Tree trimming time!

So I've made you wait long enough! Here it is a week from Christmas and I've yet to share this year's tree with you! I've had the tree up for a couple of weeks now...but in between all of the holiday fun, craziness in the office and chocolate eggnog drinking (that's right I found chocolate eggnog!!), I haven't had a time to tell you about the crazy fun that is my tree.

Since November I've been giving you sneak-peeks of some of the ornaments that I've picked up along the way....and also told you about how I've randomly picked up different pieces on my way home from the grocery store over the course of a few weeks (seriously - I swear I was just going in to pick-up more chocolate eggnog and bananas....).

Decorating was reasonably easy...it was putting up the stupid tree that took forever....I'm one of those anal guys that needs to make sure that the lights are perfect - we're talking about taking three and a half hours to wrap lights around each branch as I'm building the tree...it turned out looking pretty spiffy though, so I guess it was worth it in the end!

After finally deciding on going with a blue and silver theme this season, my goal was to make my tree look kind of fresh and exciting, but at the same time make it look cozy and 'Dan like'...if that makes sense. A bit of bling, a bit of glass, a bit of fun and some burlap....(I don't get how the burlap makes it 'Dan like'....maybe it has to do with me coming from the farm....hmmm....).

After getting a bulk of the decorations onto the tree over the course of a couple of evenings (tying fishing line onto ornaments takes a long time....), I still didn't have a tree skirt to complete the look. In the past this fact hasn't bothered me....but in past years I've been a bit more on my 'A Game' having wrapped my presents early....this year that hasn't exactly happened....so there I was left not knowing what to do, not wanting to drop anymore coin on a skirt, and apparently not ready to wrap everything up. So out came the burlap!

Not too bad huh? Actually....the pic doesn't really do it justice but my $3.99 roll of burlap that I picked up at work looks pretty snazzy - it's so simple and the complete opposite of everything else that's going on....but it seems to make sense! No sewing, just a lot of fluffing....

And here you have it! The big unveiling! It might not look like something you'd find in a showroom or in a swanky design magazine, but I love it! It's goofy how much I find myself sitting with the lights turned out just admiring the tree....a couple glasses of wine (or chocolate eggnog)...some people do yoga & meditate...I look at my tree. What are yah gonna do? 

There yah have it!

Stay tuned for a couple more shots!

D-

Where did I snag everything from?


Tree - Value Village (Martha Stewart)
Silver owls - Walmart USA
Frosted & sequin balls - Zellers
Tin press birds / stockings / snowflakes - TBS! The Bargain! Shop
Standard-sized solid coloured balls - The Bay / Walmart Canada
Sparkle 'Merry Christmas' - Walmart USA
Swirled blue glass ornaments - Walmart USA
Over-sized coloured balls - PC Home Collection for Superstore / Loblaws
Rolled burlap - McDiarmid 
Christmas lights - Target