In the esteemed words of Snooki… the party’s here!
Woop woop, the tree is up. And this year now that Clara’s a big girl who we think can handle real ornaments (well, we got a few shatter-proof ones for the very bottom just to be sure) we went with a gradient from white to hot pink to red. Booyah. Or as I’ve been saying way too often: boom goes the dynamite.
Oh and we have a bunch of meaningful/special ornaments that we love the most, but we save those for our real mini tree (we got a tabletop one last year and loved it so much that it’ll be a tradition). So we’ll post about that one as soon as we get it (don’t want it to die before Christmas, so maybe next week!).
Anyway, back to our gradient guy. We thought it would be fun to see the color get deeper as it got closer to the floor, and since we already had a bunch of white ornaments from our silver tree in 2007 and a bunch of soft pink ornaments from 2010 and homemade ones from last year’s Pinterest challenge, all we did was grab a few more hot pink and red ornaments (which only ran us about 12 bucks total, thanks to 50% off sales at Michael’s and Hobby Lobby).
Let the record state that hubster wanted it just to go from white to red with some of those silvery pink ones in the mix since we already had them, but I’m a smooth talker… so that’s how hot pink ended up in the mix.
Then we just loaded each of the four colors onto the tree in bands of color with white at the top which led into light pink, hot pink, and bright red at the bottom. Oh and we added some $2 candy canes to the mix since they fit with the color scheme.
But why tell you about it when we can show you? I love seeing Clara’s reaction to it after she woke up from her nap to see it all glowing and assembled. Maybe she thinks magic elves live here and work while she naps? I wish!
As usual we used our faux-sheepskins-from-Ikea to make a tree skirt. Oh and check out that bicycle ornament we grabbed for cheap at Target.
We also went sans topper. We’ve been waiting to buy one until we see one we totally love and that hasn’t happened yet, so wait we must.
Here she is at night. I’ve named her Glowy Glowerson.
And since I’m a list freak, here’s the rest of the stuff on my holiday wish list. I try not to be all stepford and pressure myself about it, but I can’t explain the endorphin rush that I get from crossing things off of a list. And don’t think I won’t cross things off even if I don’t do them if I run out of time, just for the satisfaction of crossing them off, because I totally roll like that.
set up the big tree (gradient, baby!)- get a live tabletop tree again (like we did last year – this year we have a new idea for the ornaments though!)
- decorate the mantel, the built-ins, and the entryway console
- hang our outside lights & decorate the front porch
- shoot a Christmas picture of Clara & Burger for our annual holiday card
- make an advent calendar for Clara? Ahh I’m behind already!
- shop for slash make all the gifts on our Christmas list (about 50% done already, can’t wait to cross this sucker off!)
And since we’re talking trees. Here’s how we decorated ours back in 2007 & 2008 (with the same white and silver scheme):
And in 2009, we went crazy for citrus, and even dried fruit to make ornaments:
In 2010 we had green, pink, and silver shimma goin’ on:
Here’s our tabletop tree from last year complete with homemade ornaments that I whipped up for a Pinterest Challenge:
And here’s last year’s big tree with homemade paint chip ornaments and colorful ribbons (nothing that could shatter since Clara was 19 months old):
Feels kinda festive, eh? What are you guys doing to get into the holiday spirit? Or are you screaming “not ready!” and boycotting Christmas Carols until a certain magical “now it can be Christmastime” date? Are you making a list just for the satisfaction of crossing things off? Are you making anything homemade (gifts, food, advent calendars, etc)? Do tell.
Psst- Still in the mood for more holiday projects and pics? Click here for a gallery with over 25 holiday projects and ideas.
Update: You can check out all of our favorite holiday decor finds here – many of which are under $15!
Got my tree up this weekend. I didn’t put anything around the bottom since my baby is one but suprisingly she has not paid attention to it at all. All the ornaments are shatterproof anyway though. I also decorated one tree outside with huge ornaments and garland. I still need to get the stockings hung and the outdoor wreaths up.
Gradient tree = kind of genius you guys! :)
What a lovely tree! We’re looking to buy a real one (chopped down one, sad face as I’m killing a plant) this year as our fake ones are a bit too big. Here’s to hoping we finish our closet/storage in time to make room for the tree.
I was reading that real Christmas trees shouldn’t be stored indoors for more than a week. Which leads to my question- how has your live tree fared? Did you plant it? Do you have it stored in the sunroom year round?
