Episode 25 - Christmas Decorations

We don't want to cause any panic, but it is nearly time to start thinking about Christmas. So here are all of our top tips for Christmas decorations, from the beautiful and chic to the gaudy and fun; from the DIY to the sustainable to the slightly more outlandish, we've got you covered.

Items mentioned:

• Flat Christmas trees - zig zag garland on wall using Command Hooks
• Wooden Christmas Trees - from Mon Sapin Woody (monsapinwoody.fr)
• Dried fruit as decorations
• Eucalyptus garland
• Honeycomb paper balls
• Window stickers and chalk pens for window decorations
• Rockett St George for fun Christmas decor (rockettstgeorge.co.uk)
• Rustins spray paint in matte hessian for DIY baubles
• Warm fairy lights
• Disco ball fairy lights from Flying Tiger
• Hall of baubles - hang from ceiling with clear Command Hooks
• Splitter / transformer with multiple sockets to centrally control lights
• Vondels Christmas ornaments stocked at April and the Bear (aprilandthebear.com)
• DIY cookie jars - layer the dry ingredients for cookies into glass jars and write the recipe on a pretty tag
• Risk of botulism from home-made chilli oil
• Handbag hooks to hang stockings
• @foxnestfood on instagram - flavoured butters
• No Messin Mince Pies

Chapters

• 0:00 Episode 25 - Christmas Decorations
• 0:50 Start of episode

Transcript

Jen: [00:00:00] You are listening to rip it up the renovations podcast. 

hi, I'm Kate. I run the Instagram page, Victorian 

Rathmines. And I'm Jenny. I run the Instagram account, Worker's Cottage.

Kate: This podcast is all about renovation and interiors from the renovator's perspective. We've been through it a few times between us and it hasn't scared us off. In fact 

Jen: we loved it so if you are planning to do up your own home you can expect to hear lots of advice from our own experience along with plenty of tips and inspiration. 

I don't want it to cause any panic, but it is nearly time to start thinking about Christmas. So here are all of our top tips for Christmas decorations, from the beautiful and chic to the gaudy and fun. From the DIY to the sustainable, to the slightly more outlandish we've got you covered.

Welcome back to the podcast. Hi, Kate.

Kate: Hi Jen.

Jen: Okay, key question. Uh, very important question. When do you put up your Christmas decorations?[00:01:00] 

Kate: I'm pretty staunch on like not before

December. 

Jen: Oh, thank God. 

Kate: I can't handle this like, you know, taking down the Halloween decorations and the Christmas decorations are up the next day. I'm sick of it by the time Christmas

comes around. 

Jen: This is the thing, and like, I was saying this before, I do this out of a true, genuine love for Christmas. I don't like putting them up too early because I don't want to be sick of them by the time Christmas Day rolls around.

Kate: Now I will say, I can't wait to get rid of it by the time Christmas is over. So I never, I never keep my decorations up until the 7th of January or whatever the, the,

the 

date is. 

Jen: Oh, I

think I do, but never past

that. So I'm basically first weekend of December and then first weekend of January, 

Kate: Yeah, yeah, yeah. But I'm kind of itching to get them gone after that Christmas. You know that lull period between kind of like Christmas and New Year's where you're doing nothing anyway and you just feel like you're just festering on the

couch. 

Jen: I'm desperate to get them gone. And then the house feels empty for a while. And then I miss them. 

Kate: Yeah, [00:02:00] yeah. 

Jen: everything is grand 

Kate: miss fairy lights. You love

fairy lights. 

Jen: I love fairy 

Kate: Any excuse for more fairy lights in your house?

Jen: And every year I just leave up another few fairy lights. So like at some point the house is just going 

Kate: like, did she ever take them down? Are they just from last Christmas? Are they all year round now?

You even have Halloween fairy lights, Easter fairy lights?

Jen: Do you know what I got last year? Disco ball fairy lights.

Kate: Oh, nice. 

Jen: business. 

Kate: in you put fairy lights on your disco ball that you have in the bathroom?

Jen: were little, no, they were little disco ball 

Kate: Oh, like they were mini 

Jen: like mini disco balls. 

Kate: Cute.

Jen: cute. I think they're in, um, they're in Flying Tiger or something. 

Kate: Oh, nice. Nice.

Jen: get loads more of those. Anyway, obviously what we were talking about in this episode is Christmas decorations.

Not because we think you should have them up today or even this weekend or even next weekend but it is probably time to start thinking [00:03:00] about it. It might be on your mind, you might be starting to panic by some decorations that you don't actually want. So let's just 

Kate: guide you.

Jen: everybody calm down 

and just, let's just talk it 

Kate: won't be short of a 

Christmas 

Jen: make a bit of a plan 

and have a lovely, relaxed, beautiful Christmas.

Kate: Yeah. The most important thing is your house is full of food

and wine. 

