Oh yes, the holiday season is right around the corner, which means it’s time to start thinking about decorating your Christmas tree and filling your home with the fresh smell of pine (or plastic, depending on your choice)! There are countless ideas for creating a family Christmas tree that can truly be the centerpiece of the holiday season. Whether you are a sports fanatic or a die-hard Christmas enthusiast, your Christmas tree can herald in the season with just a little imagination and creativity!
Creative Christmas Tree Decoration Ideas
One fun idea for decorating your Christmas tree is to choose a color theme. By using balls, ribbons, garlands, and beads in a specific color scheme, you can create a tree that complements your décor and adds to the feel of your home. For example, using blue and orange if you are a Florida Gator fan can give your tree a vibrant personality. Similarly, using yellow and white and placing just one red angel at the top creates a festive, professionally adorned tree. If you’re not up for a sports theme or don’t have a particular color scheme, multi-colored lights, balls, and garlands can turn your tree into a cornucopia of color and enthusiasm.
A relatively new idea is decorating the Christmas tree with pictures. There are plenty of ornaments that are actually picture frames, and using photos of your children, loved ones, friends, and family members will bring home the true spirit of the season. This is a favorite among children, and including pictures of pets and favorite memories from Christmases past will make your tree a carnival of memorabilia. This can remind your family just how blessed they really are. With pictures, the possibilities are endless. Beautiful macramé crafts can also be used to create enticing frames for your tree. A great feature of using photographs is that each year, as you bring the Christmas box down from the attic, you’ll be flooded with nostalgic memories—reminders of just how fast time flies!
Many people prefer a more traditional approach to decorating. Some use candles (though not recommended), white balls, or golden bows to create an ornate and fancy tree. These decorations, splashed with red bows and wooden holiday ornaments, can give your tree a holiday feel fit for a mountain getaway. Others may choose minimalistic decorations or focus on using one type of ornament for the entire tree. While this might sound simple, it creates a beautiful and elegant tree all on its own.
Another option is to let the children decorate the Christmas tree as they see fit. Chances are, they’ve made plenty of keepsake ornaments in school, and they’ll have a lot of ideas on how many Santas and Rudolphs to place. Of course, you’ll probably notice that the bottom half of the tree gets the most attention, but the unsophisticated decorating style will make the kids proud of their accomplishment and more engaged in the tree. For many parents, it can be hard to let the kids take charge, especially when they seem to have little design sense. But giving them this opportunity shows how they feel about Christmas. No matter how many times you’re tempted to rearrange and redo their work, leaving it as is will create a holiday memory that your children will never forget.
Choosing the Perfect Christmas Tree
Perhaps more important than decorating the tree is deciding which type of tree to get. People who love fresh trees versus those who prefer artificial ones are definitely in two camps, and they feel strongly about their preferences. However, there’s something special and nostalgic about having a fresh tree! To make the tree experience even more meaningful for your children, consider finding a tree orchard where you can browse through the fields and pick your own tree. This can turn into a fulfilling afternoon, as many orchards serve hot apple cider, have campfires, and, of course, have Santa handing out candy canes. Running through a field of trees in search of a little Christmas magic is what the season is all about.
For those who want to make an even greater impact, try finding a tree in a large pot and planting it in your yard after the holidays are over. Twenty years from now, you’ll have a row of pines or firs that will serve as a lasting reminder of all your past Christmases.
Tree decorating should really be a family event. Many families intertwine tree choosing and decorating with Thanksgiving, while others wait until the Sunday before Christmas to set up their tree. No matter what your style is, your Christmas tree should reflect something meaningful about you and your family, as well as your holiday traditions. The holidays are one of those things we never get to do over, and making them special, memorable, and meaningful to your family is important!
