DIY: An unconventional Christmas tree

BushcraftZ 2013

Yesterday afternoon my husband and I created our own South African Christmas tree. We both have felt for a long time that the conifer based Christmas trees that originated from the northern hemisphere are not appropriate for the hot African climate that we experience during the festive season. We wanted something that reflected us and represented Christmas in South Africa, rustic, warm and made with love. We were very pleased with the result and my husband dubbed the tree the ‘Madiba Christmas tree’.  What we enjoyed most was working together on this project without knowing what the end result was going to become and incorporating both our ideas as we went along.

Below we briefly share how we made this tree.

BushcraftZ 2013

Materials:

• Dried branches collected from our garden
• String
• Glue gun with hot glue sticks (We used 5 long glue sticks.)
• Decorations:
• Handmade wood Christmas ornaments
• Christmas lights
• Wood nativity set

Method:

BushcraftZ 2013

• We collected dried branches of various thickness and textures in our garden. We laid out a basic tree shape, cutting branches to size.
• My husband build a triangular scaffold from three long straight branches and a cross beam.  Each corner was tied with string and re-enforced with hot glue.  We took care that the base of the three long branched were even so that the tree could stand up.
• We place the larger branches onto the scaffold and glued them into place onto the scaffold working form the base toward the top where we used the thinner branches. We used the natural shape of the branches to dictate their position often criss-crossing branches to create an inter-weaved effect.
• Once the tree was covered with branches and the glue had dried we propped it up against the wall and decorated the tree with natural wood stars that my mother made for us and handmade wood Christmas ornaments we have collected over the years. We used electrical Christmas light to enhance the tree.

We hope our ‘Madiba Christmas tree’ inspires other unconventional Christmas decorations that reflect this festive season.

I would like to thank my husband for sharing this experience with me and would like to wish all a blessed and peaceful Christmas.