My mom is the queen of decorating Christmas trees. When I was young she got invited to decorate a tree in Washington, DC, for some thing or another. People pay her to create amazing holiday trees too. Anyway, the first few years I was married my mom would get me Christmas tree "stuff" for my Christmas gift. At the time I was a bit annoyed because there were so many other things I needed, being a poor college student and all. Now I'm glad she gave me all the tree goodies because I have not had to buy anything for my tree! Yippee. In honor of my mom I decided to list the rules for creating a beautiful Christmas tree look. Here they go:
1. Decide what kind of a look you want for your tree. Do you want certain colors or a theme? Do you want an eclectic family tree? Gather your supplies for creating your look.
2. Place your tree where you want it. To be safe you can wire it to something if you'd like.
3. Start with the lights. Wrap the strands around the branches from the inside out. Mom likes to start at one end of the tree then work up or down. A general guideline is you use 100 lights per foot so if your tree is 6 feet tall you'll need at least 600 lights.
4. Add your garland and/or ribbon trims next. Wrap the garland around the ends of the branches in a circular, drapey like mode. Weave ribbons along the branches making sure to sweep up and down as you go.
5. Hang your basic, traditional ball ornaments. Tuck them closer to the trunk of the tree to fill the spaces and create pops of color.
6. Hang your ornaments. Eye the spacing as you hang to create a fuller, luxe looking tree.
7. Add the tree topper.
8. Place a tree skirt or pool material at the base of the tree to finish it off.
