O’ Christmas Tree
I may have mentioned once or twice (or a million times) that I’m a bit obsessed with Christmas. I love the cold weather, I love decorating my house, I love wrapping presents, and I love pretty much every other little thing that comes along with the season.
So, today I thought I’d share some of the decorations we have around our house. We don’t have a ton of Christmas decor, so we aren’t nearly as decked out as I’d like to be, but I think we did okay for our first year in the new house!
Probably my favorite part of the decorating process was putting up the tree. We did a ton of research and looking around before choosing our tree, and we’re so in love with the one we chose. Cullen’s a pretty big fan too.
Need a close-up?
Adorable.
When we first got our tree, we weren’t thrilled with the height on it – our ceilings are about 9 feet tall where we have the tree, but we couldn’t find an 8 foot tree we loved, so ours is 7 feet. Luckily, my husband is pretty damn handy, and he built us a stand to make our tree a bit taller.
Before:
And after:
With the skirt in place, you can’t even tell that there’s anything there – plus, it gives us some extra room for presents! It makes the tree fill out the room much better, and it adds some much needed height.
Corey was originally kind of unsure about putting our tree in front of the giant mirror, but we both agree now that it was a perfect decision. The mirror reflects the lights and makes the whole tree seem to sparkle just a little bit brighter.
For the first couple of weeks that we had the tree up, it was a bit sad looking without any presents underneath it. But now that we’ve almost finished our Christmas shopping, it’s finally filling out a bit – and I’m having a blast making all of the presents pretty, too!
Our tree is the largest source of Christmas cheer in our home (isn’t it that way in all homes, though?) – beyond the tree we just have our switched up gallery wall, and our stockings on the mantle.
It seems like a little thing, but it’s so exciting to me to actually have a mantle to put stockings on. I grew up hanging our stockings in a random spot on the wall, so it is really nice to have a designated spot that’s meant for a little collection of stockings.
Oh, and we also couldn’t resist getting a nice, winter-y new throw when we were perusing Target a few weeks ago.
Cullen loves it too – every time one of us pulls it off the side of the couch, we can barely get it over our lap before he rushes over to curl up on top of it.
I think we can all say we’re glad we got the blanket.
All that’s left for us to finish decorating is to put up our outdoor lights – hopefully we’ll get around to that sometime this week! We have big plans for the giant tree in our front yard, and we’re hoping that soon we’ll have a very nicely lit front yard.
I’ll admit that I wish we could have a more festively decorated home this year, but I feel so grateful that we’re able to decorate as much as we have. Hopefully we’ll be able to snag some deeply discounted decor after Christmas is over so that we can really deck the house out next year!
How fully decorated is your house for Christmas this year? Do you go all out, or keep it to a minimum?
your tree is just gorgeous- love the skirt! and love your mantle, too!
i love that you love Christmas decorating so much! I wish I had more room to go all out. This year we have 2 trees up and I have yet to get my Nutcrackers in my place. What a great idea on making a taller tree stand to make the tree fill the room. I also saw your post on the 2nd tree and the outdoor lights – love how magical the tree looks all decked out in lights!
If you’re interested, you can see my tree pictures here: http://kreativekristie.blogspot.com/2011/12/o-christmas-tree-o-christmas-tree.html
I can’t wait to see how you expand on decorating next year! I plan to hit some after Christmas sales for more holiday decor. We’ve been in our home for a few Christmases now and I think I finally know what I want to get to expand on our decorating.
I think my heart just melted seeing Cullen sleeping under the tree!!! Sooo cute.
I love how your tree skirt looks with your tree! Just beautiful! You guys must be having so much fun this Christmas! 🙂
What a difference that stand makes!! I think your tree is beautiful, would you mind saying where you got it? We have a 7ft Douglas fir with white lights that I got for a steal, but I wish it was a little bit fuller.
I was going to reply to someone else’s comment, but wasn’t able to. I wanted to say that I also love the after Christmas sales for stocking up on Christmas goodies! We probably aren’t going to decorate this year (no family coming over, and life is just too crazy) but I’m hoping I can find more stuff so next year it looks awesome 🙂
It’s from Lowe’s and we’re totally obsessed with it! It’s beautiful and a really great quality!
The reply feature should work, I’m sorry it didn’t! I’ll have to look into it this afternoon to see if it’s having some technical difficulties! 🙂
your house is so festive It makes me excited because we’re decorating our tree tonight. 🙂
Your tree looks so pretty! I love the added height!
Everything looks so cute! We have a tree, but that is about the extent of our decorations. And now I think our tree has way too few ornaments. I think we need to hit the sales rack after christmas is over to help stock up!
My parents built a stand on their Christmas Tree when we were kids and as an adult, when I got my first tree, I thought it was so weird how close the bottom boughs were to the ground! Love having a little present clearance underneath!
Last year was our first year in our house and wasn’t nearly as festive as yours is, but I did some major shopping the day after Christmas at all the sales last year and this year is looking pretty amazing. And it’s fun to pull out all the new stuff – some of it I totally forgot I bought!
I just love the cable knit stockings! I have been looking for some just like and found them on Pottery Barn’s website last year, but by the time I hit Check Out, they were sold out. 🙁 Would you mind sharing where you got yours? I’d love to get them!
Thanks, we love them too! 🙂 They’re from Target.
Beautiful tree, and I am thinking I need to rush out and buy that blanket because I’m sure my pup would love it too! Actually I bought Target’s knitted chenille throw a couple weeks ago and I love that too. Where did you get the reindeer stocking holders?
We have the chenille one too and we love it! The stocking holders are from Target as well. 🙂
Um, I need that blanket. And the tree skirt. And probably the dog too. I’ll just take it all, thanks!
We’ve got everything pulled out but no tree, yet, and only the stockings hung. Last year was our first with an actual mantle and I still get a thrill from it after growing up hanging them off the edge of the bar or wherever.
That riser is ingenious! If we ever have tall ceilings again I’m going to suggest a similar project to Todd–it’d be so much easier to add water to the stand, too, as well as pile the presents or decorations up underneath.
Wow, everything looks amazing! Your tree is beautiful – I love that you set it up higher (and you’re right…more room for presents underneath!).
the stand is such a clever idea, and i agree that the mirror is perfect for reflecting all those pretty lights! of course the highlight is cullen curled up at the base–how precious is that.
That Cullen is too cute! I love the stand that Corey made to give your tree some more height! We’re not decorating this year since we’re moving, but hopefully next year will be the first Christmas in our house. I plan to do as much as we can on the budget, building every year after that with the after Christmas sales.
Your tree looks amazing! I am a big fan of white lights and how they make a room glow. Putting it in front of the mirror was a great idea. You have done such a nice job. Everything looks so elegant!