Jen: That is really all that matters. And on that topic, okay, so because I have a very small house, uh, I don't have a huge amount of storage space and I don't like giving it over to Christmas decorations. It feels like a waste. So I use a lot of the food as kind of decorations in themselves. By which I mean basically I'll just buy a million like lint Santa 

Kate: You just have a load of blocks of like, camembert and stuff around the place.

Jen: Yeah. 

Kate: Blocks of, I just have a cheese board decoration over here. Six boxes of celebrations in Quality Street.

Jen: Or, you know, bottles of wine with a candle stuck on top or something 

Kate: Yeah, Yeah,

Jen: [00:04:00] Edibles around the place is something I do like.

Kate: Yeah, yeah. What about a tree?

Can't fit one? 

Jen: Okay, this is probably, we're gonna, this is where we start. This is the biggest topic is the tree. I, I don't have a tree because I don't have any space for a tree. I don't have the floor space to dedicate to a Christmas tree. Now, somebody one year did say that I could put the Christmas tree up in my little courtyard 

Kate: Hmm. That'd be kinda cool. 

Haha. 

Jen: which I think is a lovely idea.

And some year I might do that. Maybe this is the year. Keep an eye out on my Instagram. Who knows? Um, what I do instead is I. I do a 2D Christmas tree flat against the wall, so it doesn't take up any floor space. But there is still kind of a central Christmas tree. So by that I mean, I get long garlands of kind of, you know, pine, uh, trees.

fake. I do get, I do get fake. I don't get a new one every year because it would just completely stain my wall and it would rot away and it just wouldn't work. Um, but I get a long wreath of garland. It's obviously got fairy lights [00:05:00] through it. It's got a few little red berries on it. Um, I got it years ago in the range and I put command hooks up on my wall in a zigzag pattern and then I zigzagged the garland in a Christmas tree shape 

Kate: Nice. And then you like, do you decorate it as well?

Jen: Yeah, I have a little star on top. I 

Kate: Oh, nice. Where do you put your presents then?

Do you put your presents 

underneath 

Jen: I've actually put them at the base of the tree so they don't take up too much space. So I kind of defeated the entire argument of like taking up too much floor space 

Kate: Yeah. 

Jen: put them at the bottom

of the tree. I also dot them around like if there's really nicely decorated presents or especially if you if you wrap your own presents early that you know you're going to be giving to people and then you can have little piles of those dotted around.

That's a great idea. It says she wouldn't know children run around the house they'd be ripped to shreds in about 10 minutes.

Kate: Oh, I'm gonna learn that the hard way in the last couple of years. Kids ruin Christmas trees. So like, if you were putting a Christmas tree, would you put a real, a fake one? Like a real, full Christmas tree?

Jen: I'm gonna, we've always had a fake [00:06:00] tree in my house. That's just what I'm used to. So I feel like I love the smell of a real tree. I can't be dealing with the aftermath of the pine 

cleanup. 

Kate: The needles, the watering it, all that.

Jen: Yeah, it just feels like a lot and it's the getting rid of it afterwards with all the pine needles being dragged to your house. Listen, I'm in the minority here. I'm sure most people love a real Christmas tree. I don't know what to say. I 

Kate: I do love the smell, but I think, like, depending on the tr Sorry, correct me if I'm wrong, but like, I think trees have gotten so expensive as well.

Real ones. 

Like, mad I remember Like, I know everything's gotten more expensive, but like, I remember growing up, my parents would get one for like, 20 pounds, or 20, 30 euros, or something, and now it's like, You're talking like 80, 100 quid for a tree.

Like even if you're, even if you're putting it into the car and bringing it yourself, let alone if you're getting anything delivered, you could be talking 200, 250 or something for them to deliver it and collect it

and all that.

Which 

Jen: you have to get rid of it

afterwards. 

Kate: it's very expensive. It is hard to justify. And like even a real, like, Sorry, a real tree versus the [00:07:00] price of having a fake one that you'll probably use for five or ten years.

Now, the sustainability person in me is saying, go real all the way. It is more sustainable. It's not PVC and all this disgusting intertwined metal that's not recyclable anyway. So like, it is more sustainable. Like, you can't make the argument that the plastic tree is more sustainable, but,

Jen: that really bothers me.

Kate: And I think you kind of get what you pay for as well.

So I've had the real premium trees and in fairness, they have lasted, like they were so fresh when they came, they never wilted or sagged. And they kept their needles. Whereas some of the other ones like that I bought, say maybe at the end of the road, we dragged up ourself, like they were shedding by the time Christmas day came around and I couldn't wait to get rid of the thing.

And we had the stand with the water and, you know, topping up the water every couple of days and, like, if you've a big tree, it's hard to avoid, like, a radiator in a room if you have radiators. Or if you're underfloor, like, you're heating it anyway, so, like, it's, it's [00:08:00] all drying out the tree. It's just, it's a bit of work in managing it.

