Our Colorful + Layered Christmas Tree

I love decorating for Christmas but for whatever reason getting our main Christmas tree just right is usually a tricky one.  This year I decided I wanted a green Christmas tree instead of a white one (you can see last year's white tree--here and where we have the white tree up this year--here).  I am not sure why, but I also feel like the tree needs to be just a little different each year.  Hence my tree decorating dilemma.

It's pretty similar to last years minus the color of the tree.  I tried to use what I have which limits any sort of "theme."  Plus I don't like things too themey.  I used to be all about themes back in the day..."I want a giraffe themed bathroom, a Hello Kitty everything, and a lime green kitchen!"  But I think I grew out of my theme phase and instead desire a cohesiveness in our home that combines all the things I like.  So of course my tree is a perfect balance of pink, blue, and white.  Plenty of glimmer and shine without feeling too stuffy and just enough paper for it to feel handmade.

So in order to get there I just kept on layering.  I started with our ornaments and then added burlap and it wasn't colorful enough.  Added some ribbon but wasn't full enough.  Then the green tree wasn't white enough so I added paper snowflakes.  About an hour later my cute little green tree became a full and colorful mess.  And I think it is just perfect.

I also have a few other little trees in our living room that light up the space at night.  I like being able to walk through the house at night without any of our regular lights on but still maneuver from room to room by our Christmas tree lights.  You might say I am a bit addicted to all of my light up trees.

I don't have any tree skirts so I just cover the legs of my trees with doilies, lace, and table cloths.

And here are things all lit up...

I like to think that my Christmas wrapping is pretty but never anything worthy of blogging about.  I am all about getting things wrapped and over with and there are lots of cute bloggers out there with way better wrapping ideas than what I come up with.  These small gift boxes are an exception.  Banana Republic jewelry comes in cute brown boxes so with a little ribbon and tags, these gifts get a special feature right under the tree.

As for ornaments, I got rid of all my "decorative" ornaments this year and I am really happy about that.  I think I read something the other day about decorating your tree with the ornaments you want your kids to grow up remembering.  It really hit me and reminded me how much I LOVE the ornaments I grew up with and remembered looking at them every year as I helped put them on the tree.  So I decided that from now on I would only decorate my tree with ornaments that tell a story.  Plus I cover them all up with fluff so having the extra ornaments around seemed unnecessary.

Less stuff...and only meaningful stuff.  Makes my Christmas decorating simple but still fun.  Plus I am obsessed with having ornaments to signify every worthwhile memorable moment in life that I am sure to have many as the years continue to go by.

// What's on and under your Christmas tree this year?

Linking up with Thrifty Decor Chick's Christmas Tree Party.