This is our third year renting from Green Elf Trees - a brand I love for revolutionising the festive season with their rent and replant initiative. Meet Rudolf - our 7ft tree (the biggest yet!). This is a tradition I love for more than environmental reasons. There’s something grounding about welcoming a living tree back into the house and settling it into familiar corners.

According to The Carbon Trust, the carbon footprint of a 6.5ft artificial tree is equivalent to about 40kg of greenhouse gas emissions. That's more than 10 times that of a real tree. Of course, this can be avoided if you re-use the artificial tree for 10–20 years to offset its impact. But for me, nothing says Christmas like the scent of pine needles.

If you don’t live in London, check out Lake District Eco Christmas Trees, Lanjeth Nursery, Rudies Roots Nurseries or have a chat to your local garden centres to see what might be possible.

At the end of the year, I always have a fair amount of fabric offcuts - whether samples from interior design commissions or excess from my own brand. I've loved using them to create baubles this year. Here's how:

• Cut strips of fabric 1.5cm wide.
• Remove the metallic 'lid' from the top of the bauble.
• Brush PVA glue onto the outer sphere of your bauble.
• Place the fabric around it, pulling it taught.
• Complete with 8 strips.
• Cut excess fabric at the top.
• Replace metal 'lid'.
• Finish with a velvet bow.

Fairy lights are the foundation of the tree. Nestle them into the branches so the wires are hidden and spend time detangling them! Always opt for warm lights and LED options so they last for years to come.

Red looks gorgeous against the green Nordic fir for good reason – it’s a complementary colour, sitting directly opposite green on the colour wheel. We tend to buy one new piece for the tree each year and this time it was beautiful glass baubles. Rather than the threads you receive in the back, opt for 10mm satin or velvet berry red ribbon to tie them.

The best decorations have a story. They may not coordinate but they hold memories built up over the years. My daughters and I fell for these Nutcracker dancers by Gisela Graham in the Royal Opera House gift shop this past weekend. We were also over the moon to receive these handmade decorations from our friends at The PDKF Store in Jaipur, joining their elephants we have had for years.

For bows, I've used a combination of offcuts from my block printed fabric, grosgrain ribbon and double velvet ribbon. A width of 38mm or 50mm looks decadent and falls beautifully. A wired bow is easier to shape for the top of the tree, but I prefer a bit of whimsy for the other branches.

It's not just the tree! I feel like I've been paper chaining in front of films for the last month. My eldest daughter actually came downstairs this morning and said, "not another paper chain, there won't be space for our stockings!" I have been using recycled sugar paper and brown parcel paper. Over the years, I've also loved threading eucalyptus through icicle lights - it looks beautiful once it dries out too.

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