But, 

in saying 

Jen: what I've seen that I love? I, like, I do, I love the real pine and I love, like, having boughs of pine around the place because the smell is unbeatable and it is, you know, it is a lovely thing. What I saw, um, a friend of mine did this one year is she kind of got branches in each one slightly longer than the next and then hung it in kind of a tree triangle pattern.

So she just put some twine through the ends of it and then hung that on her wall and it looked fab. It was really nice and it was real branches and real twigs so it was more sustainable. And I've also seen, um, Uh, there was this big interior design, uh, fair in Paris last year, Maisonneuve J, it's on every year.

It's on twice a year actually. But they had really cool wooden Christmas trees that were reusable. So they're, you know, it's kind of like your, your, your, uh, fake Christmas tree, but it's made out of real wood, so it's much more sustainable, you're not bringing plastic into the equation or metal. [00:09:00] And they had lots of different shapes.

They had one that was kind of twirled, it's hard to describe. It's like you took a flash. tree and then twirled it at the top so it spiraled all the 

Kate: Oh, yeah, like, yeah, yeah, yeah, I know what you mean. Like, it Yeah, a spiral and it kind of unravels

itself.

Like that, kind of like a spring

almost.

Jen: Yeah, like a spring. It was really cool. And then they had one that just lots, you know, lots of varying lengths of wood sticking out at, you know, kind of very nicely placed angles, let's say. Um, but all in these cone shapes and Christmas patterns. And you could have something like that as your base.

And then if you wanted to, you could, you know, You know, wrap some fresh pine around it or put fresh berries and pine cones and different decorations on it. Not quite the same as a real tree, but if you're really stuck, you want something sustainable. You don't want to be buying plastic and don't be buying 

Kate: Yeah. 

Jen: bits as you said. But the thought of a real tree is too much, then there's, there's a middle ground to be had there.

Kate: Yeah, I think there's definitely a market for something cool like that. [00:10:00] Something minimal, kind of wood rather than plastic

based. And 

I saw 

Jen: it packs away kind of flat, which is 

Kate: Oh, that's kind of cool. Yeah. Space saving as well. Now in saying that, like, I'm gonna get a real tree, like, who am I kidding, right. I'm, I'm still gonna do it.

But I do think you get what you pay for with trees sometimes, you know, the freshness and the, i, I know there's different types, the northern F versus all the ones, whatever that are like, not non shed and shed and whatever, but even with that in like, there still has to be a fresh tree and a good tree and yeah, but they're bloody expensive.

Jen: They're expensive.

Kate: Save, save on the 

Jen: maybe I put it out in my back garden. Who knows? 

Kate: One of 

Jen: That said, we've had our

Kate: be kind of cool as well.

Jen: Yeah, that would be really cool. Okay, so that's the Christmas tree. The, oh sorry, another one that I did last year, if you check out on my Instagram that I did last year, is, um, I had the, the, um, The pine bough is kind of on one wall.

And then I made another little miniature Christmas tree out of paper decorations. So you know the paper balls, [00:11:00] um, the honeycomb balls. I got them in various sizes. I got them in kind of an ivory and goldy colors. Um, and the smallest sizes went on top of the top of the Christmas tree. And then they got bigger towards the bottom.

And they made a bigger Christmas tree. I got, I'm sure, I got the inspiration from Rock at St. George. Great website. They have really

cool, fun Christmas trees. And Christmas decorations. I'm sure they got it from somewhere else maybe. But they had a tutorial on their website and I thought that was a really cool way of doing things too.

Kate: That is really cool. I saw on Interior's page a couple of years ago. Do you remember? Everyone was crazy for pampas a

couple of years ago. You know, the dried pampas flowers. Like every house had them. Um, she made a whole Christmas

tree out of them. Yeah. 

Jen: Oh, 

Kate: the dried pampas, which is really cool. It was like this big fluffy pampas tree.

I can imagine it would be shedding like kind of mad all over the place, but um, it looked, it looked amazing. In talking about real trees actually, it's somewhat linked is kind of wreaths and garlands and kind of over a mantle. Now I've done the [00:12:00] real garland and I've done the real Reith and the real over mantle piece as well.

And I think the Reith is great because it's outdoors, it's cold, it's probably getting enough moisture. It doesn't, you know, it stays fresh the whole Christmas, right? And I just think it's lovely and it's rich and it's green when you come up to someone's door. The garland and the over mantle piece, like, dressing thing, like, no.

No, there's just too much work in it. You're putting it in wet oasis, you're spritzing it, whatever, you know. It's lovely. It sags, it kind of wilts after a while. Like it's a lot of maintenance, whatever about standing a tree in water, but the real stuff up and down your staircase is like, take it from me.

The pictures you're seeing are on the very first day, not on the fifth day or the 10th day or the 20th day that it's been up. So I suppose there's a lot of work in them for not a lot of

payout in 

my opinion. 

