One Box

First of all, thank you for your thoughtful comments on the last post. I learned some things! You know how much I enjoy the opportunity to cogitate a spell.

I was so pleased that my daughter Laurel put up a Charlie Brown Christmas tree. Some years, she thinks it is just too much. The difference between Laurel and me is that she is not a homebody and I am.  

Her cats were very impressed with the tree and I am sure that there will be a lot of batting of ornaments in the days to come. All ornaments are cat-proof.

Isn't it amazing that she can store all of her Christmas things in one box? One box! I shall not mention how many boxes of stuff I have and I won't  ask you either. ッ

↑A photo shared on Instagram. Though I try not to use duplicate photos, I wanted to share the interesting program I was watching: A Victorian Christmas aka  A Proper English Christmas. (Thanks, Cathie!) I watched it on Amazon Prime. The lengths those Victorians went 
to celebrate Christmas. Anytime the lady of the house, in her long skirts and dainty boots, is stomping about in horse manure proves her devotion.

Have you tried the Peppermint Tootsie Roll Pops? Very refreshing.

It is fun to style the only "mantel" I have. This is what it looks like this year.

Tweaking, tweaking, always tweaking. No, I did NOT eat all the Peppermint Tootsie Roll Pops. They've been moved to the kitchen table.

I am very thankful to my neighbors who are sharing lots of lights... It sure is pretty around here in the evenings, especially at the blue hour.

Okay, I am certain that even I have overdosed on this tree; however,  I would like to share my secrets what I do. 

1.This is the second year that I have used Brenda's suggestion for creating cohesiveness for the tree. She uses red, but one can use any color ornament that reflects 
light—silver, green, blue–I used gold. These are placed inside the tree and really don't show up all that much except that they reflect the light. If you check the link, you'll see that my rememberer is not remembering so clearly. For whatever reason they are used, I really like the method.

Moving right along...2.I read a suggestion from the White House Christmas decorators who suggested using a short hanger for ornaments instead of longer ones. It has the effect of putting the focus entirely on the ornament instead of introducing a distraction. 

3. Burlap is still my favorite garland for the light it allows through. It used to be more of a pain because strips of burlap would have to be cut. These days, I just pick up burlap ribbon with my Hobby Lobby coupons making it pretty economical. It also tames down a fussy tree like this to one that better suits the rustic environment. I like elegant rusticity. 

4. I love the old-fashioned tinsel, but have zero patience for it, especially the new flyaway variety. So all my adult life I have used crystal icicles. The first sets came from Silvestri and were quite pricey for me in those early years. I bought more just recently and they were more reasonably priced...cheap even. This selection has two lengths, which surprised me at first, but works out quite well in practice.

 

Is there anything that you are doing differently with your tree this year? Have you ever done a Charlie Brown tree? I am thinking that I could give it a whirl next time. That whole one box thing is appealing.