I May or May Not Have a Christmas Tree Up Already

Pretty sure nearly everyone who reads this blog knows me personally.  And if you have known me or been my friend on Facebook for at least one year than you are already well aware of what I am about to say: I'm just a little bit crazy when it comes to Holiday Decor.   You know Clark Griswold?  I'm his crazy cousin only I decorate the inside of my house instead of the outside.

Usually, I'm pretty good at holding out until at least the week OF Thanksgiving.  But this year, I started obsessing about Christmas decorating in SEPTEMBER!! That may or may not have something to do with not having a Disney Vacation in the near future to obsess about. 

No, I did not put up any Christmas decorations back then. But I did start planning what I wanted to do different (read bigger and better) than last year, including adding a third full-size tree (in addition to the two small ones).  Yes, I am the reason that Hobby Lobby puts its Christmas decorations out for sale right after school starts. 

When we bought our first house, James was not on board with the whole multiple-tree idea.  But I will say, when I broached the subject way back in September of adding yet another tree to the house, he didn't even blink an eye.  After 20 years of marriage, he has finally realized this is a battle he cannot win. (The whole "happy wife, happy life" thing applies).

I've visited every craft and Christmas store between Riverdale and Draper slowly walking the aisles and studying the details of the big fancy trees at Modern Display and Tai Pan Trading.  I've combed Pinterest and YouTube for ideas and tutorials on garlands, wreaths and trees.

So when I woke up last Saturday morning, I had a plan: yes, it's still ridiculously early, but I was putting up a Christmas tree!  I just had to get all those ideas out of my head and into my dining room that day.  My creative friends know exactly what I mean, right?

So here it is:

I had a tough time getting a good picture of the entire tree.  The twinkling lights kept throwing off the focus and it was hard to capture all the detail but it is so sparkly and shiny in real life.  Here's a couple close ups:

 This one shows the gold fabric, deco mesh, and ribbon accents as well as some of the sparkly picks and flowers on the tree.  The ornaments on the tree are mostly mercury glass that I've collected over the past few years.  I just love how they make the tree shine.  And the paper one there in the middle is one I made several years ago featuring Stampin' Up! products.  If I remember right, it was inspired by one Kimberly VanDiepen posted on her blog.

And here's a close up of the tree topper. Like the rest of this tree, this topper had a humble beginning and has evolved over the year.  Last year, it was not nearly this poofy-froofy. (Watch out, that will be Oxford Dictionary's word of the year next year.  Just remember you saw it here first!)  The entire tree wasn't for that matter.  While the ornaments are mostly all the same, (well, of course I bought a few new ones.  Have you seen the mercury glass at Hobby Lobby this year?) the ribbon and fabric treatments are all new and were inspired by the YouTube videos and beautiful trees I saw at the stores.

In case you were wondering, all the extra stuff (excluding the ornaments) came from Hobby Lobby (picks, some of the ribbon and deco mesh), Walmart (clip on poinsettias and gold fabric), and Costco (the gold satin and mesh ribbons).

And if you want to know more about the process of putting ribbons and fabric on your tree, I'll share more about that in an upcoming post so watch for it.  And I'll show pictures of my other trees too.  (No, they aren't up yet, despite my kids begging me to do it.)  They all have completely different styles.

The other reason I put a tree up this early is because I wanted to let my local friends and neighbors know that I am available to decorate your tree too.  Let me know if you want more information!