Jen: the one that I've gotten before that I found lasted the best, but it could potentially just have been a cold Christmas, was eucalyptus. 

Kate: Oh, lovely. 

[00:13:00] Yes. 

Jen: branches, lovely smell from them, quite Christmasy smell, lovely, you know, rich green colour. They don't drop pine cones all over, pine needles all over the place and they, I think they hold up a bit better to the, to the central heating.

Kate: They do, yeah. 

And they dry out. They actually dry out lovely as well if you just stand them in a vase afterwards and like, just let them dry naturally or whatever. But they, um, you can just have them forever then. They keep their leaves nice and everything. They're lovely. They almost kind of go cedar y, the

leaves. 

Jen: yeah they do a little bit translucent yeah they're so pretty they're just a particularly lovely shade of green they almost glow a 

Kate: Yeah, yeah. They're so rich. The smells are lovely and then you can add your like, you know, cinnamon sticks and you know, orange slices. I tried to make orange slices one year as well. I don't know, like, this was obviously all pre kids because you would not see me making dried orange slices this year.

Jen: I did it one year after seeing you do it and I put them all in a glass jar with some cinnamon sticks and it was a nice fragrance you think [00:14:00] for Christmas but 

Kate: But they, they're kind of dry. It's just like, they take a long time. And I was like, looking at them in the oven for, I think you're meant to do it really low for like, I can't remember what was it, 10 hours or something like that. So, my oven was on for 10 hours. And I'm like, really? And I got probably, I could get 20 slices at a time.

Like, not that many, you know. And then I went on Amazon and was like, dried orange slices, like a bag this size for like, I don't know, 7 pounds or something. And I was like, well maybe I should have just done this. I don't know.

So I don't think I'm going to be making 

dried orange slices. In saying that, I still have the same orange slices.

With other ones I've supplemented after, years after. But like, they last

year on year. 

They 

Jen: Yeah, that's it. Once they're dried out,

you have them forever pretty much don't you? 

Kate: I still have, I still always pull out those, the pinecones, the cinnamon sticks and stuff like that. They wouldn't have as much scent obviously, but they still work as

decorations. 

Jen: Yeah, they do. They're so pretty. Um, and loads of little things like that, that dotted around. I think in a small house that works better for me than having, you know, a big huge tree or a few big huge thing across the [00:15:00] mantelpiece, which I don't obviously have. 

Kate: I think there's a very, um, 

Jen: little pots of things. 

Kate: That's a real trend this year I think, the real um, kind of natural decorations. 

Jen: Yeah. 

Kate: So like the ribbons are like burlap or linen or kind of you know plain, you know, matte ribbons and then like the decorations are all matte and I've seen some trees where they've just done one giant bow or some people have done loads of little linen bows, you know, so that's definitely that kind of matte very natural kind of looking tree is definitely in for this year I think.

Jen: Yeah, I love that look. I think that's so, there's something very cohesive about it. I get a little bit torn because I see these beautifully designed Christmas houses and so much thought has gone into the colour palette and everything looks really chic.

And of course, I love that. Like how beautiful. But sometimes I just want to look like Santa threw up in your house, and I think that's fun, too. Especially when there's kids, like just, 

you know, mad mismatched colors and like, you know, the little things that they make that go in the [00:16:00] trees that are made out of lollipop 

Kate: I

know. Yeah, 

Jen: just think they're so cute. 

Kate: add a lot for sure. Like, that's actually, that's actually making a bit of a comeback is coloured

lights. 

Jen: Yeah, 

Kate: more and more. Like, do you remember, do you remember the ones, like the incandescent ones we used to have when we were like small, but they had a flower and then they had

the incandescent bulb 

kind of, like a flower 

Jen: they didn't go on fire 

Kate: But do you remember they were like a flower shape or something and then the bulb kind of came out of the

centre of it, 

like a 

multi 

Jen: inexplicably. Yeah. 

Kate: but white nearly when we were growing up I think.

Book a 

Jen: here for it. I just, I don't, my love a bit of tack around Christmas. Your 

house can look perfect for the other

11 months.

Kate: Yeah, I don't mind. I don't mind it either. And like, I say that and I'm after just buying like, window

stickers today. 

Jen: Ah, ha, 

Kate: like the star, or not star, snowflake ones. 

Jen: The snowflakes. 

Kate: the kids got a great kick out of it on Halloween, sticking them all over their bedroom windows.

So they're gonna do it again

for Christmas, 

so. I'm all 

for 

Jen: Or what I do is I have, um, wet [00:17:00] chalk pens that I bought. The last year is these things. And I draw little things on the window, on the window panes. They're like snowflakes or like a 

Kate: Yeah, yeah, 

Jen: scene or something like that. Um, and then you can just wipe it off. No storage required.

Best Christmas decorations. 

