Last weekend was a beautiful weekend in central Arkansas. The weather was gorgeous and cold, which I love. I was very excited to find that the Hallmark Channel was playing Christmas movies all day Sunday. Christmas movies, football and Christmas decorating. Sounds like an A+ day to me.
A friend of mine mentioned that she got one of her five trees up on Saturday. WOW! Five trees! I used to work with a lady who always put up a tree in every room. They all had different themes. She had a cowboy tree in her grandson's nursery, which was also cowboy themed. She had a monkey themed three in her jungle theme bathroom. I believe the one in her guest room was Wizard of Oz or something like that. Her house was decorated to the hilt and it was gorgeous and creative.
I have a big tree in my living room and my mom bought my oldest daughter a pink tree for her room several years ago. A few weeks ago I bought a little bitty tree for my kitchen. It was on sale at Hobby Lobby for 50% off, so it cost me $2.50. It's one of those little ones with burlap around the bottom. It's so cute! I want to decorate it in black and white for the kitchen, I think. I'll have to come up with some cheap, cute ornament I can make. Because I put my tree up so early, I use artificial trees.
When I was younger, I always wanted a perfectly decorated color coordinated tree, but I think over the years I've changed my mind. Our tree is 7 1/2 feet. Our ornaments are a mix of everything. We have lots of Hallmark ornaments we've collected over the years. We have several Hallmark "frame" ornaments from a particular year that you are supposed to put a family picture in for that year. MOST of them still have the family that came with the frame in them. Isn't that awful? By the time I finally get pictures from Christmas printed off, I've already put the ornaments back int the attic and by the time I get them down again the next year, I can't find the pictures again. It's terrible and embarassing. Oh well! Some of the other ornaments are things the kids made at school: beaded pipe cleaner candy canes, puzzle frames with the kids school pictures in them, snowflakes cut out of paper, etc. I even have a little bell made from a tiny terra cotta pot that my husband made when he was little. My mom got me some mesh and pretty stuff for the top of my tree, but I need to work on it a little more.
We watch Chrismtas movies while we decorate the tree and usually end with hot chocolate. We love hot chocolate.
This got me wondering about how others decorate their trees. Do y'all use real trees or artificial? Do you decorate by themes or is it a modge podge? Do you have a tree in every room or just one tree? Do you watch Christmas movies or listen to Christmas music? What are your decorating the tree traditions?
