O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree

I wanted to make sure I got our Christmas tree up before Thanksgiving. I realize putting up our little tree doesn't take days, but in all honesty, I am kind of excited about the holidays this year. I don't know why.

This is the Christmas tree corner. I need some wall prints or something on the walls. This corner is pretty boring without the tree.

I'm not sure if this is how other people put up their tree, but I fluff the bottom layer and put the branches on the tree trunk. Then, I wrap lights around the individual branches. This takes a while and a lot of lights, but it's how my mother always did her tree, so it's how I do ours. Several years ago when I worked at Vivian's Gift Shoppe, it was my year to put up Christmas trees. We had a rule that you didn't have to take down trees if you put them up. When the other employees took down the trees that year, they said I wasn't allowed to put the lights on the trees ever again. My trees looked good, though.

That top section is all one piece and it is kind of hard to put lights on it.

Another thing my mother does is use coordinating ornaments. When my sister and I were younger, our mother would decorate the tree with juvenile ornaments and the painted macaroni ornaments we made at school. As we got older, she started using prettier and more fru-fru stuff. My tree is very bare compared to hers. I do use the four or five non-colored ball ornaments Justin and I have acquired since we've been married. I think these will always be on our tree.

The bow and streamers have been used for seven Christmases and passed their prime about five years ago. I bought a roll of nice ribbon last year after Christmas to use this year. I started searching for my floral wire last night and never found it. I was going to use an ornament hanger instead of wire but decided to just wait and get the proper wire. The old bow and streamers will make do until I hit the store.

I'll probably jinx myself by saying this, but the lights on our tree are all as old as the tree. Some of the bulbs have stopped working, but a blown bulb here and there isn't a problem for me. I just hide them with ornaments. The tree is the first Christmas tree Justin and I purchased after we got married in 2003. We paid full price ($16.88) at Wal-Mart that year. Yeah, we were big spenders.