Kate: Um, when it comes to decorations, actually, we're talking about the kind of natural matte palette. I sprayed my own decorations a couple of years ago, so, I was looking at Christmas decorations and I just can't get over the price of some of them.

Like, 15, 

20 Euros a bauble. 

Jen: hundreds 

Kate: That, like, if you, if you filled up a whole Christmas tree with those decorations, you're into the thousands. I was like, okay, I'm not going to be buying, like, 12 Euro baubles. So, I just got all the old glitzy ones I had, and just got a thing of matte spray paint, and I just sprayed them all.

And they're 

like four, they're four years old at this stage and they're still old enough.

They're not scratched or scuffed or anything, they're fine.

Jen: Did you use any particular kind of paint that's lasted 

Kate: I used, it was one of those kind of craft ones. I'm trying to think of the, is it Rustin's maybe?

That brand or 

something? [00:18:00] Something with ore I think, and it was just like a matte, Hesham I think was the colour or something. And, uh, Yeah. Yeah, they turned out great. And um, you know the different ones were like, some of them were glittery, some of them were like swirly baubles, some of them were like, they all had different textures, but I actually sprayed them and all the textures look kind of cool sprayed as

well.

Jen: Oh, that's fabulous. So if you have a colour in mind and you're going mad looking,

Kate: just spray them. 

They spray perfect. Yeah, they set up a little spray booth with a cardboard box in my back garden and just

spray them all. 

Jen: That's a really good idea. 

Kate: Yeah, rather than going buying new ones and dumping.

Jen: Yeah, 

Kate: Exactly, and then I added a few dusty blue ones I think the next year maybe, just to mix it up and not have all the same colour.

Jen: yeah, 

Kate: that's a

good one if you have 

decorations you 

Jen: you could also,

you could mix it up again. Like if you got sick, you know, if your new house, for example, if the dusty, the dusty blue didn't go, you could switch it out for something else. Just respray them and keep all the same

bubbles. I love that.

Kate: Yeah. 

Save you 

Jen: Have you ever done anything Have you ever gone for down the second hand route for [00:19:00] decorations?

Cause sometimes if you go into, you know, an Oxfam or, um, uh, a Vision Ireland or somewhere that has good stuff, target the nice areas, you know, head out to Killiney or the North Circular Road or Limerick or something, and, uh, and people are offloading Christmas decorations. God, you could pick up some absolute bargains out 

Kate: Really? 

I haven't actually, I'm trying to

think have I ever 

bought 

Jen: Just after Christmas, you need to be going in in January.

Kate: Oh Jesus, I'm not that organized. That's like the people who buy the like, sale, like, you know, um, gift packs or gift sets and boots when they're like 

half 

price on Christmas Eve for next 

year. I'm like, 

Jen: I don't do that but I will give you my best gift buying tip. I know this isn't Deco related but it's close enough. Is I have a notes app on my phone and I have everyone that I buy a present for just you know in a list or whatever and throughout the year something gets mentioned. A restaurant they want to go to or a concert they want to see or this bag that they want or whatever it might be and I always like make a little note on my phone and then come Christmas.

Thanks previous gen because that [00:20:00] has

completely 

Kate: You blitz it in half a day, you buy everything.

Jen: Bliss in half a day, you're done.

Kate: That's class, that's very thoughtful as well. 

Jen: Best tip of all time. 

Kate: Um, 

Jen: Thoughtful and lazy, which is my favourite combination. 

Kate: What about any kind of DIY decorations?

Jen: Uh, 

Kate: Not, not just spraying like I said, but actually like making kind of decorations or anything like that. I know you're saying like kids ones or like family ones or stuff like that, but

Jen: Do you know what I quite 

like 

Kate: made by hand?

Jen: As we're gone vintage is cutting up those paper snowflake, the 

Kate: Ah, stop. Yeah, I 

Jen: They're so much 

Kate: The little 

Jen: easy. 

Kate: accordion out, hang them 

Jen: Yeah, 

Kate: We're going really kitsch here

like, aren't we? 

Jen: If you look on Pinterest, you'll find loads of patterns, uh, kind of template patterns that you can use to cut out different shapes. 

Kate: Oh, that'd be 

cool. 

Yeah. Very cute.

Jen: And you could get some nice paper, you know, even a roll of nice wrapping paper that you've left over or something like that would make some lovely little 

Kate: Yeah. What about, um, what else I can say? Lights, actually. You know, we were talking [00:21:00] about lights, but the one thing we didn't say, and I think it goes without saying, right, if you want to go colour or whatever. What about cool white and warm white? If you're going with white, I still don't understand why you'd buy cool white at Christmas.

Now, it does 

look more icy and cold, but even in Christmas decorations, I wouldn't buy them

either.

I'd still buy the warm. I just think they look better. cuter, they look twinklier, I don't know, I just think the blue ones are so cold, your house looks like a petrol station when you have a load of cool lights outside or

something. 

