Decorating Christmas trees can be so much fun, but believe it or not it is really hard work! From choosing your tree, to hanging the lights, and deciding exactly where to hang the ornaments, a lot more goes into this tree decorating process than realized. Here are a few simple steps to help you along the way!
Get it away from the wall:
The first step to decorating the perfect Christmas tree is to get it out of the corner and away from the wall while you are decorating it. You are always going to have an uneven tree if you cannot work at it from all sides, and you don’t want your beautiful tree to be should in a corner. Most of the time Christmas trees are taller than we are, be sure to have a stepladder handy to reach all the high parts.
This Christmas tree is crooked and against the wall…not the way to begin the decorating process!
Hanging the lights:
THe first decorating step of the CHristmas tree is the very important process of hanging the lights. You must start from the top, and work your way down so that the plug on the lights is at the bottom of the tree. Make sure that you always check your lights first before hanging them, there is nothing worse than decorating your whole tree, and than realizing your lights don’t work!
Hanging Garland:
Garland is not used on every tree, but if you are going to hang it, now is the time. Again you must start from the top and work your way down. Make sure that you tuck the garland into the branches and not on the edges so that your ornaments have a place to go! You can also use ribbon in place of garland if you would like to spice up your tree a little bit!
Hanging the ornaments:
When hanging the ornaments do not lay them on the tips of the branches. If you do that your Christmas tree will look flat, and will have no depth to it. Be sure to hang larger ornaments first, and than the smaller ones on top. The smaller ornaments are the best for filling in dead space, and ensuring that there are no bare spots. We found these beautiful ornaments at Pottery Barn.
Add the topper:
When I was a kid the best part of the Christmas tree was being able to add the topper. My sisters and I would fight over it every year , we could not wait to take our turn.The last step in perfecting your Christmas tree is to put either the angel, Santa Claus, star, or even a great big red bow on the very top of your tree! In the new world of being green, we found this organic Christmas tree topper on HGTV. It is made with leaves, twigs and other natural elements creating a star-shaped topper adding a rustic feel to your tree.
At this point your tree should be finished. There is technically no right or wrong way of decorating a tree. From the big and the beautiful to the small and tacky, any Christmas tree can be fun!