As I mentioned earlier this week, we finally brought home a real mini Christmas tree. I put up twinkle lights and hung a few ornaments, and I’m honestly thrilled — it’s a game changer. I love it.
Clara and Burger are just as captivated (try finding them in the dark — it’s a Where’s Waldo? game):
It’s warm and charming, and it looks lovely with the handmade ornaments I made for the Pinterest challenge here. These are the only breakable decorations we’ll display this year, since the tree sits on a table out of Clara’s reach, and it really sparkles. If you’re curious, the tree was $19 from a local Richmond grocery store called Martin’s; it came with a stand, which was a nice bonus.
At the top we added a playful gorilla ornament, giving the tree a little King Kong vibe — a silly touch we all enjoy.
Our tree skirt is actually a gray pashmina I already owned; I wrapped it a few times around the base to create a simple skirt. Aside from buying the tree, we used ornaments I had on hand (they averaged about 71 cents each — more details here), so the setup was budget-friendly and felt personal.
We had hoped to find a potted evergreen we could plant outdoors after the season, but after searching for a small, uncut tabletop tree we came up empty — most were 5+ feet tall. Since it was already December and we didn’t want to miss the chance for a real tree, we went with a cut tabletop tree this year. If anyone knows of local sources for small uncut evergreens, we’d love suggestions — we checked Lowe’s, Home Depot, several tree lots and nurseries without success.
You know how I am about shiny things: it’s a perfect match. Clara might be the most enchanted of all — at least five times a day she runs to the tree, points at the various animals and happily shouts names like “Rhino!” “Hippo!” and “Alligator!” It never gets old and it’s such a joy to watch.
Surprisingly, John and I have never had a real tree in our house as a family before this. Both of us enjoyed real trees growing up, but about five years ago we switched to a faux tree after scoring a great after-Christmas deal at Target. With a small car and a dog at home, the convenience of a faux tree and the lack of dropped needles made sense. While an artificial tree can’t fully replicate a fresh one, we’ve loved our faux tree over the years once it was decorated with lights and ornaments.
Here are a few snapshots of our past faux-tree setups: back in 2007 we shared photos, in 2008 we kept a white-and-silver theme here, and in 2009 we experimented with citrus and dried fruit ornaments here. In 2010 we went with green, pink, and silver accents here.
Experts still debate whether a faux or real tree is more eco-friendly; factors like transport emissions and how long you reuse an artificial tree affect the comparison. Since we already own a full-sized faux tree, the most sustainable choice is to keep using it for years to come. We’ll still set up that large faux tree in the dining room with Clara-safe ornaments so everyone driving by can see it glowing in the window. It’s already the eighth — so we better get moving on that setup.
Have you started decorating yet? Any other tabletop-tree fans out there? I can’t believe it took us this long to try one.
Update: You can view a collection of our favorite holiday decor finds here — many are under $15.