Dashing through the…decorating

The week of Thanksgiving, I was pumped to start my Christmas decorating! I felt that it was already December and I was ready! Then I brought the boxes up from the basement and a sense of dread and procrastination washed over me. It only worsened each time I walked by this disturbing site in the dining room.

I have always been a lover of fresh Christmas Trees, the smell, the feel, the individuality of them is wonderful. As a child, we ALWAYS had a faux tree. I remember one year my parents purchased a fresh Christmas tree, my biggest memory of it wasn’t the smell or the look, it was the amount of complaints regarding the tree needles in the carpet (continuing months after the tree was gone) and we never had a fresh tree again. So since the day I ran away to the circus struck out on my own, I have purchased a fresh tree, needles in the carpet be damned, that is until spider-geten 2018.

It started so normal, as a family, we visited the fire station, picked a tree, took it home, put it up, and watered it. I was tired by that point in the day and thought “I will put the lights and decorations on tomorrow”, so we went to bed. The next day, we came downstairs to see there were so many spiderwebs on the tree, my curtains, the windows, that it was impossible to do anything but spray it with bug spray and pray, so we did. And we waited…on the third day, approximately 20 spiders were curled up under the tree…DEAD. We swept them up and my brave little husband started shaking the tree… more little spiders fell to the floor. After a week, I bravely (not really) decorated the tree, and six months later, during a Christmas in July sale, I bought an 8 foot Balsam Hill faux tree. And there hasn’t been a spider again 🙂 Sorry fresh trees, but I couldn’t get over the ick factor.

The foyer tree was easier this year than in previous years… I had the tree, lights, ornaments, decorations, and ribbon. So I went to work fluffing the tree off and on for a few days, replacing dead lights and preparing it for sparkles. Since I had done this version once before, I was on auto-pilot and it went very quickly.

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After Christmas 2019, I realized my dining room National Tree Company Kingswood Fir 7.5 foot tree, was wholly inadequate, and would be much better served if located in the main living room. I have over 9 feet ceilings… this room demanded grandeur (I was having delusions of grandeur), so I purchased a National Tree Company Artificial Christmas Tree, Kingswood Fir Slim – 9 ft from Amazon. It was an open box return, so I paid around $90 for a $140 tree. When it arrived, I checked it for damage and tucked it away in the basement, thinking it was just the taller version of what I had, and of course I was delusional. Eleven months later, I started putting the tree together… remember a few sentences ago, when I said I had over 9 foot ceilings???

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When I placed the star on top of the tree, it touched the ceiling, delusion faded… irritation and panic began to wash over me. I honestly left the poor thing, half lit and sitting in the middle of the room for a day while I went back to my evil lair Pinterest app and had another delusion… I could make a bow! (Yes another delusion… I am going to start taking medication for that) For the record, I hate it, and I am devising another option as I type.

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Now, this is where my delusions hit Chernobyl magnitude… I had envisioned the 7.5 foot tree in the main living room, decorated with my ornaments collection (laugh it up, yes I collect Christmas ornaments) and faux mercury glass ornaments that I started making in July… I made seven, yes seven. So this poor tree sat for over a week, in a pitiful state of unfluffing (yes I know that isn’t a word) without lights or ornaments while I feverishly made more faux mercury glass ornaments in the basement, which is where all of my truly great mania happens. Pinterest is a wonderful little spot to park my delusions ideas, and I prefer it to a bulletin board or covering the refrigerator with torn out magazine pages. So a long while ago, I saved the idea for faux mercury glass that I seen posted by Danielle of The Rustic Elk. Of course with a toddler, three cats, and a dog in the house, I opted for glass ornaments… cause who doesn’t love the sound of ornaments breaking????

Once the ornaments were made, floral picks arrived (without them you could see straight through the tree, no matter how much it was fluffed!), and ribbon had been cut to length, I started on my third tree… well my fourth tree really… You see, my son has a small three foot tree in his room that he decorates after I unbox and fluff it, so really this is my fourth tree.

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I hope that you have a merry Christmas, happy Chanukah, enjoy Kwanzaa, observe the Winter Solstice, and have a happy holiday season. But above all, I hope you and the people you love are safe and healthy. With uncertainty around every corner, I find myself thinking of Corinthians; faith, hope, love, but the greatest of these is love. Love one another, share your love with strangers, you never know who could use it.