Around The World in 80 Christmas Decorations

Well, maybe not quite 8o, but still rather a lot. Whenever we go on holiday, hubby and I do our best to buy a Christmas decoration from the palce we're visiting. It's a great reminder when we unpack the deccies each year of places we've been, and it makes for a very pretty (albeit very mis-matched) tree. So, here's a little run down of some of the little beauties which have made it home with us and which help to transform the tree from this: by way of this:to this:Most of our decorations come from the USA because it's somewhere we've travelled a lot and also because the Americans know how to do decorations (even if most of them are actually Made in China...). Anyhoo, here are the US batch, starting with a rather fitting globeA pickle - who could ask for a more Christmas-y decoration?!

Unless you count the hamburger?!This is one we picked up (and had personalised) from a Christmas market in Central Park the weekend we got married

I got this one in Chicago this year because it made me think of our move to the countryside where we are constantly getting stuck behind tractors driving along the roadPug dog - next best thing to having a real one.From the Disney Store in Chicago, because DC loves 101 DalmatiansPilsbury Dough Boy, from somewhere in Vermont, if I remember rightly - hubby bought him for me as a surpriseNow, a quick hop over the border to Canada:Then moving on down Mexico way, with a cheeky little number in the shape of a pinataAnd a little further south, we have this somewhat startled-looking snowman from Guatemala (startled that he hadn't melted in the heat, perhaps?)And here's a little 'sorpresa' (surprise) from El Salvador Now, let's hop over the Pacific to AustraliaThen a little shimmy up to South East Asia, starting with CambodiaMoving on to LaosAnd on to Vietnam, where we found this little charmer in an airport gift shopThen lets shuffle a little further east to IndiaNow, let's move much closer to home with a whole batch (which seem to be mostly bell-shaped) from Europe, starting with SwitzerlandHungary

Serbia

Portugal Czech RepublicGermany (terrible photo, sorry)Oh, and here's a little card we picked up at a flea market in Poland - it's one of those 'moving' pictures where you get two different images when you move back and forth in front of it
And finally home - the first two are vintage baublesWhereas this one is a tasteful little elephant poo number (yes, you read that right) from the Natural History Museum in LondonAnd here's this year's addition, all the way from John Lewis in BristolAnd last, but not least for this tree, here's poor old Rudolph who gets shoved up as our tree topper each year, looking none too comfortable, poor chap

Oh yes, and I did say 'this tree' because we've actually got three trees this year - did I tell you we love Christmas?!

Here's the Starbucks tree. Sad. But true.

And here's our little fake tree in the hallway

And here we have, new this year, my incredibly twee but somehow growing on me, Department 56 Dickens Village

Oh, and the collection of special mugs and glasses that only get used in December.


Phew, I think that's about it for now; there are plenty more decorations such as the wreath on the front door, the snowmen on the window sill, the snowflakes in the entrance hall, but I'm not sure you could bear to see any more. So it just leaves me to say:

Merry Christmas to you all!