How to decorate a Christmas Tree

Christmas time is coming and one of my most favorite traditions is decorating our tree. Each year whether you go buy a live tree or have an artificial tree, putting a beautiful green tree up in your home and opening up boxes of ornaments to hang on it is very exciting! These are some tips on how to decorate your tree.

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Christmas Tree
• Christmas Tree Stand
• Strings of lights
• Lots of beautiful ornaments

1. 
   Christmas Tree Farm

   First comes the tree. If its your first time, purchasing the right tree makes a big difference. Go out and look for one that catches your eye. Before you purchase a tree make sure that you have the proper measurements (height and width) of the space that the tree will be going in. Purchase a tree stand and secure the tree trunk in it properly so your tree stands tall and firm and it doesn't topple over after you get your ornaments on it.

2. 
   Christmas Lights

   Next comes the lights! Some people like all white lights and some like colorful ones. Decide what your look will be. For an 8 foot tree we use about 1000 lights total. You can decide the look that you want.

3. 
   Ornaments

   Then we start to add Christmas ornaments. We try to put smaller ones all around the top of the tree and as you move down the tree the largest ornaments are on the bottom. As you go, stand back and look for bare spots on the tree that need an ornament.

4. 
   Popcorn strings

   Next comes any other type of decoration in addition to the ornaments. We put clusters of artificial berries and dried flowers in little spots all throughout the tree. We've also put strings of bead, or popcorn or cranberries on the tree. You can find fancy garlands or tinsles. Think about what things interest you. I've seen lots of trees that have a particular theme. A few examples are outdoors, all pink (or any other color), victorian, all cooking themed decorations, sports decorations, all ornaments that represent your heritage, all snowmen or santas, all paper ornaments, all animal themed ornaments, and the list goes on and on!

5. 
   Christmas Tree skirt

   Last is a tree skirt. It wraps around the base of the tree and hides the tree stand. There are tons of them to choose from and they are out in stores right now.

6. 
   Christmas Train

   If its a live tree NEVER FORGET TO WATER IT!!! Enjoy!! We take time and eat meals around the tree. Some people put a train set that rides around the base of the tree too.

[dsarokin]

on 11/4/2008 Thanks. The tree will be up before we know it, and the decorating has gotten a bit stale of late. Some great tips here for spicing it up a bit.

[MommyBear]

on 11/4/2008 I love the idea of a tree skirt! I will need to get this for my fake Christmas tree that I have. Thank you for this idea! I love the pictures. You're very creative! :) 5*****