How to decorate your Christmas tree

It has started! I love decorating for the holidays more than anything. I swear the whole week of Thanksgiving I dream about how I am going to change up what I am doing or what types of crafty things I am going to make this year to add to my collection of decorations. This year we moved our tree to in front of our back sliding door. This allowed me more room to really decorate my entire tree completely. As you can see in the final picture Luna (the lazy husky) was thrilled with me making a mess and noise all day. Anyway here are my top ten recommendations for making your tree look like a million bucks!

1. Decorate the whole tree- I mentioned this already but you cannot half decorate your tree make sure the back has ornaments too. Trust me people will notice if you do not have any in the back when they walk by.
2. Layer your ornaments- I learned this from my mother in law before she passed away many years ago. I noticed whenever she decorated her trees she had large or shiny ornaments pushed way in her tree. No matter if you have a real or fake tree you will have bare spots. Fill these spots in with large ornaments and try to stick some in by the trunk of the tree. This creates wonderful depth to your tree.
3. Wear gloves- You may need to wear gloves if you are handling the tree and trying to put it in a base. I now have a fake tree and do not have to worry about this .If you have a real tree the gloves will protect your hands from sap and needles.
4. Add texture- I use little icicle ornaments and gold sticks to create texture all over my tree. Having all that green can be boring. Some people even flock their trees to make them look like snow. I love the look of that but not the mess.
5. Add more lights- When you think you have enough add more. There is nothing like a sparkly tree. My tree is so bright it makes my light sensor coo-coo clock think it is day light and the darn thing goes off at night!
6.  The more ribbons the better- I am not a fan of ribbon around my tree or garland. That does not mean you should not add it to yours. My great aunt puts it on her tree and it always looks fantastic. I like ribbon bows trailing down the sides of my tree. I have four ribbons like this on my tree.
7. Always have a tree skirt- This really pulls your tree together and makes the bottom of your tree inviting for all those gifts you need to store before giving. Luna almost looks like a gift in the picture. Most days you will find Stella my cat under the lights on the tree skirt as the tree is like a warming lamp for her.
8. Water your tree- I have a fake tree but if you have a real one please water it regularly. this prevents you from losing a ton of needles. No one wants to get to Christmas and have a naked looking tree.
9. Tree topper! This is most likely not something you think much about but I personally think it could be the most important part of decorating the tree. My husband picked out our topper after our last one mysteriously feel down and smashed on the ground. It is a mega watt star that is so bright it is like looking at the surface of the sun. There are a ton of fun ideas if you do not want a light up star. Giant ribbon bows, angels and santas are some other fun options.
10. ENJOY!
This is such a warm/loving and fun time of year. I hope that after you spend all this time making your tree perfect you take the time to enjoy it for the short time we have the tree up each year.

Here is a sneak peek of my baskets I made for outside and my centerpiece for my kitchen table. They took about 45 minutes to make but look fantastic outside.

Until next time~
XoXo Emily