It's like, 

Jen: I'm all for, like, Cool White lights and bulbs are for Uh, surgery. 

Kate: surgery. 

Jen: And I can't think of any other reason why you'd 

Kate: But they're just so harsh looking I think when you come up to someone's household, they're like really cool white bulbs. 

Jen: Yeah. 

Kate: they exist, like they're always the ones left behind now I think people are copping

on. Um, 

Jen: I think the only time I've seen that they look pretty cool is, do you know the icicle? The kind of icicle drips that hang off trees sometimes. I'll, I'll give it there because 

Kate: then those ice skill ones

aren't that cool 

anymore. 

Jen: [00:22:00] ha, ha,

Kate: wouldn't go for the icicles to be

honest. 

Jen: Very fair. Yeah, good point.

Kate: Do you know what I've seen on people's trees or like if you have a very big front garden is the giant baubles like they're like

football 

Jen: Oh, I'm so into that. if 

you've, if you, yeah, I think that looks really, really cool. I 

Kate: I absolutely love

those.

Yeah. 

Jen: Yeah, I really love that. And I love, one thing that I did, it isn't DIY, but just kind of trying to make use of space is I really, I love those really cool Christmas baubles that are all different shapes. So I had one that's like lipstick, one is a hot dog, one is a popcorn cart.

Like they're kind of new it.

Kate: Did you get those? Oh, April and the bear. Yeah, I remember you getting 

those before they're

gorgeous. 

Jen: Um, and I hung them, my, my little hallway, I put up loads of those clear command tucks and I hung, I kind of had a hall of bubbles. They were all hanging from the ceiling because I didn't have enough space to hang them on

my Christmas tree.

And that was so fun. Now, my poor dog was going mad because he's obsessed with balls, tennis balls. So he was trying to knock them [00:23:00] down all Christmas. But I love that. That was a really high impact way of doing hanging ornaments and decorations if you're in a small space and you don't have, you don't want to be like cluttering up your space necessarily, um, is hanging a whole bunch of stuff from the ceiling.

I think that can look really good. And a lower cost way of doing it

is you can buy really just strings of, you know, stars or some kind of Christmas decorations on Amazon or wherever else you want to get them. Just paper ones or even foil ones. Um, and you can cut them to size and just hang them up with command hooks.

It's really high impact and takes up no space. Doesn't clutter up your house.

Kate: That's very smart. 

Actually talking about lights, something I forgot to mention earlier, the most annoying thing about modern Christmas lights is the fact that there's like eight separate

programs. 

Jen: Oh my gosh. 

Kate: Like why? 

Jen: And then you hit one by 

accident

Kate: but for some reason like steady on is like the last in the list. I'm like, no, it should be first in the list. Why is it last in the list? Like, why do I have to plug in my lights, press the thing eight fecking times and now [00:24:00] it's on steady on.

Jen: I'm going to come out and say that the only two programs that should exist are SteadyOn or Slow Fade.

Kate: Slow

fade. Like 

the other ones are like, 

Jen: give a very slow twinkle. Anything else is just annoying.

Kate: but some of them are like seizure inducing, 

like they're 

Jen: Yeah. Like who puts those in on in their house? Like. You couldn't. But like, why are they not number one? Why is steady on not number one in all those lists and not last? Like, I don't, I don't get that. Anyway, I have four, I have four separate sets of lights in my living room last year.

Kate: So like two on the tree. Um, and then I, I can't remember where I had another one. Oh, sorry. The other ones were coming in from outside. So I had ones on kind of like just along the perimeter of my, um, railings and my fence. So like, Uh, they were coming in through the window, the thin cable. But then I had four sets of lights.

I had to plug them in. Now, I know there's a timer on it, but the timer is only kind of like six or eight hours. So, you kind of want them on longer than that in Ireland, I think. So, you turn them on and now they're all flashing like [00:25:00] mad, right? So, I have four sets of lights to press eight times to try and get steady on.

So, I'm pressing the thing 32 times and then I probably pass it on one of them and I have to go back and do the eight buttons again. Like, I was going nuts. I was like, there has to be something. So then I went on to Amazon, and I was seeing if I could buy like a new version of the Transformer that only had steady on, and had no programs on it.

That was difficult to do, but I did find a, kind of a splitter.

Jen: Oh.

Kate: could plug up to like, five sets of lights into this one splitter. Now check the, check the amperage or whatever that you need for your sets of lights and make sure that it can take it, but I could plug all my sets of lights into this one transformer and that means I wasn't turning on four sets of lights a day and trying to find the right

program. 

Jen: So did they all have to plug into the same 

Kate: Yeah, they, they all have the same one socket, one plug, and then one transformer had four

ports in it or 

whatever. 

Jen: Oh, 

Kate: And I just, and they're all like the [00:26:00] universal. twisty LED lights fitting, like, so they all just docked into one transformer. So when I switched it on, I only needed to set the right program once.

