The Heaton Family

While I was putting the lights on my Christmas tree yesterday, my 11 year old asked, "How did you learn how to do that"?
How did I learn to put lights on a Christmas tree.....I guess it is something I had to learn...
Well, practice, watching every decorating clip on TV I ever found, youtube videos on how to decorate a tree and a free decorating class or two from my local design store.

I realize my taste in décor isn't as modern as some (I like traditional/old world most of the time. And although I absolutely LOVE some of the simple designs that are popular right now, for me Christmas isn't Christmas without red and green and LOTS of SPARKLE!) But no matter the actual color/style of decorations I choose, there are still some fundamental tips that could help anyone. So even if this post only helps my children some day, it's still fun for me to blog about. And considering I just had to fork out $400 dollars to correct a flood my 2 year old caused in my bathroom, I really need the distraction right now. So, if the reader learns nothing at least I was able to distract myself for a little while. And if you learn something you did not know, all the more fun!
I am sure there are many people out there who know more than I do, but I'm sure there are also some who do not. So, here are my pearls of wisdom, and how I do it without spending a fortune.

First, selecting a tree. I bought my tree from a craft store outlet in March. It was a $100 tree and I paid around $35. I love it because it is tall and slim so it doesn't take up much space, but it is very full. The best time to buy a tree is around new years when they are all on sale. I prefer to buy a tree from someplace like Hobby lobby, or other craft store rather than a big box store. I just think the quality is better. I am also a personal fan of artificial trees. They are cheaper and less messy. And although I hate how long it takes to put the lights on every year, it's only a couple of hours once a year. I'll live. If I had a pre-lit tree, I can't replace burned out bulbs as easily.

Lights. A good rule of thumb is to use 100-125 lights per foot of tree. My tree is 7 1/2 feet tall and I usually put about 900 lights on it.
I accidentally stumbled upon the best idea ever for lights last year! I picked up some icicle lights for the outside of my house the year before on clearance after Christmas. When we opened the box we realized we bought icicle lights with green wire instead of white. I'm not about to put green Christmas lights on my white house. So, I decided to try them on my tree. Best. thing. ever. I like to put my lights on each branch, starting from the back of the branch near the "trunk" and coming out to the tip of the branch and going back to the inside along the branch again, and then going to the next branch etc. I get the lights at the end of the branches but always had a hard time hiding the wire wrapped around the tip of the branch.

With the icicle lights, I just strung the lights from branch to branch along the inside if the tree, and pulled out two icicles per branch and laid them along the branch. The lights go to the tip without having to wrap the wire out and in!

I hope that makes sense. It is really hard to describe this way! haha. Putting lights all the way to the center of the tree gives it more depth. Another tip is to avoid going in full circles around the tree when you are putting on lights. It is so much harder to get them off again. You can either go up and down, starting on the bottom of the tree, and do a small section all the way up and go back down again, but I prefer to start at the back on the bottom and do all the lowest branches and go around clockwise to my starting point, then go up to the next row of branches but go back counterclockwise to my starting point and go back clockwise etc.

You'll obviously use more lights on the bottom where it is bigger around. That's 300 lights just on the bottom foot.

After all the lights are on, I do the ribbon, or garland or whatever you are using. I used some extra tulle I had lying around from a different project and some glittery ribbon I bought when it was on clearance for 1/2 off.

First the white tulle.

Then the green, and I wove it so it went over and under the white. The other wonderful thing about artificial trees is that the branches are wire. If I want to hold my ribbon in place, I just twist two branches together around the ribbon.

Last goes the red ribbon following the direction of the white, but also woven in and out.

Next come the picks. (a pick is anything that has a stick)

I bought the big beautiful poinsettias a couple of years ago for $1 a piece after Christmas- 80 or 90% off. The other picks I picked up (hehe) on sale for 50% off at Hobby Lobby. They often have their silk flowers on sale starting in November.
Visually you want to create a zig-zag pattern for your eye to follow. starting from the top left, to right to left to right, going down the tree. I also break it up into thirds visually.

So finally, the lights are on, the ribbon is on and the picks are in. Time to use ornaments. I really wanted to let the kids help decorate the tree (those are some of my favorite childhood memories) but I didn't necessarily want the tree in my from room to, ahem, look like children had decorated it. My solution is to do the details like the ribbon and picks myself and let the kids do the ornaments.

(after they leave, I do "fix" things just a bit)

I found a giant cylinder box at Wal-Mart of all of these fun ornaments in coordinating shapes and colors last year. The best part is that they are plastic (shatter proof) but they don't look cheap (in my opinion any way). We have a few keepsake ornaments we put on, like the kids each have a baby ornament from the year they were born, stuff like that, but all of the rest of the hand made, hand-me-down ornaments are not invited to my front room Christmas tree. Don't get me wrong. I'm not completely devoid of sentiment. I have just come to a point in my life where I don't decorate out of obligation any more. What I mean is, I don't use things I don't like. If some one gives me a gift, I can appreciate the thoughtfulness and love that came from the giving of the gift. But if every time I look at it, I feel negatively about it because I really don't like it but I feel OBLIGATED to keep/use it because so and so gave it to me, or my sweet three year old made it for me in preschool out of glitter glue and construction paper, it's really taking away any of the positive feelings that should be associated with it any way. I hang on to stuff that means a lot to me, but I don't keep things because I feel obligated to. SO, all of those cute little children's ornaments either stay in a box where I can pull them out and appreciate them year after year and then put them back in the box, or they go on a family tree in another room.

I like using signs on my tree. You can use things you already have from around your house. I've seen feathers, and lanterns and bird cages, etc.