What's In Your Tree?

Christmas decorating for me has always been pulling out all the ornaments and decorations that people have given me over the years. I buy lights and the Christmas tree and the rest is a hodge podge of sentimental things. Every item has a story. I had so much fun and a few tears remembering all the people who gave them to me, and of course my Mother, who several years ago gave me many of them from my childhood.

This year was no different, except that I got ambitious and made my own wreaths. I was only planning to do one but my over-achieving competitive husband wanted to do three. We compromised at two and this is what we ended up with after a long but very fun evening of wreath making.

This beauty is the one that I made. It's not as full as I would have liked but we ran out of branches. If you have never made one, it's pretty easy and very inexpensive. I'm a wanna-be crafty person but my desire to keep things simple sometimes interferes with the final product. If it gets too expensive I start to think that I should just buy one that is already made and professional. I would give you a tutorial but I think you'd be better off finding someone that really knows what they are doing. I can tell you that all you need is a wreath wire, which costs a few dollars, some wire to secure some of the branches and all the stuff you want to decorate it.

I got one clump of berries and cut them off, some cardinals and a bow with a bell. The branches are from the Christmas tree. I grabbed them as they cut them off to trim the trunk for us. Next time I'll grab extra if there is any because you can use it all over the house to decorate. It doesn't need water and lasts a long time. This wreath in total costs less than $10. It's so welcoming and smells wonderful when you come through the door.

The other wreath that G and his brother worked on was bigger and skinnier. G is nothing if not an engineer and their joke was that they must "secure the branches". They were so secure that the wreath ended up super skinny. I stashed some smaller pieces into the wire to add some bushiness. It's our Charlie Brown Christmas Wreath!

We got our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. As soon as I saw it was from the Blue Ridge Mountains, I was sold. It was like a little piece of home. Can you spot all those Williams Sonoma boxes under the tree! I can't wait to see what they are! Did you notice that we also have five stockings this year? That is because G's brother, his wife and 11 year old son that are still living with us. Christmas is going to be a little bigger this year.

I've already decided that the day after Christmas I will be shopping for decorations for next year. Even though I love all my hodge podge things, I felt it was time to step it up to some things more reflective of my style. Target, West Elm and Crate and Barrel are definitely on my to do list for that day of shopping craziness. I'll also be reorganizing all the Christmas ornaments so that they are not only protected but easy to pack and unpack every year. Maybe the Container Store will have something that I can afford for Christmas ornament organization in the after Christmas sale.

What is your Christmas style? Are you a keep it simple person or do you go all out with Santa soap in the bathroom and a full set of Christmas dishes? Do you use sentimental ornaments or a designer tree with matching balls?

I hope that you all have a wonderful Christmas with all your loved ones in person or in spirit. Remember that the day is a celebration of Jesus coming to this world to eventually die on a cross as a sacrifice for all of us. I hope that this new year brings many blessings as well as clutter-free and organized lives for all of us!

P.S. And for something totally off topic, since I'm showing you a picture of our fireplace, I want to take a little poll. Should we paint the bricks white and as Gustavo warns "lose the brick color forever"? Or, should we leave it as is?