Jen: Oh, that's genius.

Kate: Yeah, it is genius. Um, saved me a lot of heartache over the last couple of Christmases.

Jen: Do you, so you put lights outside as well?

Kate: Yeah, I just like, I don't like anything too over the top outside, but like I just had Warm white lights along the top of my kind of, the iron railings outside my house and just up the path to the door and around, around the frame of the door.

Jen: That's beautiful. I, I, I do the same thing. I really, I only have lights outside and I only have my Christmas wreath outside. But, and that's only because I, my, my outside is tiny. Like I don't have, there's no space, I don't have a garden out the front. To all of you listening who go mad at Christmas and totally deck out your house outside, you're legends.

I love it so much. I I love, it. love, love seeing a house that has just [00:27:00] lost pubs have like the whole

Kate: sheet 

of like 

Jen: Oh, like the ginger man in 

Kate: Yeah. Or slatteries and rathmines,

I love it. 

I love when the Christmas lights go up. much. I love, love anyone out there who goes way over the top and has loads of decorations everywhere. I just, again, I think what I'm here for is a tacky Christmas. I just love it.

Jen: I 

Kate: Campaign to keep fairy When else are 

all year round. 

Jen: just here for fairy lights. That's all I ever want. But I love it. I've, you know, neighbours that go all out and they do it for Halloween too and Easter. Like, I'm just so here for it. It's so fun. 

Kate: And there's a few houses that do it for charity as well,

don't they?

Like, 

they 

might have a box for charity and all the kids can buy it. Like, I love that.

I think

It's class. 

Jen: just so cute. Um, another thing, this isn't necessarily a Christmas decoration, but you got Perry, my dog. A little Christmas jumper 

one year, do you remember? yeah. 

It's like little Christmas 

pyjamas. It's 

so cute. jumpers on dogs. So cute. Aww.

and he looks so indignant, he's just there like [00:28:00] suffering through it. Like fucking here she goes again.

Kate: I love it. 

Jen: So 

Kate: Oh yeah, we used to have a little Christmas, Christmas onesie for Amber as well. She hated it so much, but I loved it.

Jen: I'd say, remember, oh my goodness, I could see her with antlers on her as well. 

Kate: Yeah, yeah, yeah, she would knocked them off straight away. 

She looked like a little Rudolph actually. The colour of her, like if you, you know, if you did the kind of bambi dots at her back, she'd look like a

reindeer.

Jen: She really would have, yeah, totally, totally. 

She's a gorgeous dog. Do you put them on your cart? Do you have kids? Do you put those little Rudolph antlers on your cart? I 

Kate: No, I have, I have never done, but like, I don't know. It could be suede. It could be suede. Maybe they might, maybe they might slap them and like them. I've never done Elf on the Shelf, any of that stuff

yet. I'm 

too early, yeah. 

Jen: I mean sure, once you start then you're goosed. Like Goosed. Yeah, You're in it for life. Um, one thing that I love actually that I bring out every year, my grandmother bought me this beautiful wooden Advent calendar. It's a big, you know, it's kind of a wooden tree and it has all these different boxes in it. So you could fill the box every year with sweets or, you know, [00:29:00] chocolates or whatever you wanted.

That's a lovely, a really pretty 

Kate: That is really nice. And it's more sustainable than all the other, all the other, B. S. Advent calendars aren't. Sorry, I'm not one for advent calendars. I think it's like 90 percent packaging, 10 percent products you don't

really want. 

Jen: Totally, but those ones are little drawers. You know, if you have kids 

you could no, those reusable ones are so cute. 

They're So 

cute. I really, really love that. I 

Kate: Yeah, I love those. 

Jen: Candy canes is another thing that I hang up all over the 

Kate: Yeah, I love candy 

Jen: then you could just eat them as Christmas comes along.

Kate: Oh, that's a great edible decoration and someone gave it to me a couple of years back. Peppermint

Bark. Have you ever 

had it? 

Jen: Oh, yum. 

Kate: chocolate, white chocolate and then the peppermint crushed candy canes in the top.

Oh, I love it. And then I used to make sheets of it and break it up into little bags for people. Oh, that's a nice little edible decoration as well.

Jen: Actually, speaking of edible decorations, this is more of a gift than a decoration but, um, a great present, and it's brilliant if you're ever stuck last minute too, but it's also just super thoughtful, is if you get a [00:30:00] jar, just an empty jar, and then get the recipe for cookies, and then fill the jar with layers of each recipe, so flour on the bottom, brown sugar, and then, you know, might have chocolate chips, or whatever, just all the dry ingredients.

Um, and then write the recipe on a little parchment paper. little cardboard tag 

on the side and you might say something like you know I love edible gifts. I love edible

mix it together and that they're so cute and they're really cute then to have dotted around the house again at Christmas and then you can be giving them away as as gifts so then 

you don't have to store them after Christmas 

Kate: Oh, I love that. I love edible gifts in general. I think it's so nice.

