It’s such an incredible feeling to truly get into the Christmas spirit. It is hands down my favorite time of the year, and nothing gets me more excited than putting up a tree! While I got to use my family ornaments on my mom’s tree this past week, Michael and I finally got ours up in the apartment. Since our complex won’t allow real trees (sad, I know) we bought this faux one last year. We revamped the colors with some new decorations, so I’ll walk step through step what we did to get the finished product.

If you’ve ever tried to put them on before anything else, you’ll know why lights should be the first step. It’s much easier to disguise the green cords back behind the branches when they’re the first things up. We used mostly white, but added in some red for something extra.

Next were the ornaments. Michael’s mom told us of these turquoise ones she had seen in a vintage shop that we had to check out. I’m so glad we did! They’re from the 1950s and handmade in the United States using mercury glass. We’re fans of anything with a little character, so these bulbs were the perfect, colorful touch.

The next step was adding traditional candy canes to the branches. While I never did this with my family tree growing up, it’s quickly become an addition that I’ll miss if we skip them. We kept it classic with red and white stripes but two different patterns.

The last things we added to our little tree were red garland and hand done bows.  Again, I never used these extras on my traditional family tree, but Michael’s family did. I was weary of the bows when he suggested them, but I’m so glad we added that extra dimension. The silver ended up pulling the turquoise and red together perfectly and the large bow on top is a departure from the usual angel or star.

Overall, our tree seamlessly set the Christmas tone all through our home. I just can’t wait to get wrapped presents under it!