I try to make a carved decoration from each year's Christmas tree. This year's tree was a Nordmann Fir, and I really hope that next year we can find a different species, because the wood was both very hard, and very splintery. Not a fun wood to carve, and although the tree held its needles well, it had almost no scent, and I think the scent is one reason for having a wooden tree.

This is what it looked like when I'd just taken the bark off: it was wet, and it was kind of crumbly and yet at the same time I had to sharpen my chisels a lot.  I think possibly I tried working it when it was a bit too green, it did get better as it began to dry, but I've definitely had wood that was much nicer to carve green. 



And here's the final version: a puffin on one side...





And on the other side a sea-sunset, using the grain of the tree to make the sun.  It was very hard to get the edges of the waves free of spiky bits.