Adventures in X-Mas Decorating

My parents always went all out for Christmas and held at least one huge Christmas party, so to feel like home, I decided to decorate with abandon - or at least as much abandon as you can have on a newlywed budget.

Budgeted abandon!

I wanted little nutcrackers and stockings and ornaments, but the one thing I demanded above all was to have a real live Christmas tree. Shockingly, this is also something that Ian is a stickler about as well - normally he goes straight for whatever is more economical. [NB, I had snuck out and bought a bunch of ornaments earlier that week, so not to have a tree wasn't even an option]. So with the scent of pine in mind, we set out to find the most "practical" live christmas tree. I'd found a seven foot unlit tree at target for $50, so that was our price point. Amazingly, driving home from the airport last weekend we found a place that advertised 6ft trees starting at $29.95. Sold. Granted, the place was a bit shady - it only accepted cash and there was one guy working who spent most of his time in the car, but we were able to get tree, tree stand AND tree skirt for under $50.

We were pretty proud of ourselves for finding such a deal, and even if the warranty was only for one week, because it was going to be one awesome week. However, when we got home it was questionable if the tree was going to make it that long. You see, the tree stand we bought was the type with a big spike in it that you match up to a hole drilled into the bottom of the tree. Apparently the proprietor of the tree stand had drilled our hole at an angle, so when we put it down on the stand, the spike promptly ripped out the side of the trunk and made it impossible for it to stand in our stand.  Things did not look good for our tree.
Luckily from my extensive training as a theatre tech lacky, I knew how to do slip-shod fix-ups [technical term]. I found some old Christmas-y looking ribbon and looped it around the trunk of the tree, then tied the ends to our window latch. 

Christmas Corner!

The needles are still falling out at an alarming rate, but we are happy with the tree. The pine scent still fills the house and every time I look in that corner I get into the holiday spirit. I did, however, overdo a bit on the ornaments. We are only decorating the front 2/3 of our tree, since the back 1/3 is acting as a support system, so the huge box I bought was a bit of overkill. (I still stand by buying them though, there was this awesome $1 sale at the time - worth it). To make myself not feel wasteful, I took the extra ornaments and put them in some glass bowls around the house. It's not the most classy deco, but I think it looks kinda cute.

I'm pretty proud of our holiday-ness. And, I found another perk to having a tiny English tudor cottage for a home, less space = less decorations needed!