Okay, friends. I don’t know about you but I absolutely LOVE my house all decorated for Christmas. I’m in the minority when I say I enjoy the days getting dark early because it gives us a reason to come inside and all hang together. My mama heart loves that! Add in twinkling lights and a fire and I’m in Christmas season heaven.
But one thing I really don’t enjoy doing is the actual labor of decorating for Christmas. Lugging tubs out of the attic and downstairs, pulling the tree down and carrying it downstairs, making a huge mess before it starts to look good…I don’t like any part of that! I’ve tried all different kinds of things…Christmas music with a movie, tried to get my family super involved, do it on my own, etc…and well, no matter what it’s just not my favorite thing. I’m just setting the back story for you. 🙂
Last year our house was “finished” {I say that lightly because the construction crew still came almost daily during December but we were able to move in} at the beginning of December. Instead of going through the attic and making an even bigger mess, a friend had told me about this great flocked tree. It was from Amazon, such a good price, and she absolutely loved hers. She sent me pics…
Her tree looked DARLING, right? Absolutely stunning!
So I ordered it {because I didn’t have a flocked tree and felt like they were all the rage. also, I’d like to add that I think the tree was around $300. I can’t find it on my Amazon account but that’s what I remember paying-something in that ballpark} and I just put it up without any decor. The pre-lit tree gave us a little of the twinkling light magic and we made it work. I remember thinking-that tree doesn’t look so good but I had so much on my plate with moving back in that I didn’t really think much about it.
Enter this year. 🙂
My plan for the flocked tree was to put it in our front room and make it a little more “formal” with matching decor where our tree in the living room is full of ornaments that have special meanings. That living room tree is completely mismatched but I absolutely love that it holds all those sweet family memories. I take a trip to Hobby Lobby to grab all kinds of silver and gold ornaments for this new flocked tree…picks, garland, ornaments…I got a wide variety and spent about $100. I put the tree up and added all the stuff and this is what it looked like…
Another view…
Friends, it was TERRIBLE! It was so bare! There were giant gaping holes in the middle and well, it looked awful. Remember how I mentioned Christmas decorating isn’t my favorite? URRRGGGG!!! The next day I saw a lot of baseball moms and showed them these pictures begging for help. First of all…I learned which friend enjoys decorating and has SKILLS and secondly I was told-I need way more “stuff”.
That Christmas decorating skilled friend told me about the My Texas House Collection from Walmart. It has GREAT ribbon and other “extras”. So back to the store I went…this time spending about $75 on lots more ribbon, more ornaments, and anything else I could find. I decided to add some red and green since the really pretty ribbon came in those colors. Then back to Hobby Lobby to grab a few more things in that colorway {there goes another $100ish}.
At this point, I’ve spent ALMOST $600 on this “cheap” tree…
It started looking better, but it still was far from darling. I’m absolutely convinced I got the “lemon” of the Amazon tree lot when it comes to this flocked tree. Let me remind you what my friend’s tree looks like…
It. Is. Darling!
The finished product because at this point I am DONE with this tree! {At one point I considered throwing it out on the curb…hahahahha!}. My “cheap” tree turned into me wishing I’d just spent more on a fuller tree AND I’m still convinced I got the “lemon” of Christmas trees. Also, if you look closely doesn’t it look like this tree has a waistline? It goes in right in the middle of the tree and well, it’s just gonna have to be like that.
I tried to find a parallel to my own life {because you guys, this tree haunted me for days} and I kept thinking about how thankful I am that God’s still working on me. What trouble I’d be in if he gave me one shot, stepped back, looked at me and thought well, that’s as good as she’s gonna get. Right? So next year, I’ll pull this tree out again because I’m a sucker. I’ll set it up, look at all the holes and I’m going to do my best to think about all the ways God worked on me during the year. And if I’m being honest, then I’ll probably sigh, scream, and have a terrible attitude about decorating this awful tree. Sometimes God might feel the same way, but he keeps working. And I will too.
And if you’re in the market for a new Christmas tree, learn from my mistake. Just spent a little bit more now on a nicer tree. Your future Christmas decorating self will definitely thank you!
Happy Thursday, Friends!
XO
