It's Beginning to Look a lot like Christmas

It's no secret that I'm pretty crazy about the holidays.  Black Friday is one of my favorite days of the year, not because of shopping, but because I put my tree up every year the day after Thanksgiving.  This year our tree is the best we've had yet.  I wanted to document all the tree/present decor this year so I can refer to it in the future if I decide to do a "silver and gold" theme again.

I used deco mesh to frame the tree.  It's pretty tough to work with and I literally had it on the tree 4 different ways before I decided to just go straight down the tree.  I got it before the holidays for 50% off at Hobby Lobby - woot woot!  I cut the deco mesh into varying lengths and then wire-tied it to the tree in pieces, but made it continuous so it looks like it's all one piece of mesh.  I found that if I didn't cut it, the mesh looked a little too heavy on the tree.  Since my tree is live, I used wire ties to hold the mesh on, but I might just try craft wire next year.  Having a fake tree would definitely be easier for deco mesh, but I just like having a live tree in our little home.

Most of the ornaments on the tree came from Tai Pan Trading.

If I were to buy ornaments again I would start with Hobby Lobby or Home Depot for some of the more basic ornaments (balls, small snowflakes) and then get the more specialty items at Tai Pan to save money.  After I got the mesh on, I started adding ornaments in triangle shapes, but after a while, there was so much on the tree it was hard to see the triangle formations.  Over the last few days, I've re-arranged ornaments so everything is more balanced and I think I finally got everything exactly where I want it.  

I also went back later and added deco mesh "tubes" to the tree. I think it gives the tree an overall more full look.  

My favorite ornament on the tree this year is a music note we found in Boston.

There was an adorable Christmas shop in Faneuil Hall and I just fell in love with this ornament.  I saw it and knew I had to bring it home with me first because it's pretty and second because I love music, especially Christmas music. Sticking with tradition we get an ornament everywhere we go on vacation.  Since they didn't really match our theme, we put them more on the back of the tree. 

My Mom is an expert bow maker so I had her help me make bows for the top of the tree.  I made one gold and two silver bows and wire tied them to the top as well.  They were actually surprisingly easy to make once I knew what I was doing.

I also wrapped the presents in silver and gold wrapping paper and put cute little tags on them.  I got the wrapping paper at Hobby Lobby (it's the best) and then I bought the sparkly tag paper at Michaels and my Mom used her silhouette to help me cut them into tag shapes. 

Last year for Christmas, my sister gave me a cute stamp that says "Love the Troff's" so I used that to stamp the back of the tags.  

Overall, I'm really happy with our Christmas time decor.  I love the "silver and gold" theme and I would definitely do it again!