It’s a Christmas Tree party!

It’s here! The final party in our Holiday Home series is finally upon us. :)

I hope you’ve enjoyed the parties as much as we have!

Year after year, my hubby and I waffle back and forth on whether or not we should get a fake tree. EVERY. year. The conversation usually starts about January 2nd, when we’re hauling a massive, shedding tree out the front door, and trying to get it back on the car to take it to the recycling. With a needle trail following us the whole way…

It basically comes up when we are over. it. :)

This year, we decided to finally take the plunge and go faux – and we headed to Lowe’s to get the BIG honkin’ tree we had been eyeing for weeks. It was gone, so we called two other locations -- gone. Called one more, and they had the display available -- “Come and get it!” Lowe’s guy said.

We drove ten minutes to the store and walked in to see someone else wheeling it out. GAH. It was nuts! Did I mention it was still November?

Sooo…we decided to go for a real tree again, and hubby insisted we go BIG. (So THERE!) ;)

And big we did. She’s tall and fat and chunky, just how we like ‘em. Twelve feet tall to be exact. It’s go big or go home around here!

The theme of our main tree is always traditional, always gold and red, and always has lots of sparkle!

I used the ornaments we’ve had for years:

Those cheap glitter ball ornaments are so great – they look fantastic and the price can’t be beat!

Because we usually purchase a nine to ten foot tree, we didn’t have quite enough ornaments to fill it. Well, we did…but I like lots and LOTS of ornaments in there. :)

I got a few more at Big Lots for a STEAL:

I love sparkle!!

I picked up a new one from the Rockettes show over Thanksgiving:

I like to get one new ornament a year to signify something special, and this one is perfect. :)

I stick all kinds of stuff in the tree every year, like the twirly sticks and some gauzy stuff from Hob Lob that positively GLOWS:

I love my poinsettias placed here and there:

All that filler stuff is great for hiding empty spots, cords, whatever.

The Bub helped me this year and the bottom of the tree is dripping with ornaments:

I let him put them wherever he wanted, and I didn’t move one afterwards. :)

Every few minutes, an ornament he had just put on the tree would plop on the floor, and I’d hear a little voice yell, “It’s otay Mama!!”

I heard that many, many times that day. ;) Ugh, I could squish him!!

The other night, I walked into the living room and found hubs sitting in there, staring at the tree. We LOVE it. And we do love our real trees – maybe next time we’ll plan ahead and go faux. But for now, that smell is pretty amazing.

And of course, it’s best with the lights low: