My friend Cheryl does a bang-up job of decorating for Christmas every year. And guess what? She’s giving us a peek inside!
She spends weeks getting ready for December 25 because she does all of the decorating herself.
“It is something I truly enjoy but it does take a few weeks to get each tree the way I really want it to look, especially since I still work full-time.” Her energy and dedication to giving her family a beautiful setting for their holiday season just amazes me.
Keeping it Fresh
Cheryl changes her decorations annually, using some she previously used, but typically in a different room. She adds to her Christmas collection each year and sells things that she will not use on Facebook. (With huge success!!)
She shops locally at Trees n Trends, Charlton & Park, Sisters & Friends, Kirkland’s, and Hobby Lobby, where she will pick up some of the basics like solid color ornaments and sometimes a tree skirt.
“I hit up those stores after Christmas when I can get things sixty to seventy-five percent off to make the constant changing of themes a little more cost-efficient. When I do my after-Christmas shopping I decide the themes of the trees for the next year. I start a note in my phone and add to it as I come up with ideas. I save pictures of things that I really want to remember when I start decorating.”
So, why all the fuss?
“My goal in decorating is to create something that my family and friends can enjoy, and that I can show my love of Christmas. I start decorating before Halloween, but I NEVER turn on the lights until November 1. I want to enjoy this magical time of the year as long as I possibly can, and since I add to each tree even weeks after it is up, the joy of decorating lingers on. I do add decorations outside as well, but I do not turn on outside lights until the day after Thanksgiving.”
Her Fave Combo of Live and “Like-Live”
Cheryl has fond memories of decorating her family tree as she was growing up.
“Back then there wasn’t a theme, it was a tree decorated with a mixture of ornaments collected over the years made at school, in Girl Scouts, Church or any craft project,” she said. “I do have many of my ornaments from my childhood which are safely tucked away to preserve them. This year’s live tree theme in our house will be “An Old-Fashioned Christmas” so I may just get these ornaments out to use on that tree.
With the vaulted ceiling in her living room, a larger tree is in order. But every room gets one. Yes, even the bathrooms.
“The first year in our home, I knew I had to get a live tree from the Christmas tree capital of the world in Pennsylvania. When I found the perfect tree that was the right height, we brought it home and it filled half of the room…well almost! We still always put up one live tree and that is in our front reading room.”
Her favorite artificial tree is from Balsam Hill. She uses it TKTK. She puts up a tree in every room—the smaller rooms will typically have a pencil tree—but every room has some sort of Christmas tree, including the bathrooms! This year she’s put Birch trees in the kitchen, and she loves the different look.
Cheryl’s Christmas Traditions
“I can remember growing up, my parents would allow us to pick out one gift to open on Christmas Eve. I started that tradition with my daughter, but with her dad working shift work, there were years she opened all of her presents on Christmas Eve. Now she is an ER nurse, and we open gifts whenever all of can be together—whether it’s Christmas Eve or Christmas Day.”
And her family’s traditional meal always starred chicken and dumplings instead of ham.
“My mom always made chicken and dumplings at Christmas, I carried on that same tradition, and I can proudly say that my daughter can make a great batch of dumplings! She would always stand beside me and help me make them so she could learn herself.”
But last year brought a change. They decided to do something totally different and had homemade lasagna. She thinks they will plan a non-traditional meal again this year—the menu is always her daughter’s decision.
Like her decorating, a variety in the menu keeps things fresh!
I’ve typically been a one and done decorator whenever possible. I like to decorate the whole house and then do a massive clean-up. But this year, since we celebrated Christmas at Thanksmasbirthday (LOL) I did it more in stages.
Do you finish your decorating in one day or do you take weeks to do it like Cheryl? Which is your favorite decoration Cheryl’s shared here?