Oh Christmas Tree…

I la la la love this time of year. Not the hustle and bustle craziness of it, but the time spent with family, memories made, and coziness of it all is what I love. I have loved sitting in our living room reading Bray A Charlie Brown Christmas while the tree is lit and soft Christmas music dances around the room. I love taking him out once it gets dark and seeing the wonder in his eyes at all the lights. It is magical seeing this season through his eyes, magical!

Every year we get a real tree. Even while we were just dating, J and I would go out and buy my family their tree. Its our jam, and we love it. As much as I see the convenience {and even money saved over time} with fake trees, we just can’t pass up the real deal. But for those wanting to buy the artificial ones could check out Christmas Tree World’s collection of artificial Xmas trees. What if you find the perfect one there this Christmas season? That said, this year we got our tree from Costco, a 8ft Noble for a measley $45! Insane! Thats the best price I’ve ever seen, and this tree is quality! One thing we do to help its life last is sawing off a little from the bottom right when we get it home. Even if a tree is cut and shipped to the store fairly fast, usually some amount of sap seals off the bottom. By cutting it fresh, you allow the water to absorb in, rather than be blocked. This preserves life, hoping to have it last until January! I always wonder how agile you have to be in the tree-felling business. They probably have special equipment and great rope to pull when felling trees. Anyway, I personally love having the tree up for about a week after Christmas is over. We also aren’t afraid of ‘customizing’ our tree. This year we cut off the big stick at the top since we don’t have an angel or star to put up there {I know, isn’t that breaking like every tree rule there is?!}

Our tree is a crazy mix of ornaments that are new, DIYed, bought vintage, made by me when I was four, and so on. As much as it would be way prettier to either have no ornaments, or ones that are all matching, I am way too sentimental to not have this crazy mix. What are you thoughts on that? Do you keep it all cohesive, or do you put up any one that has meaning?

One last thing that we did this year for the first time was a little tip from Mandi at Vintage Revivals. She said to use your regular sized lights, but then mix in some larger lights as well. She said it would be a crazy difference, and she wasn’t lying! I love the look of the different sized lights:

top- just one size, bottom- mixing in the larger bulbs

So there you have it. Thats our tree:) As for the room as a whole, its a work in progress. Our stockings are on my sewing table waiting to be finished. We still need a rug for the room. Oh ya, and did you notice the sofa? Can’t wait to share more on that later…its such a beauty!!