The 613 Holiday Special | Oh Christmas Tree

Hope your Christmas preparations are going well.  Mine are, two trees up, two homes decorated, presents all bought, some are even wrapped, almost all my Christmas cards sent, however, no baking done yet. I guess that is this week’s priority.

Today is the third instalment of 613 Holiday Decorating – today’s topic Oh, Christmas Tree!  So come along and see what we’ve all been up to.

In keeping with my previous post, I’ll be showing you my two very different Christmas trees. I’m excited as this is the first time we’ve had a real Christmas tree at the cottage, in previous years I’ve dressed up a large Christmas branch 🙂

I do have a few rules with my trees. Number One is a ton of white lights, so my trees always have at least hundreds of lights on them.  Number Two is the style of garland sets the stage for my trees and Number Three is I love personal ornaments, though I have been know to buy some boxed sets, but mostly I like personal and homemade ornaments.

SPARKLY, SILVERY TREE

I keep the silvery sparkly theme going at home with the tree.  I use a ton of white lights, pearl garland and as many ornaments as I can squeeze on.  These are some of my favourites.

Starting from the top left:

1. A  lovely little Christmas gate, that was a present. Doesn’t it looks so inviting, like there is a little cottage just down the way and everyone is waiting for you to arrive.

2. A sparkly chandelier, from a trip to Niagara on the Lake.  I know it’s not really representative of the area, but I couldn’t resist it’s prettiness.  I always try and get a Christmas ornament on our travels. It’s a great souvenir that doesn’t clutter up your home and you get to relive your travels at least once a year.

3. My Mom and me made these beaded ornaments one year when I was a teenager and they have been a favourite of both of ours ever since.  This is Rudolph (sorry he’s a little blurry).

4. Crystal tree in a clear ball from Rockefeller Center in New York City.

5. The beaded Christmas tree my Mom and I made, and;

6. our Santa’s stocking. They have all held up remarkably well, considering their age.

I use a pearl garland on this tree and this year I added in some silver mesh ribbon for some fullness.

RUSTIC COUNTRY TREE

For our cottage tree, we went with a real tree….so exciting for me. It’s been years and years since we’ve had a real tree.  I bought some of the new LED lights in a mini globe shape and  I’m loving the look of them. But considering the size of the tree we ended up getting, I’m wishing I had about 4 more boxes (see Rule #1)….oh well, that’ll have to wait for next year.

I’m loving that there are tons of natural pinecones still attached to the branches. You can see them in the middle of tree below.

So for this tree I used burlap garland which gives it the rustic country feel I was going for. I even used some of it for the large bow on top of the tree.

A view in the evening.

You can see the little San Francisco street car (another souvenir) and in the one below our little sock monkey, which is my hubby’s favourite ornament.

One last look!

So check out my fellow five Ottawa bloggers as we set our tables, deck our halls & try to survive the holiday season with style & cheer. Grab your eggnog and toast to the season with us every Monday until Dec 23rd. Happy Holidays!   Check out all the holiday decorating below!

NewberrySykes

The Sweetest Digs

Just Settle Down

Keep it Beautiful

Next week, it’s all about our holiday traditions!

And a big congratulations to Newberry|Sykes for their fabulous articles in the Ottawa Citizen this past Saturday.  Click here to read all about Meredith’s DIYs and Susan’s decor tips. Congratulations ladies!