Our Tannebaum (Version 1)

I've always wanted to have two trees: one to do all designer,
and another for our family ornaments. But realistically, it didn't make sense. After all, living in Wisconsin and then Louisiana meant that we wouldn't even be home for the heart of Christmas season, and I never really was able to get into decorating when I knew we'd just have to come home and take it down right away. We did have a "family" tree with our family ornaments, of course, and decorating it with the kids was a tradition for when we got back home after our Thanksgiving visits.

But after Christmas last year, we found a tree 85% off at Target. It looked pretty on the box, so we went for it. After all, we had a second-hand tree now, and it wasn't looking too good with each passing year. So when we moved, we gave away our old tree and brought this one with us.

I've been really excited about Christmas this year, so while Ben was out of town recently (yeah, he never would have let me get away with it while he was here) I set up our new tree. It was pretty, alright, but I soon realized that there was no way it had sufficient girth for all our gifts and ornaments. But I didn't despair. Actually, I was pretty happy about it. That meant I could go all decorator on this skinny tree, and we'd just have to get another one for the presents and family ornaments!

So behold my pretty tree. This was my first try at this, and I am sooooo happy with the results. I bought the ribbon from Costco for like $7/50 yards (a GREAT deal, and I made the bow and did the cascading ribbon myself. Then I went to Wal-Mart and bought the ornaments for like $20. So total, this is less than a $50 experiment, but I think it looks way better than that. I just had to share -- I've never had a house big enough for two trees or a room formal enough for a "dressy" tree. I am so happy!