MY ATTEMPT AT A PROFESSIONALLY DECORATED CHRISTMAS TREE...

I know you all have been wondering why I haven't showed you my Christmas tree yet this year as I usually post a picture or two the week after Thanksgiving.  Well, let's just say I haven't wanted to talk about it.  Here's why...

It's been our tradition every since I can remember to put up our Christmas tree Thanksgiving weekend.  Somehow this year we missed the boat on that one....whooops!!  We were a week or two late at picking out and putting up our tree.  Can anyone say BUSY!!

I had a special time planned to go to the Pea Ridge Forest tree farm and enjoy the hayride out to the forest, pick out our tree and cut it down ourselves. You know like they did on National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation...only our experience would be so much better...of course...Hehehe.  I was so looking forward to enjoying a nice steaming cup of hot chocolate and warming myself by the fire at the lodge and then listening to Christmas carols all the way home but that did NOT happen.  We ended up at Lowes when the hubs decided that paying $10 per foot for a Christmas tree was too much.  O HUMBUG!!!

Anyway, Lowes had a bunch of trees and though I was pretty disappointed that we didn't make it to the tree farm, I found one that looked pretty good....or so I thought...and we took it home.  The 6.5 - 7 foot tree was only $21.00.  Sure beats paying $10 per foot doesn't it?  Not!!! Because once we got it home we realized that it has scoliosis of the tree trunk.  Yes, our tree is curvy...VERY curvy and yes it's noticeable.  Another whooooops!!, but it's not like we could take it back or anything so we were stuck with it...it's curvy spine and it's few bald spots as well...OH MAN, what a tree!!  Nevertheless I went ahead and decorated it...the best I could.  Then after it was completely decorated with ribbons, ornaments and all, the top strand of lights blew out...every last one of them!  Yes, that's been my luck this year.  Needless to say I have pretty much lost all patience and hope with this tree and so I haven't taken any pictures of it.  I know you understand.

However, I didn't want to leave you this Christmas without showing you a Christmas tree at all, so I thought I would share with you the tree that I decorated for Children's church.

Now you might remember that a few weeks ago I shared Jennifer Davenport's video on how to decorate a tree like a professional.  Well, I decided to take a few ques from that video when decorating the Children's church tree and here's how it turned out....

Hmmm, not bad!!

I used the pencil tree that I used in my dining room last year.  It's prelit, slim and super easy to use. You basically fluff it and plug it in.  Easy!!

Since it was for kids church I went with a whimsical theme in the traditional reds and greens.  I used a similar theme last year as well but I hadn't tried to "professionally" decorate it.  I simply decorated it like I decorate all my trees..and I thought it looked okay. Ha!! However, I think you will agree when you see my side by side comparison of last year's tree vs. this year's tree that Jennifer's ideas and suggestions really do work...

Boy what a drastic difference!!! And you know what? I used way less ornaments to boot.  Can you believe that? This year's tree looks sooo much fuller.  Wow!

I found the Noel, Wish and Joy signs at $1 tree for just a buck a piece and I think they make such a big impact.  Hmmm, maybe because they are so BIG and take up a lot of space.

 The large candy cane ornaments I used as a topper also came from $1 tree and the large "lollipop" is a small styrofoam plate I decorated to look like candy and wrapped in cellophane.

The most tedious and time consuming part to the whole tree was attaching the ribbon.  I layered three different ribbons for fullness which made it a little difficult to tuck in between the branches because this tree is so compact.

but it was totally worth the effort because that ribbon gives the tree so much dimension.

So there you have it, my attempt at a professionally decorated Christmas tree.  What do you think? Did I do a good job?  The kids thought so.

Before I go, I will tell you that I did attempt to somewhat professionally decorate my spine challenged tree also and since I have already told you about the poor little thing, I guess I will go ahead and try to post a few shots of it later this week...before Christmas...you know, in case you need a good laugh.  Haha.

Until then I hope you are enjoying this holiday season.  Merry Christmas!