I love Christmas time for so many reasons; I just love the whole period. The build up, the parties, the food, the presents… And having children makes it all the more magical!

Jonny and I first got together on Christmas Eve (FIFTEEN YEARS AGO) with a cheeky little snog under the mistletoe in a vodka bar in Norwich and then years later I had Florence on New Year’s Eve. So, the period of yuletide festivities is extra special in our household.

I embrace Christmas with open arms! The bigger, the brighter, the sparklier the better! And I fully put that into practice when it comes to the tree. While I think it’s lovely when people have ‘themes’ for their decorations, sweet that they have colours co-ordinating and everything looking ‘just so’, it simply isn’t for me!

When Jonny and I finally moved in together, nearly a decade ago, I went out and bought a few, but not many, very expensive decorations for our tree. My plan was to add to them gradually each year buying two or three more and spending the big bucks so that our collection was a lovely as it could be. BUt nothing is matchy, matchy, everything is ecclectic, different, mis-matched. Everything is just how I like it and, if I’m honest, this is how I like life.

I’m a non-uniform girl at heart and mis-matched crockery (preferrably from the turn of the century) also floats my boat. I’m just not a matching curtains and duvet kind of gal so why wouldn’t this spill over into Christmas? I don’t think it looks untidy, I think it looks like Christmas should be, especially a Christmas with children!

I also think Christmas isn’t Christmas without a real tree and this year, after a few with a horrid fake tree Jonny insisted upon for various reasons, we have the most gorgeously smelling Norway Spruce from B&Q and it looks AMAZING!

The children and I drove to B&Q on Friday night straight after school so that we could pick a tree and, thanks to a very lovely invitation from the DIY experts, pick some new decorations to put on it. This couldn’t have come at a better time because although I adore my decs, the ones I have carefully collected for years, I get very worried at the children handling them. To have the opportunity for them to choose their own decorations and be able to put every single one of them on the tree themselves without me saying ‘Don’t! We bought that hand blown glass bauble in Portugal, you must ONLY look and NOT touch’! It doesn’t really scream Christmas now does it?!

So… I gave them free reign! Choose whichever ones you like. No, they don’t have to be the same, yes, they can be Disney Frozen ones (of course), you want flashing coloured lights (they always make me feel a bit sick if I’m honest but…) then you MUST have them!

And they had a ball!

They chose packs of snow flakes, sparkly reindeers in many colours, pretty angels, slate hearts to write chalk messages on, silver glitter baubles, felt sewn hearts, stars and trees, pretty snow men, the Dosney Frozen set and a silver star for the top of the tree. We usually have a little green father Christmas and Florence really doesn’t like him on the top of the tree for some reason. This year she got to have it her way and I have to say… The tree looks AMAZING! I LOVE the decorations that I may not have chosen myself because they make the tree look so pretty, so like my children wanted it and they had SUCH fun putting all the decorations on!

The actual tree is gorgeous and at 5ft an absolute bargain at £25. I wanted to get a much bigger tree as we have high ceilings but when I pulled up in my Vauxhall Corsa I realised I’d have to fit it in, it hadn’t crossed my mind before so we had to be a little more modest but I’m not disappointed! It smells divine and because we bought some lights too they gave us an extra fiver off!

The lights are fabulous. At £30 they were a little more pricey than I’ve gone before but seeing them in action with their many different modes of flash, fade in and out and different colours and combinations I can see that you get what you pay for.

I also bought a base for the tree which I class as an investment for years to come. £17 bought a pretty excellent red base with screws to adapt and fit whatever size trunk and a pot which can be filled with water to keep the tree looking lush for the whole of Christmas. Florence chose it in red but it does also come in green. I may have gone green left to my own devices but I’m so pleased the children chose a red one as it looks gorgeous!

I did let myself indulge in a couple of items too! I’ve always wanted a realistic looking garland to display over a mantle piece. I’ve not bought one before because the douchebag who converted our flat from a house ripped out every original feature including the fireplaces. However, we are moving in the New Year and will have one for next Christmas so when I saw the perfect one in B&Q I had to have it! It was only £15 and looks brilliant with pine cones and tasteful gold adornments. I have, for this year, hung it over the big mirror in our living room but next year it will be perfect on the mantle.

I also HAD to have the snow flake projector which creates snow falling on the wall – a bit of a luxury for sure but hey, at least we can always have a white Christmas! Snow falling makes me think of the moments after I had just given birth to my girl. It was twenty to midnight on New Year’s Eve and by the time I had her in my arms with everyone else having left the room it was just as the clock struck midnight. Outside the window snow was falling and fireworks were going off! Snow falling always makes me think of that perfect moment and this projector is a gorgeous addition to our Christmas decs box (it’ll also be FABULOUS at her birthday party in a couple of weeks time)! You can see a video of the projector in action here!

We had SUCH fun with the children taking over the Christmas tree this year and the B&Q Christmas range couldn’t have been more affordable for such a lovely collection. We have built memories and they are so pleased with their choices. They keep admiring every single one! I have added some of my precious decorations to the tree too (you can never have too many) and as well as chocolates to hang we have hung the ones the children have made over the years too.

I love our bonkers, ecclectic, mis-matched perfect Christmas tree and the smell of pine needles is absolutely wonderful! Talking of wonderful smells, I picked up some scented jar candles on our B&Q trip too and they are gorgeously Christmassy!

We were asked to honestly review the B&Q Christmas range.