Let's talk "Christmas Tree!"

Hey everyone!  I don't know about ya'll, but I've been a "ball of energy" today, and that doesn't happen very often.  I was so excited to have finished my Christmas decorating yesterday, that today I hit the ground running to get everything cleaned up.  The entire house has been vacuumed, dusted, mopped and scrubbed from bathroom to bathroom.....ahhhhh!  Sooooo.....what to do now?  Well, I thought I'd share the trials and tribulations of decorating our main Christmas tree.  I do this in the hopes that it may help someone else who finds themselves in a similar situation.  So, here we go.

This is the tree in question.  Looks pretty innocent, right?  Well, actually, I think it looks beautiful even if I do say so myself!

This was our only major Christmas decoration purchase this year.  We hemmed and hawed quite awhile about buying a new tree, but the old tree was super-skinny.  That worked great in our little townhouse, but it looked pretty scrawny in this larger space with high ceilings.

This is the skinny one.  It was pretty old and had an issue with the lights in the mid-section -- they would periodically go out.  Hey, for someone who is just a tad OCD, that was a biggie!

So, we looked at every tree in town and determined that we liked the Martha Stewart Noble Fir that Home Depot was carrying.  I really didn't want a taller one, just fuller.  I'm the one on the ladder doing the decorating -- enough said!

One of the features listed on the box, among having LED lights and a great warranty, was that it had "memory steel pre-formed branches."  What does that mean, you might be asking?  Well, it means that the tree pretty much "springs-to-life" without any fluffing.  Yay, right?

Well, yes, it is pretty impressive and looks very real and so pretty.  The only issue is that all the wonderful mesh ribbon I had been hoarding  collecting, could not be simply scrunched, poufed & twisted onto the branches as I had dutifully learned to do from  

Liz @ Savvy Seasons & Kristen @ Kristen's Creations.  Okay, I will not be defeated........

I simply had to "pre-pouf" and twist with wire which took quite awhile to complete.  Next step was to attach the poufs to the tree.

Have you bought any of these lately?  I don't use these for my ornaments, but I had a box on hand and decided this could be my answer -- simply twist around the wired pouf and form a hook & presto!  Not quite so fast -- just look at that tangled mass mess of needle-sharp "things!"  That my friends is "frustration in a very small package!"  Well, I persevered and ended up with......

this for each pouf.  I spent more time doing this part of the tree than all the rest put together.  Was it worth it?  I can say "yes" now that it's finished.  Will I be storing these poufs all put together for next year's tree?  ABSOLUTELY -- are you kidding me?

Yes, it's a work of art -- can you hear me patting myself on the back?

Ahhhhh.........

and ahhhh.......

and ahhhhhh......!

The Man has been paying me a compliment every day on how pretty the tree looks.  Smart man I married, huh?  Like my tree skirt?  I'll be sharing that in yet another post.

Now, I'm off to finish making our Christmas cards!  Oh, please don't forget to enter my "My First Give-Away".  Thanks so much for stopping by.  There will be more to come!

Carol

I'm happily partying at these fab blogs:

Cindy at Skip to My Lou for Made by You Monday 

Toni at A Bowl Full of Lemons for One Project at a Time 

Jenny at The NY Melrose Family for Whimsy Wednesdays 

Katie at Katherine's Corner for Thursday Favorite Things

 Kristen at Kristen's Creations for Share Your Creations on Thursday

Heather & Vanessa  At The Picket Fence for Inspiration Friday 

Suzy at Worthing Court for Better Late Than Never Christmas Inspirations Bloghop