinds of tea infusions with cardamom or cinnamon, just as they served in Dubai. We brought back lots of spices and dried tea (jasmine, lavender, rose etc) from the souk and at the moment I’m really feeling the middle eastern inspiration. While decorating the tree, I made myself a golden latte with ground ginger, turmeric and milk. Both fresh spices are so strong and intense in flavour and I already know that the ginger will be getting a lot of use during December.

I love the silver feathered ornaments along with the crystal ones that are just timeless and just as elegant, year after year. I purchased some glass balls that look a little antique style that are perhaps not the most practical but sure are pretty. Lastly, our little turtle doves are put up in the tree just like in Home Alone to symbolize togetherness. Hopefully everyone is having a Merry December so far, stress free and getting the most out of pre-Christmas fun!