Saturday, we went out yard selling....
And we managed to pick up this monster for a steal of a deal
Well, on Monday, Jeff decided to set it up to make sure our steal of a deal wasn't too good to be true...
It wasn't. Besides needing to tape up some of the ends to keep the string that is wrapped around the branches from unraveling, it was in pretty much perfect condition.
Then, Jeff said the words that got my wheels a-turnin'...
"I'm just going to leave it up. I really don't want to have to haul it out of the closet again. It's heavy."
I couldn't just leave an empty Christmas tree sitting up in the corner of my living room. When guests come over what do you say? "We were just too lazy to take it down..."?
My brain worked in its brilliant fashion and I not only came up with an awesome excuse to put the Christmas tree up in October and LEAVE it up....but also some really neat family traditions that I'm pretty sure we're going to carry on...
So...for all of you that want to space out your holiday decorations, these ideas are for you.
Why not have a Halloween Tree? Stay with me here...
Think of the movie, The Nightmare Before Christmas. Watch the movie and put up your tree along with some Halloween ornamentation so that you can please Jack Skellington the Pumpkin King. on Halloween Night, you can even take it one step further and leave some gross out candy under the tree or something. (Our kids are too young to appreciate it this year, but you can bet your bottom dollar that it WILL be happening when they are old enough.)
Decorations don't have to cost a million dollars either. If you have a steady hand, you can do what I did and, using some craft foam, draw some caricatures of Nightmare Before Christmas characters or, if you're less steady with a sharpie, you can print out some Nightmare Before Christmas or Halloween coloring pages, color them and, using the sticky back foam, make some Halloween ornaments that will last for a while.
Since its mostly for your family enjoyment anyway (and to stop guests from wondering why on earth you would set your Christmas tree up at the beginning of October), you don't even have to cover the whole tree. I'm still planning on making a few more with my husband when he gets home (since he enjoys drawing, I wanted to let him in on the fun...) but you can see that it looking pretty decent and I've just covered a section of the tree. A few more ornaments and some artsy fartsy fun with my hubby and we will have made it look all the way decent...
And, because I figured you should see some of my free-hand artwork, I decided to zoom in and take a picture just for you (because I know you're just dying to see it!)
So, what do you do for November? Simple...you do a Thankful Tree. Everyone in the house takes a piece of construction paper and writes on it what they are thankful for that day. You can either wrap it around a branch and staple it, add some string, or make a chain that will snake around the tree or along the front of it. At Thanksgiving dinner, remove the "thankful notes" and read them at the table. It will be awesome to see all the things you've had a chance to be thankful for throughout the month.
My family tradition has always been to decorate the Christmas tree after Thanksgiving dinner. It was one tradition my biological dad had started with us before his death, and one that my step-dad really enjoyed and kept up after he joined our family. So...you can just pull out the Christmas decorations and let the kids go to town...
A big hello to all my creatively lazy peeps out there...I hope you enjoy using this idea...and YOU'RE WELCOME...LOL
Hugs and loves until next time darlings!
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