My tree is normally up the day after Thanksgiving, but this year we kept pushing it back.  We were busy, yes, but a part of me was a little “Christmased out” from a few years of ornament making decorating for Christmas in July and having a tree up in September and another one up in February.  I’m not complaining at all.  I love what I do and all of the decorating insanity that comes along with it.  It just took a bit to get me in the mood this year.

We thought we might delay another day, because it was foggy and drizzly yesterday, but I was fed up with my procrastination.  We packed the boys in the car and went to our local tree farm.  I’m not super picky when it comes to Christmas tree, so it took about 5 minutes to pick one out.  This tree didn’t look quite so big in the lot, but it’s a huge tree – about 9′.

 

 

It’s my favorite of all the trees we’ve had.  It’s majestic, but a little quirky with a shape that’s not totally uniform.

 

 

We decorated it mostly with the ornaments I used on the tree in my living room last year for the BHG shoot.

 

 

 

 

 I also included a special ornament my friend Shari made for me with sheet music I used in her daughter’s farmhouse chic wedding.

 

 

I am also using my ruffled linen tree skirt for the third year.   I originally made it for an HGTV.com tutorial.  One of the perks of those is that I get to keep what I make!

 

I added some other touches around the house as well…

 

 

 

Some people are going to hate the cow head in the wreath, but I hung the wreath on the wall and it just seemed empty in the middle.  I popped the cow head up there and it worked for me.  She looks like a prize winning heifer. Decor Steals sent me the gorgeous preserved boxwood wreath as a Christmas gift.

 

 

I also added some simple things like an ironstone casserole of seasonal nuts…

 

…and a bowl of red apples.

 

 

Now I’m ready for Christmas.  Bring it on.

PS – The cow just caught my husband’s eye and he hated it.  🙂