natural German Christmas tree
The last time I participated with this “My Home Style: Christmas Tree Edition” blog hop hosted by my friend Stephanie of Casa Watkins Living was two years ago (HERE) and I described it as a modern European eclectic style. This time I changed it to a natural German Christmas tree style. I always struggle with what to name my decorating when forced to do so.
A warm welcome to everyone coming from Melaine’s beautiful home at My Sweet Savanah. I’m sure you have enjoyed her beautiful tree and all the other gorgeous trees today and the previous days. I know I have.
Let me explain why I named my tree this way. First of all, I wanted to keep my decor as natural as possible again. Last year I only used simple glass icicles but my kids complained that it was too plain and they wanted more again. So they get more this year again. To layer it all I thought back to what we added to our trees growing up in Germany. Let me show you…
natural German Christmas tree
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ornaments and decor used for our natural German Christmas tree
- Christmas roses
- German wooden snowflake cutouts (This German supplier sells the German wooden snowflakes for about $35 but I found them on Amazon for half the price HERE)
- dried oranges (grocery store)
- simple gold ball ornaments (HERE)
- pinecones (from the yard)
- glass icicles (HERE)
- eucalyptus branches (HERE)
- large German straw star as tree topper (HERE)
- our flocked tree (also check out my favorite faux Christmas trees)
- gold tree collar (HERE)
You might also like my blog post about my favorite German wooden Christmas ornaments where I am showing a large beautiful variety with affordable options.
I was having a conversation with my mom when she was here about other German Christmas decor items I could use in my tree that look and feel natural. She mentioned a “Christrose” also known as “Weihnachtsrose” in German. It is the German equivalent to a poinsettia. The Christ Rose is not an actual rose but belongs to the buttercup family.
I originally wanted to buy a faux version of the Christmas Rose and noticed that they were all very expensive and not really common in the US. So I came up with a little hack to make my own which you can read about HERE. I’m also sharing more about the history, names, and meaning.
My German Christmas tree growing up
I spy the typical real candles clipped to the tree, straw stars, little people made out of pinecones, simple glass ornaments, and of course my brother and I playing Christmas music on our flutes. Let me tell you, we hated having to do this every year. We still hold this over our parents’ heads that they forced us to learn to play the flutes and that we weren’t allowed to at least pick the instrument we wanted to play. That probably had to do with the fact that the teacher was the wife of my dad’s boss. Lame! 🙂
More photos and details of our German Christmas tree
I have never been a big fan of tree skirts and growing up in Germany we always had our trees in pots. Part of that reason was that we had live trees that we planted in our yard after Christmas.
This year I finally decided to buy a tree collar. The main reason for that was our robot vacuum (we have this cheaper one HERE). I love that little guy and he does such a good job but a tree skirt was an obstacle for him that he got caught in. The tree collar is the perfect solution. I actually placed a blanket inside the collar and the cats love hiding in it for a nap.
The reason I went with the dried oranges this year is to get some of the same colors and glow that the salt lamps spread throughout my house. I wrote a post about how to decorate with salt lamps this year because I’m absolutely obsessed with them. My mom went home and bought herself one too. You can see one glow in the background of the below photo.
I dried the orange slices in our food dehydrator which I bought a couple of years ago to actually dry my cellphone, haha. The dehydrator works awesome for so many different purposes. I bought two large bags of oranges for $8 and they create such beautiful and affordable decor.
My macrame feather (video tutorial included) makes the perfect topper for wrapped presents and then can be used as a purse charm or home accessory when gifted. They are so easy to make.
By the way, if you are new around here then you might be interested in seeing my recent Ikea Besta faux grasscloth makeover HERE which you can see in the below photo on the left.
Maya had 5 teeth pulled when my mom was here, including her two upper canine teeth. She is doing much better now. I think her shaved leg from the IV is just the cutest and she loves showing it to people.
Walter was trying to get her to play with a walnut but she was way too lazy.
The blue gift boxes are from Target years ago and unfortunately not available anymore.
I love the below photo of the Christmas rose I made.
I hope you enjoyed this glimpse into our living room. There is more to come soon.
If you are interested in more German decorating ideas, then check out my German-influenced Christmas home tour, my favorite German Christmas pyramids, and my favorite German Christmas decorations.
Enjoy your holiday season.
Now make sure to hop on over to Kate Decorates to check out her fun tree. I love it!
Tschüß,
I love the oranges! I might have to steal that idea!
Thanks Summer, they are so cheap and easy to make.
