The First Memories

Warning: This is a post about Christmas in March. Better late than never, right?

The first few months in our house were a whirlwind. We were so busy with the wedding and I was back and forth from Portland so we did the bare minimum to make the house livable. We bought a couch and dining table and left everything else empty. When we returned from our honeymoon the house had been ours for 3 months and it was, for the most part, a big empty box. Lucky for us B(S^3) planned a road trip to spend Christmas with us! I LOVE Christmas and wanted our first Christmas to feel festive. More importantly I wanted it to be special for the little ones. Also important- I did not want to break the bank on Christmas decor. So, we had 10 days to get ready for Christmas - with some smart shopping and a lot of love we pulled it off.

The focal point (and most important) of all Christmas decor is the tree. I am the type of person who likes all of my Christmas decor to be themed and/or color coordinated. For our first Christmas I felt traditional colors were appropriate (yes, in my dream world every year the colors and themes would be different). As much as I love Christmas I am not a living tree kind of gal (messy, bugs, expensive over time etc.) and unfortunately a fake tree that doesn't look cheap can be expensive. The ideal fake tree, in my opinion, is about 9 ft tall, full, with a hefty circumference... which means a hefty pricetag ($300 or more!). No way was I willing to spend that much on a tree, so I decided to do my best to imitate the things I liked about my ideal Christmas tree:

1) 9 ft tall

2) Not skinny looking

3) Full look (no sparse looking branches)

4) Under $75 (tall order, I know!)

We have a Big Lots nearby and I happen to find a tree there that was only $70.00 (woohoo!) so that fulfilled #4 on my ideal tree requirement list. I wish I had taken a picture of the tree on display at Big Lots - 'sorry looking' would have been a nice way of describing it - but after inspecting it I knew it had potential. It was only 7ft tall but with a few adjustments I knew it could be glorious! Once we got the tree home I set it up and started to fluff the branches open. I put the tree in the corner so that one side could be kind of ugly and it wouldn't matter. I arranged the branches so that from three, out of four, sides the tree looked nice and full. The only remaining thing on my ideal tree list was #1... I wanted the tree to be 9 ft tall. If the ceilings in our home were 8 ft, a 7 ft tree would have been just fine. But with 10 ft ceilings a 7 ft tree looks a little bit sad. So, I gave our little 7 ft tree a nice 1.5 ft platform made out of moving boxes that we had lying around. Add a 6 inch star to that and we had, what nicely imitated, a 9 ft tree! I bought all the ornaments and the star from  Big Lots ($45.00) and the ribbon 70% off at Jo-ann's ($10.00). 

Like I mentioned earlier, in my dream world my Christmas decor would change every year. Instead of buying themed wreathes I bought plain ones and decorated them with ribbon that matched the tree (also bought at Jo-ann's 70%). This way I can just change the ribbon for a new look every year. I framed the windows with ribbon and hung wreaths over each panel. 

Over sized stockings are the best. They look great but buying them ready made can be expensive. I only had a few days to make these stockings so they aren't high quality. Using felt I made all six stockings (and the tree stand cover) for less than $7.00. I won't be using these stockings again so expect an update closer to Christmas 2012 on stockings that are homemade and high quality. 

I wanted a festive centerpiece, but again, I wanted to spend as little as possible.  I had seen the concept of using mini ornaments and cylinders in a few places.  liked that it was simple to do but I wanted my version to have candles as well. 

Here is what I used:

- Mini ornament tubes - $1.00 each  at Target

- Red ball shaped candles - $3.00 each at Target.

- Candle stick holders - $1.00 each at the Dollar Tree

- Three cylinder vases - $12.99 for the set from Ikea

- Card board ribbon spool (left over from other decor)

The candle stick holders and vases were items around the house that weren't being used so I only had to buy the mini ornaments and candles. 

1) The tallest vase: fill with mini ornaments and put candle stick holder upside down on top of the cylinder. The cylinder is just the right size to hold the candle stick holder. Since this candle is exposed using the candle stick holder upside down provides a better base for the candle. 

2) The medium height vase:  I wrapped ribbon around the empty spool (to hide the ugly cardboard), then put the candle stick holder (right side up) on top of the spool (I did this so that the candle would sit at the right height). . Fill the cylinder with the ornaments and then top with the candle. 

3)The shortest vase: put the candle stick holder in right side up on the bottom of the cylinder, fill with ornaments and top with candle. 

We put up lights outside of the house and got Reindeer for our lawn.

 I put a large red bow and an over-sized ornament under our carriage lights. These were to make the house look festive during day light.

  And it's not Christmas without a wreath on the door. Unfortunately I didn't have time to decorate this wreath with more than a red bow... Always room for improvement next year :)

All of the decor aside, Christmas isn't Christmas without family.