Our Christmas Tree

Hi!

I've shared the story of my first fresh cut Christmas tree, showed you a quick behind the scenes peek, and now my Christmas tree adventure is complete!  Isn't she pretty next to our mistletoe mantle?

The red felt sack reads "Smile if you've been naughty" in case you were wondering.

I haven't decorated a tree this size before so I didn't have a clue regarding how many strands of lights or ornaments I'd want to use.  This beauty stood naked and half lit in our living room for about a week.   Here she is fully  decorated without the lights turned on.  Oh and Brewster is obsessed with the tree and insisted in being in several of the photos.

What do you get when an accountant and a techy banker put lights on a tree?  Perfectly spaced rings of lights spiraling up the tree.  It made me think of an upside-down twister and that was not what I wanted.  Once I was armed with more boxes of lights, I decided that we needed to take all the lights off the tree and start over.  Yeah, I did.  I wanted this baby to have twinkly randomness and I wasn't going to get over it.  So, we hit reset and started again (thank you, Jake!).

All lit up at night.

  

  

If you've seen my gift wrapping and ribbon wall, you know I heart the ribbons.  I had two pretty ones all ready to put on the tree but I didn't.  The branches are so full and pretty that adding the ribbon was too much.  It looked like our tree belonged in a store instead of our living room so I ripped it off.  I had some pretty beaded garlands too but I ditched them.

View from the couch

Ok, ok.  Here's what I was angling to keep out of the above photo.  That's a Saint Bernard's bottom.  She's trying to figure out how to get the tree water.

I love color but I decided to stick with white and silver ornaments.  Snowflakes, jingle bells, crystals, and more!  Everything is from the dollar store, Target, or my Christmas bin and the whole lot cost under $20.

Oh and all the ornaments are of the shatterproof variety.  They can withstand several tail lashings from jumbo here.

I bought the Martha Stewart tree skirt on super clearance at Kmart a couple years ago.  It has a beaded snowflake pattern sewn onto it.  So pretty.

Did you notice the nearly invisible tree topper?  It's a large, clear plastic snowflake (found at the dollar store) being held in place with a bread tie.  I love how it catches the light in person but it's kind of hard to make out against the pressed tin ceiling in photos.

backside of topper

Here are few more photos of the tree with Maximus and Brewster since I've got them and I know some of you follow this blog for the dogs...  ;)

 Bru likes to move the tree skirt around the living room and the visiting puppy, Samson, fell in love with it too.

 Do you watch Renovation Realities on the DIY network (Jake recommended it here)?  This next photo reminds me of the home owner photos they use at the end of the show when they declare "this renovation is over."  Note Max near the fireplace screen...

You know what this tree is missing?  Presents!  Do you have any gifts wrapped and under your tree yet?  I'm totally a present peeker which is a great reason for Jake to do Christmas Eve shopping for me (yes, honey, diamonds are one of my best friends...).  Growing up, did you peek in the present closet?  Do you still peek at, rattle, or feel up your presents today?  

Enjoy the weekend!

CSI Project: Holiday Home Tour week

Click here to see some of the parties we'll be mingling at this week.