My So-Called Tree: Decorationtimez!

Dear My Christmas Tree,

Remember that one year I was gone for most of December so I didn’t decorate you until, like, two days before Christmas? Yeah, me neither. This year I found inspiration from the tree Emily designed on the Secrets From A Stylist Holiday Episode (If you haven’t seen it yet you are really cheating yourself. Watch here). The color palette for the show was greens, blues, and aquas. Which happen to be my favorite colors (Coincidence? I don’ think so!). Luckily, you can put pretty much any color on a silver tree because it’s a neutral color. For the most part, I decided to go cheapsiez with the ornaments, so I shopped first at the dollar store. People often underestimate how many ornaments they’ll need for their tree so Emily and I have devised a good formula. Buy four times as many ornaments as you think you’ll need. Then, just as you’re about to check out, double the amount of ornaments you have so that in the end you actually have eight times as many ornaments as you think you need. Just remember, what you “think” you need is wrong and will make zero impact on your tree. It’s always a good idea to overdo it so you’re tree doesn’t look empty and sad. Just FYI, this is what you can get for $30 at a dollar store (all those ornaments plus the little silver trees plus a snowflake tree topper):

In addition to the dollar store ornaments, I made dot ornaments using craft paper and wire ornament hooks. (Sidenote: it would have been way easier if I had a circle cutter, instead I just traced a water glass and cut these by hand. Which took, like, forevz!).

All the felt ornaments are West Elm.

Because I didn’t have a green tree, I thought it would be good to bring in some green felt. The felt ornaments added a lot more interest and warmth to a tree that was looking far too sparkly, graphic, and cold without them.

These pretty hand-blown glass ornaments are also West Elm.

The “icicle” ornaments were made by cutting craft paper and curling it around a pencil. I like them because they look like streamers. Which reminds me of parties. Which reminds me of fun. Which reminds me of the meaning of life.

I decided to fill the space beneath the tree with my two favorite things: books and plants. The Alice Waters book was a Christmas gift from my friend Misako, who loves fantasizing about California with me. As you probably know, I only accept Christmas gifts that match my Christmas tree. Please plan accordingly.

I added a pantone green box to punch up the green.

And finally, my Christmas tree was done! Yay! Now I can enjoy it for 5 hours before I leave town for the holidays. Oops.

Happy Holidays Everyone!

Love,
Orlando