Christmas Decorating 101.

I surprised myself and my immediate family members that know me so well, when a small part of me did not want to decorate for Christmas this year. We had just purchased our house 3 months earlier, and we were still working on the basic decor of the home, the thought of putting up a Christmas tree in every room exhausted me! But then our relatives that live far away decided this Christmas was the perfect time to come down from Canada to celebrate the season with us, so in true Julie Ann Events tradition, the Christmas trees went up the day after Halloween. We pulled out all of our trees and decorations that had been sitting in storage for the past four years and decked our halls.

In our formal living room, we went with a basic tree and trimmed it with neutral color palette, using primarily all white and silver decorations. The tree popped nicely off of our bright pink floor rug. After four years of not seeing our annual holiday decorations, it was fun to pull out what we have had and incorporate the Christmas decorations we purchased in Hong Kong and China. There was a fun mix of bespoke ornaments interspersed with Ikea ornaments!

How many Christmas trees is too many? I asked that question out on our Instagram feed. In our family room, I put up three trees around our television. I used colored ornaments that I had purchased on clearance from Target 4 years ago and never had an opportunity to use since we moved. Unconsciously I had also purchased a garland in a coordinating color scheme from a market in Hong Kong. It worked perfectly to tie all three trees together. White star tree toppers on each tree pulled the look together.

One room in our home held our family tree, which is hands down my favorite tree of the house. We wait till the day after (American) Thanksgiving to pick out a live tree and hang our family ornaments on it that hold sentimental meaning to us throughout the years. There's a heart ornament I made in the third grade, snowmen footprints that all three of our kids made that one year we had three kids living in our house, the yearly ornaments that we buy each of our kids which one day they will take with them to their own homes, and the ornaments from our first Christmas spent together. It's under this tree that the gifts we give out reside, and where we sit in front of on Christmas morning to open stockings and read Luke 2 as a family.

We managed to put up eight trees up this year, and next year we hope to add four more to that number. Christmas is the one holiday I go all out in decorating for, since it's such a significant holiday in the spiritual life of our personal family. We truly enjoy celebrating the birth of Jesus, and continuing the traditions we have established as a family. It's such a special time in the year to celebrate with those we love dearly.


Entertainment Dresser - Wayfair {Similar}  ::  Marte Lounge Chair - Urban Outfitters {here}  ::  Chamberlin Recycled Leather Sectional Sofa - Urban Outfitters {here}  ::   Hamilton Wood Media Console - Urban Outfitters {here}  ::  Natural Carved Zaria Headboard - World Market {here}  ::  Round Glass and Metal Ilene Coffee Table - World Market {here}  ::  Metal, Wood, and Leather Bar Cart - Target {here}