Absolutely stunning Julia!! Those icicles are gorgeous! Love your rose topper and macrame feather! You are so talented! (Hubby is in Germany right now on a biz trip in Oberammergau!)
Oh how fun! It’s a great time to be in Germany right now. And thanks so much!
So beautiful! I’m inspired by the dried oranges! Do you hide a pickle in the tree? When I lived in Germany (Bremen) many moons ago, my landlady gave me a beautiful pickle ornament to hide in the little tree I had. So sweet! I still have it! She said that the person who finds the pickle got an extra gift 🙂
Thanks Libby! No, my family never hid a pickle in the tree but my dad’s brother hid a dog bone in the tree growing up 😉 I actually don’t think any of my friends’ families did either.
Julia–in a case of “great minds,” I was at Trader Joe’s and they have sliced, dried oranges and lemons (it’s by the dried fruit/nuts)…and I thought they would look pretty hanging from a garland and the tree…plus, I bet they smell good, too! Your German tree is not just simple…it’s absolutely elegant!
Thank you Kimberly!
Oh, goodness! This is the prettiest tree ever! I may have to copy this in miniature as my heritage is German from my maternal grandfather. Living in Arizona, I have a tall & slim Southwestern tree in my living room, a Traditional tree in my family room, a miniature tree on my entry table and now I just have to find room for a German tree too! Your’s is truly a lovely tree!
Oh I hope you find room for one! And thanks so much.
Your German tree is beautiful Julia! I’m so in love with the icicles, and the orange slices are such a pretty addition too. Loved seeing what you did this year!
Thanks for the visit Lisa. I love the smell of the orange slices.
Your German tree is gorgeous!!
Thanks Jen
oh my goodness, your tree is so beautiful! love the natural mix with the icicles!
Thanks my friend, I don’t think I will ever get tired of the iciles.
It is so beautiful! I love the natural elements you added. The oranges are the perfect touch of color too!
Thank you Amanda, the color of the oranges now prompted me to buy pillows in that color too 😉
This is stunning Julia but the best part is you playing that flute! Do you take requests?
Haha, thank Kelly. Playing the flute is lame-o but I’d make an exception for you of course although you might regret making a request LOL
julia- this is a stunning tree. what i really love and appreciate is the sentiment , heart and personal connection you tie into your decorating.
Thank you so much Laura, I hope my kids will remember that fondly one day.
I’m normally a random sentimental eclectic ornaments on the tree person and not into the perfectly coordinated trees, but this one I have to say is just stunning! I may have to copy this next year when our basement family room is done and we do a 2nd tree.
OOOH MYYY GAW! This tree is stunning! These icicle ornaments mixed with the orange slices make such a beautiful balance of hot and cold.. summer and winter… ying and yang if you will. So beautiful!
I recently came across tree recipes while browsing a Christmas design website. It was surprisingly satisfying to know how many of each ornament type based off of a certain tree height. And so of course, I have to use yours as inspiration. Thank you for listing where to get the items. Now it’s got me thinking, what is your tree recipe? (Tree height, how many gold ornaments, how many sets of the icicles/snowflakes/flowers/tree picks, and how many pinecones) I gathered just one tree star and the tree collar 😂 and of course you used two bags of oranges to dehydrate. I look forward to hearing from you! Right now I only have one order of each icicles, snowflakes, flowers and tree picks. I’d like to make sure I have enough before the season hits. Thanks!
Hi Rebecca, sorry for my late response I was on a trip to Germany. I have 6 boxes of icicles and try to use them all. It’s always hard to say how many items of each you will need because most likely you don’t have the same tree as I do. It definitely depends on how the gaps are in your tree, meaning how thick it is. So even if there are maybe guidelines to how many you need per height that doesn’t mean it would be true depending on what tree you have. Does that make sense? When I use real trees, I need way more than on a full faux tree.
Yes, I understand. The tree recipe is certainly a guideline and a starting point that I can adjust to fit my needs. I observe the tree that is used in the example and how full it is along with how much tree trimming is included. Having that starting point helps me gauge to fit my taste and preference. Glad you mentioned 6 icicle boxes, 1 was way off for my stash and knowing you used 6 allows me to order how many boxes I need to fit the look I’m trying to achieve. Thanks! If you remember any more details or information it would be greatly appreciated.
Sehr schön…. Ich werde glatt morgen ein paar Orangen kaufen und im Backofen trocknen. Danke für die Inspiration:)
Oh wie schön. Viel Glück!