We just did a little tabletop one last year (real) and we loved it! We couldn’t find one with a root ball we could plant (they were all cut little ones) so it lasted a few weeks inside and then died and dropped all the needles and we took it out back to the compost/nature pile!
xo
s
I thought the bacon ornament was kind of like a worm, you know, like one of Clara’s fave things ;)
Haha, it’s true! It’s worm-ish for sure!
xo
s
Well….since you asked :)…I semi-finished the advent calendar (still need to finish the list of advent activities) which I used the scarf hanger from ikea to do and I have a stick tree in the works for the wall, we have a faux mini tree up and eventually we’ll do a big tree (we’ll wait a little longer since our little one would love to pull it down) and some more random decorations.
Besides Christmas, we’re also busy getting ready for Ruby’s 3rd birthday party this coming weekend making her a cabinet kitchen and DIYing the decorations!
You have got to be kidding me – the ombre white down to red is exactly how I decorated my tree this year! I feel so cool right about now!
Haha, I love it!!
xo
s
OK. Did you intend to type “just for the satisfacation of crossing them off” or was it an oopsie? Because I gotta say, I’m totally feeling “satisfacation” as a word. It’s like satisfaction on steroids and I love it. As much as I love your ombre tree. Happy Hollydaze from NJ!
Hahahahahahah totally didn’t mean to. But it works!
xo
s
Looks so nice! I am wondering though, do you think that once Clara starts bringing home ornaments from school that she makes that your tree will start to be less “themed”? My Christmas tree is FULL of sentimental ornaments that my husband and I made and that our son made, plus ornaments that belonged to my grandmother. I love taking these things out every year and decorating the tree with them just like I have since I was little! Also, we love snatching up ornaments from our vacations. Also, this year, I will be putting up a small “themed” one in my dining room. I love how different people are when it comes to decorating their trees, so I was just wondering!
Oh and we have a bunch of meaningful/special ornaments that we love the most, but we save those for our real mini tree (we got a tabletop one last year and loved it so much that it’ll be a tradition). We’ll post about that one as soon as we get it (don’t want it to die before Christmas, so maybe next week!).
xo
s
Awesome! Can’t wait to see!
This year’s theme is “handmade holiday!”
Well, actually, we put up one 7 foot tree with all of our colorful store-bought ornaments first. Then we have a second 7 foot tree that’s going to be all handmade ornaments.
I handmade an advent calendar out of muslin bags and branches, and I’m baking one handmade pie each week from Thanksgiving to Christmas, I’m making at least one gift per person, and I’m hosting a special “handmade” gift exchange party with a few friends. I’m thrilled.
Oh, and I should mention that we have 8 Christmas trees this year, 3 miniatures outside, one each for our kids, one miniature tree, and two large trees.
I just owned Christmas.
Sounds amazing. You did own it. Haha. Cheers!
xo
s
We’re still waiting until it gets closer to Christmas so we can go pick a (real!) tree but I love watching these fast-forwarded tree decorating videos (they crack me up!). I love the ombre look of your tree this year :)
Very cute! We have an 11mo old so the tree is lightly decorated with non breakables on the bottom and since the 5 & 3yo decorated it’s a little heavy on some branches and one side while some sides and branches are completely bare! Oh well!
I’ve been making ornaments. I can’t wait to share….but some will have to wait until after Christmas…they are gifts too! Whoop!
Major tree envy going on over here!! It’s so pretty! Do you just sit and look at it with pride (when you’re not touring the world at record speed, of course?!)? I would! Heck, I do that with mine, and it’s not nearly as cool as yours. #lovethingsthatsparkleandshine #whoneedstvwhenyouhaveachristmastree
Hahah, love the hash tags. Yes every year I keep walking back to it and staring at it. Haha. The drawing power of sparkly objects….
xo
s
So pretty! I live in a small place, so I’m just making a ‘light’ tree. I’m stringing lights in the shape of a tree onto my wall. LOL. I’m also making an advent calender, but I think you might benefit from what I’m doing:
Do the 12 days of Christmas.
That’ll give you time to do it and not feel ‘behind’, as well as give you more time to actually figure out what to put in there. Plus it’s more meaningful in my opinion. Instead of one every day of the month [where they come to -expect- it…] you’ve got 12, they’re more rare and coveted. Well… I think so anyway!
Love, love, love this years tree btw. Well done!
That’s a fun idea!
xo
s
Your tree looks cool but I could never do one like this – I’m too attached to our sentimental and handmade ornaments. We buy ornaments as souvenirs and to commemorate special occasions, so our tree is covered with hundreds of different things.
Oh yes we have those too and we use them for our mini real tree! We’ll post about that one as soon as we get it (don’t want it to die before Christmas, so maybe next week!).
xo
s
typical kid… “i want candy canes to eat!”
:)