I'm disappointed to announce that my husband and I took a trip to Lowes for our Christmas Tree this year. I was incredibly embarrassed in doing so (if you get yours there every year I apologize if I offend you, I already did my sister-in-law) because I've always went with the family to a tree farm to pick out and cut our own. I sort of prided myself in cutting it down instead of watching the man do it.
This year a "real" tree wasn't happening for us. While we had the time to go get one, it wasn't worth the money for the amount of time we would enjoy the tree. Having picked up the tree Monday evening and leaving for a cruise next Wednesday then not returning home till 1 am Christmas morning, we have about 10 days to enjoy before my husband would want to take it down after Christmas. Little time = cheap tree from Lowes.
We actually enjoyed a stroll through a Christmas Tree farm with my cousin, her husband and their two little girls to look for their tree this past weekend. Ironically, they ended up driving somewhere else and buying a pre-cut one. I wouldn't have left without one if it were me, but since we weren't near home, it wasn't worth getting one for us while out.
After letting the branches fall down for a day I decided no more scrawny 5'-7" undecorated tree for me, it was depressing. So after 14 hours at work I came home to a lit tree (thanks to the husband who I called on my way home) and began decorating at 10 pm. The ornament box was set out and I started opening all the individual boxes to decide which ornaments I wanted this year. Since we now have 2 kittens in the house, I was VERY worried about how they would react to the tree and especially dangling ornaments. So far so good (yes, I just jinxed myself, I know). I did put less breakable ornaments on the tree and only put completely non-breakables at the bottom.
Last year, the first Christmas ever spent with my husband, we started out on a search to find a tree topper and tree skirt. We found a topper that was good enough for now and I do really like. Until I find the perfect one, I'll be enjoying our star. The tree skirt was a bit tricky. Our living space downstairs is decorated in a lot of orange and brown tones. So although the color of Christmas is Red, I was trying to avoid that throughout decorating. We finally came upon a dark green velvet skirt that was simple and sweet (and just the right price).
Besides those two items, I already had all the ornaments. My parents have always given me an ornament every year for Christmas that means something from the past year. I also had a lot of other childhood ornaments, ones my Mom was getting rid of, and various ones I've bought that were cute during after-Christmas sales. The memento ornaments really deserve a post of their own (maybe next year). I love them because every time I pull one out I think of what it means, what happened that year, why my parents bought it for me. Once my husband and I were engaged they started ornaments for him too, so now our collection grows even more every year.
I'm always surprised seeing on blogs when people do a theme on their tree. Don't get me wrong they are awesome and gorgeous, just not my cup of tea. Probably because I grew up with a tree decorated with various ornaments. I love all the different ones. I love people asking me why I have a drum set or beetle bug (the car) hanging on my tree. I especially love the real sentimental ones like our engagement ornament, our first house ornament or the wedding invite/bulletin ornament (see below) I made after our wedding.
It's simples. It's sweet. It's full of memories. It's ours.
I'm glad I got my little baby tree, even though it's from Lowes because it simply wouldn't be Christmas without it. And don't let the angle of this picture fool you, we still have 2 feet above the star that I fully intend on using with our tree next year!
Now to add some presents under the tree...
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