Saturday, December 25, 2010

A Darlington Winter Woodland Christmas Tree

We have a lot of ornaments and decorations to choose from at Darlington House when it comes time to decorate the house in its Christmas finery.  As I have written in earlier posts, Boy and I have been collecting ornaments for as long as we have been together, almost fourteen years.  We probably have several thousand ornaments, both vintage and new.  And we buy more every year.  We pick them up at antiques malls and around and about, at prices ranging anywhere from five cents an ornament (a score) for little balls to twenty dollars or more for a really unusually shaped one.  We always have our eyes out for ornaments in different sizes and shapes.  And we like ornaments that have patina to them, that don't look too shiny or new.


With so many ornaments to choose from in our collection, we decorate the tree every year with a different theme and/or colorway.  Well, when I say "we," I'm actually referring to Boy, since he is the Master of the Christmas Tree at Darlington House.  Reggie is an appreciative cheerleader when it comes to decorating the tree at Christmas, and for decorating the house in general for that matter.  And he's quite happy with that role, as that way he gets to act the part of the client.  And a very satisfied client he is, by the way.  It's really rather nice to have the services of a fancy New York decorator at one's beck and call.


As I've written elsewhere, we take our Christmas color directions from the rooms' decoration.  When we have our tree in our gray-and-white drawing room, as we do some years, we will decorate it with ornaments in silver, blue, pink, and green—taking our inspiration from the pastel colors that are in the English and Chinese ceramics in the room.  When we have the tree in our dining room, as we do this year, we decorate it with gold and green ornaments—taking our cue from the room's gold walls and green wooden venetian blinds.


We buy our trees at a "cut-your-own" tree farm not far from Darlington House.  Boy has more patience than Reggie does in finding the perfect tree to saw down and tie to the top of the Rover.  I'm glad he does, because this year he found us a real beauty, far nicer than the one that Reggie would have settled for if it had been up to him.


This year our Christmas tree's theme is "Winter Woodland," and it is decorated with gold and green ornaments, and glass icicles.  It is also covered with little artificial birds in complementary colors.  Boy really outdid himself this year, I have to say.


Does everyone think their own Christmas tree is the most beautiful one?  Every year I am convinced that our Christmas tree is the most beautiful Christmas tree there is.   I'm always in awe of how lovely our tree is.  Really.


Merry Christmas, Dear Reader.

All photographs by Boy Fenwick

24 comments:

  1. Hi Reggie, love how you have coordinated the decorations to fit the decor of the Christmasyree room! PS. Your tree IS beautiful
    Merry christmas!

    Northern Light

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  2. Your tree is beautiful, Reggie. I love the birds and all the woodland ornaments.

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  3. Beautiful tree! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas.

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  4. Reggie I adore your tree and decor , Boy did indeed find a perfect one! The birds are lovely.

    Happiest of Holidays & All the Best in the New Year!

    xoxo
    Karena
    Art by Karena

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  5. I agree, it's a beauty! Happy Christmas to you and to Boy dear Reggie.

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  6. the birds are the bomb!!!
    i love them.

    happy , merry hiliday xx

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  7. Alternating the location of the tree along with the ornaments is a great way to help make each Christmas even more memorable. Best wishes.

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  8. Oh, this is just delightful! I love the little birds, and the subtle colors. The glass icicles too. (When I was a child we had plastic, glow-in-the-dark variety, but the glass ones really catch the light so nicely

    Merry Christmas and Happy New Year to you!

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  9. Y'all wanna borrow LFG's Sponge Bob ornament for next year? Just let me know.

    ADG

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  10. Reggie,

    Happy Happy Christmas to you and Boy. And warm wishes for an amazing new year!

    Cheers,
    Scot

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  11. Reggie, it is lovely!

    Merry Christmas to you and Boy and to Pompey, of course, and may the New Year be filled with dreams realized.

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  12. Your tree is picture-perfect, and I'm glad to get a peek at the room's gold walls and green shades - stunning! Merry Christmas.

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  13. Aren't we smart...last year I also passed the baton to my daughter who is the new master of the Christmas tree decoration. The bird ornaments are absolutely beautiful but prohibitive with a Westie in the house. Miss Lucy would think she had died and gone to heaven! Happy Boxing Day!

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  14. your christmas tree is absolutely wonderful, i hope you had a nice christmas.

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  15. I love trees that have a lot of opening and air between the branches. The better to show your fabulous ornaments.

    Happy Boxing Day!

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  16. You do have a beautiful tree! And that stand is amazing - two years ago we lost too many precious ornaments to count when our tree came crashing down.
    Merry Christmas,
    Colleen

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  17. Thank you, everyone, for your kind comments. It is much appreciated. We're getting a heavy snowfall here in the Hudson River Valley tonight (Boxing Day), and it looks like we'll be socked in for some time. I hope you and yours are warm, cozy, and snug—as we are at Darlington House. Reggie

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  18. Thank you for sharing your beautiful tree! I love reading your blog, it always lightens my heart!
    Your tree has ours beat, especially since we have a kitten that likes to climb half way up, hiding in the branches and glaring at everyone. It's a little hard on the garlands.
    Nancy

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  19. I just love the look of the tub, I hate some of those overly 'fancy' tree skirts.

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  20. North of 25 and Stefan:
    Thank you, the tree stand you see is actually a hardware store zinc wash tub that we have painted brown. Couldn't be easier. We've submerged a tree stand inside of it (a heavy solid-metal one), and filled the tub with water. Not only does the water in the tub provide drinking water to the tree, but it also provides much need humidity to it as the water evaporates. Reggie

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  21. Merry Christmas to you, Boy and Pompey!

    The Christmas Tree looks wonderful against the ocher-yellow walls. Pray thee tell: what color did you use? It's great.

    Wishing you much happiness and joy in the New Year,

    Daniel

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  22. Oh your tree is just beautiful! I love the Woodland theme...and the birds nestled into the branches particularly charmed me...truly lovely!

    Hope you had a wonderful Christmas!
    xo J~

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  23. I am catching up on some reading and I just had to leave a comment about your tree...I LOVE IT!!!

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  24. Tremendously beautiful!! I love the way you have decorated the Christmas tree!!

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