The Third Annual Christmas Tree - Inside Edition!

Hello hello lovely lovers!
Welcome back to knowing more than you ever need to about a tree we chopped down in the woods! If you didn't catch the details of our hunt yesterday, click here!

As I'm sure all of you know, photographing a Christmas Tree all lit up and shining is next to impossible! Especially if your rocking a Canon Powershot like me, but editing tools make it slightly easier. Only slightly.

Without further ado, here is our tree this year!

 

Each year, we place it next to the hallway that leads to the bedrooms and office. Our ceilings have a lovely peak, and our giant tree last year could only fit in this place. I personally wanted to switch up the location, but old habits die hard with my hubs, so it went in the same location. This placement has got me jonesing to make a couple tweaks to our furniture placement, which again was done right when we moved in and hasn't changed. James is resistant every time I try to convince him. Why are men like that? I'm just gonna do it, and see what he has to say about it. Woah tangent... 

Since we are still so new at this whole decorate-for-the-holidays thing, we went basic, using what we have already. I am a huge fan of white lights on the tree, thus making our colorful array of ornaments stand out more. For filler between our special ornaments, we bought several large boxes of shatter proof balls, just in case any sneak into a puppy's curious mouth. We also refrained from decorating the lower third of the tree with anything but lights. Big shiny balls that sway back and forth are just too tempting for the baby.

Each year, we buy a special ornament that speaks to us to add to our tree. Our first year together we got our initials, complete with some blinging crystals. 

 

Last year James got a Rottweiler pup wearing a Santa Hat, and I got some dangly silver stars. 

sorry for the blur, night shots = difficult

For our engagement party, we received two bicycle ornaments in appropriate colors of red and green.

Last year, my momma sent me home with a box of Christmas decor that I  loved when I lived with them, as well as several yearly ornaments from my childhood, so of course my hero had to make his appearance on the tree.

 

The whole shebang is topped off with my DIY tree topper. Cute, no?! I made it last year, and it promptly fell apart in storage, so it was reassembled using my bff, hot glue. 

 

Pretty easy if anyone wants to try at home, I just found five sticks of similar size, arranged them in a way I liked, hot glued the corners together, wrapped some shiny silver ribbon around, gave it a light mist with silver spray paint, attached the red ribbon for some flair, and used twine to make a loop to mount it on the tree!!! Got all that? I can make another with a better tutorial if anyone is interested. Let me know. I love the simple and rustic look it adds to our tree. Plus, by using things I had on hand (aka sticks from my yard) it added up to a low cost of FREE!!! Booyah! 

In closure here is a final shot, during the day. 

 

Sigh. 

Something so beautiful about a Christmas Tree. 

And see all those gifts? All for James, from me.

He needs to get on it. Hopefully he has referenced my list from earlier this week, and gotten me some sweet gifts. 

So how is shopping going at your home? Any tree traditions you can't let go? 

I'll be linking up to the Christmas Cheer party at Honey were Home!