Jen: it's so nice and everyone loves it because you don't want your house being stuffed up with things that you don't want 

Kate: Yeah, more boxes of chocolates that you're gonna demolish in between Christmas and New

Year's.

Jen: So for edible gifts, those cookie jars are brilliant.

Um, you ever do, um, Gingerbread Men?

Yeah. Or Gingerbread House? And they're, they're brilliant for, um, That's a brilliant one to have [00:31:00] just out, sitting out as a decoration in a gingerbread house. 

I've no self control

is the problem. I'd be nibbling 

Kate: Eatin eatin the roof. Eatin the little windows.

Jen: Um, Another great edible gift is infused oils. So just a nice little glass bottle, some olive oil or whatever else kind of oil, and then put thyme in it or chilies in it or garlic in it or 

Kate: You've gotta be careful of botulism with

that though. 

Jen: Oh yeah, go on, talk us through that. What 

Kate: I don't know, but like chili oil, like, is really dangerous for botulism, so make sure you're doing it right. Yeah. Yeah. You have to like, you have to be really careful that it's like, I don't know, to a certain temperature and then it's totally airtight and stuff.

Jen: Okay. Yeah. With any glass jar, well, the cookie jars are okay because there's no liquid in 

Kate: Yeah. I used to actually make chili oil and then this pizza guy, it was at um, he had like a pizza cart and we were like having pizza there. Um, We said something about chili oil and he was like, Oh, I'd never make my own chili oil. Botulism risk is really high. I was like, Oh, okay, cool. Maybe I won't make it anymore.[00:32:00] 

Jen: Okay, don't, don't do that then. we 

might just, we might just delete this part.

Kate: Yeah. Yeah.

Jen: Fox Ness food on Instagram. Jenn Fox love her, all of her stuff. Um, she makes these beautiful butters. Maybe she was making them last year, like different flavored butters. 

Oh, they 

look so Do you ever do Christmas 

Kate: puddings? 

Jen: Oh, yes. You Yeah. 

Kate: More, more so than Christmas cake. Like I, and I love mince pies. Oh my god, I already have my order in for no messin mince

pies. 

Jen: I just had, I had about a box of Aldi mince pies in the last week, I'd say. They had these, right, they had these ones. I didn't think I'd like, like, going on description alone, I didn't think I'd like these, but then I had one. Oh my goodness. Chocolate mince pies. I'm a bit of a chocolate As in the pastry is chocolate

Kate: or 

Jen: There was kind of like, it still had raisins and stuff through it, but there was this beautiful, almost [00:33:00] chocolate. Melted chocolate bomb bit in the middle. God, it was 

absolutely unreal. It was amazing. 

Kate: have you ever had, have you ever had the no messin mince pies? 

Jen: No. 

Kate: They're over in Smithfield I think. So they, I am on their kind of like pre warned list when they're about to launch their mince pies because they always sell out. So I already have my ordering for 

pickup on the 19th of

December. 

Jen: Okay, I'm 

Kate: They are the best mince pies. They're the best mince pies I've ever eaten,

hands down. 

And I 

asked, because I, I, I always like buy mince pies if they look good somewhere. Like if they're kind of made fresh or whatever. And I went, and I put it on my Instagram a couple of years ago. I was like, where's the best mince pies in Dublin?

And like, no mess. And came in tenfold, I'd say, the top answer. So I was like, well I'm getting these. And now it's a tradition, I'm getting them every year. They're amazing.

Jen: Gosh, good to know. Okay, Yeah, get onto the website before they're sold out.[00:34:00] 

Kate: It's 

the best of 

Jen: Anything else? Oh, do you know what else I

love? Hanging up Christmas stockings. Christmas

stockings. 

Kate: Where do you stick them if you don't have a fireplace? Because a 

lot of houses don't have a fireplace anymore.

Oh, 

Jen: And I have, I don't know what you would call these things. You know, you know these, um, I think they're handbag hooks. I 

Kate: Oh yeah, yeah, up they're called handbag hooks. Um, And they're just like flat discs and then the outside of them kind of turns into a hook and you,

Jen: yeah.

So I hang my Christmas stockings on 

Kate: And if anyone has any suggestions for child proofing Christmas trees, I would love to hear them because the bottom third of my tree is usually empty the last couple years. And I find decorations hidden everywhere, in the bushes, in the garden, like in the toy boxes. So if anyone has any child proofing tips, I will gladly take them. yeah. Best of luck with the decorating! See you guys in two weeks.

Jen: See you in 

Kate: Oh my god, it'll be nearly Christmas. It'll be the last one before Christmas probably, will it? Yeah.

Jen: I guess it will. [00:35:00] Yeah.

Kate: Yeah. Well, we'll see you in two weeks.

Jen: See you in two weeks?