Battle of the Christmas Trees

So for many years there has been this unspoken "battle" of sorts with our Christmas trees. You may remember my post last year about the hive inducing, psychotic tree of The Hub's.

Well this year I think I have turned a new leaf. I figured if you can't beat him (and I can't!) then join him. So here is our massive 9 foot plus tree in our "sitting area". I like to say we have a sitting area but really in all honesty it's a space when you walk in that has 1 chair. :) 

See that piece of wood...curious?!?! I will get to that soon. So The Hubs has his normal ornaments he puts out year after year. I only took a couple shots to show you but they are definitely 'eclectic'.

This year since I can't beat him (and truthfully I don't want to) I decided to pick him up a few more lovelies for his tree. I found the football and the softball at Michaels for a buck! Score!

Oh yes, this was one of my purchases also...a Homer Santa scarfing down donuts. Classic! The lady behind the counter probably thought I was nuts.

Now on to the reason for the braces. You see this year, I waved my white flag and joined in on the decorating schizophrenia. Now in years past I may have had evil thoughts of the tree suddenly igniting in flames or a tornado ripping through and sucking the tree up but this year...this year I was totally on board. No evil thoughts whatsoever. Then the worse possible thing happened; once we were finished decorating and marveling at the wonderous sight, {cue loud ominous music} the tree crashed to the floor!!! Side note: I'm not sure what the deal is with the font on this one section. Crazy!

It broke several ornaments, including the beloved and coveted 8 ball. My heart sank. This was The Hubs tree and he is a man of tradition, even if it is a bit wacky at times, so I knew he was upset. We picked up the pieces, temporarily braced the tree to the wall (above pic) and put boards underneath as added support. It's a bit funky junky but it works.

I waited a few days before I set up my tree, afterall I didn't want my tree to rub it in his tree's face (metaphorically speaking since trees don't have faces). This year I decided on a **Sparkle and Shimmer** theme. Everything gold, silver, glittered or metallic.

Dollar Tree find! Two tubes for $1.00 each; can't beat that! Especially when you suffer from decorating ADD and insist on changing your "theme" every year.

I had these ornaments from a few years ago so basically free since I didn't purchase them this year :) That's perfectly acceptable logic, right?

This garland I got at the Dollar Tree last year. I bought two bundles. It's gorg! Fake and plastic but still gorg!

This garland I have had for many, many years. I never opened it and used it. I think I got it at Michaels.

The bow was from Hobby Lobby (yah! shout out to Hob Lob. I big pink puffy heart you). I had a gift card so it was FREE for me but if I paid out of pocket for it I think it would have been 50% off of $8.99. 

I love poinsettias and these I bought at Michaels for $2.99 for the bunch. I clipped off most of the stem and stuffed them into 'holes' in the tree. Below is the finished product...

The garland looks like jewelry draped on the tree. It's so beautiful, especially at night. My tree looks like it might go out dancing or to a fancy dinner...you know, if trees did that sort of thing. :)

I hope you are enjoying your seasonal decorating as much as we are.