southern fried gal

Our internet was out all day yesterday due to maintenance in our neighborhood. Don’t these people know I am trying to get back into bloggy shape? Isn’t that just like a real diet/workout routine? Just when you are ready to go full force you find more opposition than before? Ha!

Anyway. Here is our tree this year. We always get a real tree. I love the scent and it is fun working with the natural characteristics of each tree. This year I fell in love with a tiny tree. It took the boys some convincing but I finally got my in the end.

Here are a few Southern Fried tips for your tree…

1. The key to keeping your tree fresh throughout the season is to cut off about an inch of the trunk and put in a big bucket of water at least overnight. It is amazing how much water your tree will drink up that first night. The one year I skipped this step we had the driest, messiest tree ever – yuck!

2. To put my lights on the tree I follow advice from Martha. I run a green multi-plug extension cord up the trunk and secure with green pipe cleaners. Then I wrap each branch individually. It’s an obsession but I love a tree covered in lights. I also use pipe cleaners to tie up a branch here and there and create more stability and shape in the tree.

3. After lights I start layering in shiny but inexpensive ornaments in the center of the tree. This year I used RED to tie everything together on the tree so most of the internal layer is red. I did add a few gold and green here and there just to create a little more interest.

4. Then I layer in my better ornaments from the inside to the outside of the tree. I like a lot of depth and interest. I consider our tree to be an old-fashioned tree filled with ornaments that have meaning for us. There are a TON of nutcrackers because DH made the mistake of mentioning that he liked them when we were first married and I obsessively bought every set I could find. That is meaningful to us so we keep it. Since adding BBC into the mix we have a good bit of ornaments with meaning that are not nutcrackers.

5. After I get the ornaments placed just so, there are always “holes” in the layering of the tree due to weak branches. So I go back and tuck in ribbon to bring color and camouflage those areas. This year I used a 4 inch mesh ribbon with metallic threads. It catches a lot of light, too.

6. And finally I take care in grouping ornaments together to give them more presence. At the top of the tree this year I put a cross because first and foremost, Jesus is the reason for the season and I like to remember the full picture of his life as we celebrate his birth. I also put an ornament from our honeymoon, our first year together ornament, and BBC’s first year ornament in a place of prominence.

Well I hope you enjoyed my walk through of my approach to decorating my tree. I wish I had great photography skills because it is way more beautiful in person that those posted here. I have been enjoying all the looks into your holiday homes. Can’t wait to see more.

~Southern Fried Gal