Decorating trees was a talent that I didn't know I had until I got married. Up until then, I let my mom do the decorating. I had absolutely no interest in putting ornaments or ribbon on a tree and frankly I didn't understand why so many people, namely my mother-in-law, got their panties in a wad about Christmas decorations and Christmas trees in the first place.
But then I got a tree of my very own... with decorations of my very own and of my choosing. And a new addiction was born.
This year our house looks like a damned florist showroom. Two full-sized live trees are in our living room and foyer and the cheap white artificial tree from the Dollar General is greeting our backdoor guests in the back entry. For a while there I thought that my house along with myself would be permanently covered in glitter and I began to understand why back in 2001 my mother banned glitter from my possession and threatened to cut me off financially if I ever dared bring that crap back into her house. Glitter is everywhere... I literally found it in my Kleenex after blowing my nose--you know you look at your snot too.
Regardless, before you view these pictures, keep a couple things in mind. Mainly, we have not been in the dream house for long... so don't expect architectural digest quality furnishings. Currently we've decorated in the style of "early attic" and over the coming months and years that will change.
Secondly, please remember that I'm not a photographer, regardless of how well I did in a black and white photography class in undergrad. These were taken with my point and shoot Cannon after a very long day at work so bare with me...
Finally, keep in mind that my decorating style for the interior of my house is somewhere between modern-contemporary and traditional and I believe, firmly, that less is more-- except when it comes to my Christmas trees. I believe in excess... over-the-top, jammed-packed-full of spirited goodness when it comes to my trees. And if you want to argue the point with me that too-full trees are just too much, please let me point out that having a tree in your house is an already out-there concept so why not just dive in and go crazy. This is the one time of year when more is completely acceptable!
Enjoy...
The Memory Tree
The big tree in the foyer is my stab at traditional red and green Christmas. I like to think of this tree as our memory tree. Each year I add a new framed picture to our tree of our Christmas card (this year makes 5 married Christmas' together) and each year I add a new Radko ornament that my grandmother gives us as a present from the year before. I also use burlap on my tree as a homage to our livelihood--tobacco farming. My tree skirt is an actual tobacco sheet-- and reminds me of when I was little sheeting tobacco on my daddy's farm with my whole family. Husband still grows tobacco and I love how I was able to incorporate our background and culture into this tree.
The big tree in the foyer is my stab at traditional red and green Christmas. I like to think of this tree as our memory tree. Each year I add a new framed picture to our tree of our Christmas card (this year makes 5 married Christmas' together) and each year I add a new Radko ornament that my grandmother gives us as a present from the year before. I also use burlap on my tree as a homage to our livelihood--tobacco farming. My tree skirt is an actual tobacco sheet-- and reminds me of when I was little sheeting tobacco on my daddy's farm with my whole family. Husband still grows tobacco and I love how I was able to incorporate our background and culture into this tree.
Please excuse the bare walls. After Christmas I plan on having a metallic wallpaper hung to tie in the metallic paint in the dinning room in with the rest of the house.
The Safari Tree in the Living Room
Last year I knew, even though we had not started building yet, that I wanted to do blue and browns in my living room. And so last year at an after-Christmas sale at Dewayne's I stocked up on blue, gold and brown ornaments. This tree is the "Safari" tree because I have all sorts of subtle animal references throughout. The ribbon is a mix of gold and glittery cheetah print & velvet-y brown and cream zebra print. Pheasant feathers and blue rooster feathers are throughout and tucked into branches are balls covered in pheasant and peacock feathers. The colors go great with what little decor I have. You'll notice some burgundy chairs peaking in my pictures-- don't worry they will be blue, green and brown stripes soon!
For this particular tree I did not use a topper. Instead I used feathers, artificial brown hydrangeas and loops of ribbon to create the illusion of a tree topper.
The Naughty Tree
This tree was purchased at a Dollar General 5 years ago for about 30 bucks. It is bare and cheap, but a dream to decorate. Because it is just about hollow I basically dump ornaments of various shapes, sizes and texture into the bald spots and then when I think the the tree can't hold anymore items I start stuffing in more things. Those of you that are super critical will notice that the bottom is barely lit because Christmas lights hate me and burnt out already. But I think the tree still looks good and fun.
You'll notice that for all of my tree skirts I've swaddled some sort of fabric around each base or trunk. I simply go to the local fabric store and purchase about two yards of a good quality fabric that will compliment my decorations. I prefer this method of dressing my tree trunk for two reasons-- no sewing and it adds to the lushness of my decorations
I hope that you enjoyed my trees.
Maybe I'll get some more pictures in the days and weeks to come. I hope you are enjoying your Christmas decorating... for now I've got to start working on Christmas Cards!
Merry! Merry! Everyone!
