Kippas tee (Oh, Christmas tree)

If you come round to our house, Eddie will give you a tour around the Christmas tree, which he calls "Kippas tee". He will show you Santa and an angel, a snowman and a sock (it's a stocking actually, but Eddie calls it a sock). He is very proud of our tree. Last year he was still too young to appreciate it and hardly noticed it, but this time Eddie was actively involved, as we went together to the garden centre to pick our tree, selected a few decorations with him and put the ornaments together.

While I decorated our Christmas tree, I looked at the baubles and figurines and recollected when we bought them and thought of our friends who gave them to us as gifts. Some of these dear friends are not with us anymore.

This lovely angel (below) was purchased in Woodstock, when we lived there and Sasha was still a little boy. We returned last week to Woodstock to have a long walk in the Blenheim park, and I popped into the gift shop where I bought this angel, but alas, they didn't have anything similar this time.

This cute little ceramic bell is one of the latest acquisitions. It is so jolly and bright, very festive and Christmasy.

The little glass drum reminds me very much of the ornaments we had in Russia when I was little. Of course, in those days, it wasn't Christmas that we celebrated, but the New year's eve. I loved everything about that holiday: the tree, decorations, food, party and presents. Seasons were proper seasons, and we would have had a deep snow and a biting frost outside.

When I saw this little girl in the shop, I immediately thought of the Russian fairy tale Morozko.

And of course, we need the three crowns for the three kings.

It actually looks quite garish and cheapish in the day light, but the Christmas tree's lights transform it into a crown sparkling with jewels.

I also used to decorate our trees with Sasha's artwork in the past, but to my dismay, found out that all the salt dough decorations that were made by Sasha and which I kept in a box up in the attic have gone soggy and disintegrated.

Now that you have seen our Christmas tree, what ornaments do you have?