The wonderful thing about being 55 is I have lived long enough to see fashions come and go. Some, like frilly New Romantic shirts, I miss but others, like leg warmers, I do not.

Christmas, too, has fashions, fads and waves of stylistic inspirations. In the 80s everything suddenly had red velvet or tartan patterns everywhere. 90s Christmas was ostentatious, baubles, large swags and a lot of themed trees. The 2000s had bright, colourful, opulence in jewel shades or country simplicity in red and blue. I think there was a stage around 2008 to 2012 when every Christmas magazine had to have a Scandi Christmas page in red and white, with Dala horses and straw goats.

The past few years there’s been a push to be more natural, especially in the homemade Christmas space. Nature, in all her glory, used to decorate a house. I suspect that the over-use of plastic tinsel and foiled decorations (and, glory, how bad they smell!) can no longer be justified. A length of tinsel, no matter how thick and luscious at the start, will always end up bedraggled, crushed, shedding threads and adding to a landfill pile that we as a developed nation should be embarrassed by.

I walked away from buying Christmas decorations, or any idea that my tree had to change theme every year or indeed at all, twenty nine years ago when I bought my first Christmas decoration when I was away on holiday in Germany and decided that a Holiday Memory tree was a really beautiful idea. I made up my mind to buy a little decoration from every holiday or short break, and to use them on the tree. I even label them, place and year, so that when we decorate the tree we can remember Portsmouth 2010, London 2012 or Brighton 2023. You’ll see pictures nearer Christmas, no doubt, on social or on the blog. Simultaneously, I started buying one decoration per child a year, naming and dating them. At the moment, my tree looks packed, with almost 75 named and dated decorations fighting for attention with a similar number of Shakespeares, Henry VIII, Roman ladies and (this year’s cutest yet) a Speaker Bear from the Houses of Parliament. I’m crowding the tree at the moment, secure in the knowledge that when the offspring move out they will be taking their decorations with them. Give it a few years and the tree will be empty again, save for my holiday memories.

That whole introduction is apropo of nothing, except to say that homemade and simplicity seems to be the key to Christmas this year. In such a spirit, may I offer you Winter Celebrations by Arounna Khounnoraj. Born in Laos and now a resident in Canada, Arounna’s book is a collection of decorations, gifts and other stuff that are deceptively simple, and would enhance many a home.

The book is essentially split into just two parts: Decoration and Gift. They mean what they say: decoration is about the things you’d put around the house, or on the doors etc. There are wreaths, garlands, tablecloths and a selection of advent calendars.

Gifts are instructions for things that you might want to give away. There are washcloths, pouches, mobiles, bags and a useful canvas tool holder. I always judge the quality of a craft book by whether I want to give the finished article away, or keep it. There are a good few here that I’d want to make two of, one to give and one to keep.

And there’s also a broad range of crafts: sewing, embroidery, rope tieing, air-dried clay, papercrafts, some wood working, dying and weaving. There’s a useful and clear stitch library at the beginning and a short resources page (very Canada/US based) at the end.

The instructions are good and clearly written, with clear illustrations as necessary for eg making the pockets of an advent calendar although, to be fair, the very clear photographs also provide a good resource and idea of what to do. There are no projects that need weeks and weeks of work, with a good 70% of them finishable in an afternoon or weekend at the most. That’s ideal for presents or time-poor families.

I liked the practicality of the projects, too. Even the decorations are not so Christmas they couldn’t stay up longer, while the gift ideas are useful objects rather than decorative extras.

It’s a good book for inspiration as well as instruction. You may read the book and compile lists of the projects that you want to make, or you may keep thumbing through and pausing to look at the beautifully staged photos, thinking to yourself ‘I haven’t the time to make xxx, but if I got that vas eand this dish, I could create a small vignette like that’. It’s that sort of pretty book, one to keep looking at rather than read in one great big gollop.

You can find Arounna Khounnoraj on Instagram, and at her website, Bookhou, where there are even more pictures designed to whet your appetite along with finished articles for sale.

And, as usual, here’s a flipthrough so you can see what the book looks like.

How to Hygge the British Way is my gift to the world. I don’t get paid for writing it, I’m not in it for the kudos, financial rewards, to become an influencer, work with brands or otherwise make any money from the blog. That’s why there are no ads, and any products I mention and recommend have either been gifted to me or bought by me with my everyday wages or donations from supporters. Every book I review has been bought and read by me, unless stated otherwise.

I do get a couple of pennies each time someone buys from the Amazon links on my page, as an Amazon Affiliate, but otherwise if you’d like to support me, I like to give something back in return. That’s why I write books. It always feels good if you get a book back in return for some money. You can find a full list of my books at my Author’s Page on Amazon, but especially recommended for this time of year are:

Cosy Happy Hygge: Setting up a rhythm to life and rituals to enjoy it to make for a more balanced life that handles waves and storms better. Lent is a season of rituals and resets. The book has small and easy ways to make your life flow with grace and happiness, which lead to more hygge.

Happier: Probably my most personal book, it’s the story of how I used hygge and the little things in life to help boost my happiness. I still go back and reread to remind myself what I need to do to be a happy human. And it’s always the little things.

My Christmas books are always available: Have Yourself a Happy Hygge Christmas is a good place to start, on how to make the season cosier, happier. Celebrating a Contagious Christmas was written during covid year, but has useful advice on celebrating when times are hard anyway and Enjoying a Self-Care Christmas is a short e-book on keeping Christmas simpler, easier and better for you, your waistline and your budget. It even includes 25+ suggestions for self-care activities over Christmas, as simple as sipping tea, keeping a list journal or lighting a candle. Bigger is not always better for Christmas.

I’m currently working on two book projects: I have a hankering to rewrite 50 Ways to Hygge the British Way, so it’s not available at the moment, but even dearer to my heart and my next stated aim is to finish and publish my next book, Simple Plus Cosy = Hygge. It will be about homemaking and how the home we create shapes the hygge we have. Hopefully it will be finished by the end of spring/summer.

If you’d like to support me, but don’t want to buy a book, I have a Paypal.Me account as Hygge Jem. Every little helps, so even a few pence goes towards the books, goods and courses I use and recommend on the site. I’m grateful for every little bit that brings me closer to my dream of full-time writing, and I know I couldn’t still be writing if it weren’t for the support of many readers and friends out there. Thank you all for every little bit of support, emotional, physical and financial, you give me.

If you’ve enjoyed this article, don’t forget to share it or save it so others can enjoy reading, thinking about and living hygge as well.

The photo between post and promotions is by Laura Nyhuis on Unsplash. I’m using it from now until January as a real reminder of the power of light. I loved the simplicity of the shot, the focus on the one candle, the reminder that there are many lights out there if we open our hearts to them and the combination of candle and nature in creating a cosy Christmas.