My Classic Santa Christmas Tree

During the first Christmas in this house almost 4 years ago, it became a little apparent to me that we needed to redo our Christmas tree. The decorations I had done the previous year went with the decorations of our first house. Another factor was that we now had a fireplace in our main living space. In our first house, our family room didn't have a mantel to hang up our stockings.

And why does that matter?

Well I love our stockings. LOVE. Up until moving into this house I had never coordinated them with my Christmas decorations. Now I could. They are very classic, and a bit vintage like. They are in bright classic Christmas colors. They were lovingly knitted by my Grandma. Basically, they are perfect.

So my Christmas tree needed to match. I call it my Classic Santa Christmas Tree.

Every year I add just a few more decorations and switch out old ones. I chose to stay with classic colors. There is a lot of red and white with additions of green and blue.

This year, one of the new sets of ornaments are these plaster trees. I got them after Thanksgiving at Michaels. They were SUPER cheap. All I had to do to make them match the tree is to paint them. So easy.

There are a few things on my tree that I will be really sad the day they are too old to use. This gingham tree topper is one. I adore this. First, it is gingham. So glory be. Second, it coordinates with my tree perfectly and I searched for years to find it. So don't ever die gingham star!

This year I also added these vintage looking candy canes that I found at Target.

Another of my favorite ornament/filler to use is paper party products. Last year I started using these paper medallions.

This year I added these honeycomb balls. These especially are perfect fillers for blank spaces in my tree. I don't even hang them, I just shove them on in. I love the texture and dimension they add to my tree.

By this point, you might be questioning the fact that I call this a Santa tree. I promise there are Santas. These are from Target a few years ago.

I also have some vintage inspired ones.

This year I added these cuties. I found them in the Target dollar spot. They are actually gift card holders, but don't they make amazing ornaments. When I see stuff like this, I just have to grab it.

I love my tree. I don't plan on changing it at all for years and years. I know sometimes it is the "IN" thing to have a new tree every year, but I just can't seem to justify that. I also frankly don't want to. I love my tree. My kids have started telling me though that it might be getting too full of decorations. HA! TOO full?! What's that even mean???

Easy Paper Fan Ornament

Christmas ornaments can come from anything. I love these paper fans. They are inexpensive and come in lots of colors. They easily turn into Christmas ornaments too.

Seriously, how cute are these?

I love how they add whimsy to my Christmas tree.

I only used two things to make these Easy Paper Fan Ornaments- Mini paper fans and coordinating washi tape.

I picked up the mini paper fans at Zurchers Party Store. Then I raided my washi tape. This blue and white striped tape happens to be Duck Tape Washi tape that I grabbed from The Mart.

To make these ornaments, simply open the fan and tape closed with the washi tape.

See how ridiculously easy it is to make these. I actually have made another whole batch since this post. I think 10 mini paper fans is the perfect amount for my tree.

Now all I need are some tissue honey combs in red and green. Hehehe. Maybe next year.

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Deck the Halls

It is beginning to look a lot like Christmas around here.

I love decorating for Christmas. Even when it is just one room, I love bringing in the cheer and joy of the Christmas season. I love the excitement of the boys just at the mere mention of putting up the tree, let alone actually putting it up. I love the patience of Hubby and the boys as I crazily orchestrate the perfect placement of each ornament.

I even love it when Oldest annoyed declares, "Why do you have to have everything match so much?"


Insert Hubby chuckling under his breath now. 

"Oh son...I just do!"

This year I added in some classic green and a dark blue. Thank you to The Mart for selling cheap ornaments.

I added the new ornaments in with the old red and white ones.

Remember these silhouette ones from last year? I will be making a new one for next year.

The new Christmas look is due to the fact that we can hang our stockings in the main room in this house. These stockings were made by my Grandma. She has made every single stocking in my family. Parents, siblings, and now siblings spouses and each new great-grandchild. They are so classically lovely. My boys LOVE them. Mine is over 30 years old. So great!

My Christmas place mats turned into throw pillows sit cozily on the sofa. A little bling on the lamps carried over from last year too.

I also added a strip of gingham fabric for a runner on our coffee table. Then I added our stack of Christmas books. Our boys get a new one every Christmas Eve morning. It's Christmas, David! was our book last year. Pretty sure it describes our boys exactly!

I added my new Cone Christmas trees into the adjoining kitchen.

I have a couple of other projects, but I am not stressing if they do not get done this year. I do not want to spend my whole Christmas season sitting at a sewing machine...

When it is so much better to have a cup of hot chocolate in my hands, snuggling next to Hubby sitting here...

Seriously I just love this time of year. Merry Christmas!