Honey I Shrunk the Christmas Tree! or Why Size Does Matter!
December 18, 2011
This is the story of what happened to my Christmas tree. You may ask why is my tree is so small? So small that it needs to be placed on top of a table? Is this a fashion statement? Does she live in an apartment and doesn't have room for a larger tree?
No, I don't live in an apartment. And yes, I do have room for a much larger tree. But yet, I choose not to. Let me tell you the story how I ended up shrinking my Christmas tree.
We have always used artificial trees, mostly because I don't like the idea of growing a tree for such a long time and then just chucking it after it gave its life for a few short weeks (If you would ever hear that story about the Little Christmas Tree, I'm sure you'd feel the same way). We had used an artificial tree for many years and when it was time to upgrade it to the new trees with lights and all that, we decided to get a much taller tree, since that would fill the space better in our 20 foot high ceiling living room. So, we were able to find this large 10' tree after the season at a local Lowe's at an insane discount. We didn't think much at the time about the fact that it came in 2 large boxes. Since it was after the season we couldn't see it in display, but we took it on faith that it would work. Well, what we didn't realize the following Christmas is that this tree needed a crew of at least a couple of men to be hoisted and put together. Definitely not something I could do by myself (like with the old tree). Secondly, we didn't realize that trees come in a lot of different widths. This tree was so wide at the base that it almost overtook and blocked the hallway near the stairs where we wanted to put it. Not to mention that I just didn't have enough decorations for it, and that you needed a super tall (and scary) ladder to decorate it.
Storing it was also an issue. Even though we got rid of the old tree (that came in 1 box) now we needed to find room for 2 large boxes in the garage. My husband actually even had to temporarily take the garage door railing apart so he could put one of the boxes on the shelving behind it! Worth it??. . .Don't know yet.
The following year I decided I could put it perhaps in the living room where it would not block the hallway as much. Again, this meant moving furniture out of the room, finding a place to put the love seat, and yet it still it felt like it was too much for the space.
I thought, well let's make it fun, maybe if we have a Holiday Tree Trimming Party, people will enjoy making ornaments and helping decorate the humongous tree, just like Giada De Laurentis did in her cooking show! Well people came to the party, but no one was too keen on decorating the tree. They figured they had to do it at home, so why do it again? I guess we didn't have the incentive of having people be on a TV show if they helped us decorate our tree.
I ended up making a lot of large silk floral sprays with white (a few metallic red) poinsettias, pine cones, baby's breath and lotus pods, in an effort to cover a lot of tree one spray at a time (instead of a million little decorations). To keep costs low I also just put a lot of ribbon bows everywhere. Again, it helped to get it decorated, but was it worth it???
The following Christmas it was such a hassle, to undo the garage door, haul out the tree, ladder, etc., etc., etc. that we decided it was time to get a different tree. My husband also really wanted one with LED instead of incandescent lights, so we opted for this small tree that was so manageable in comparison to what we used to have that we decided to go for it.
Since I had more than enough floral sprays I decided to cover the entire tree in them so that it would almost look like a floral tree. Again I didn't want to waste the efforts (or money) invested in creating all those silk floral sprays! I still also used some of my favorite ornaments here and there, to keep it personal. 
Overall, I was pleased with the results. On the bonus side, since the tree was up on the table, I could display my collection of miniature Nativity sets and they wouldn't be trampled by the cats. On the down side, there was not as much room for the gifts. . .but that was ok, since I put the gifts at the last minute usually. Again. . .the cats. . .
The best part was at the end of the season. I did not have to take the tree apart at all, take any lights off. Hey, I decided to not even take off a single ornament. I simply put a black garbage bag over the entire thing and shoved it as it was right in the closet under the stairs! The following year, yeah I did have a few casualties in terms of ornaments that "shifted during travel", but hey, I got a surplus of ornaments now, so it was not a big deal!
This year I had a bit of a catastrophe with the pedestal urn base though which was buckling under the weight of the tree (check the first picture and notice the different tree base as compared with the last picture). I had to think quickly on my feet and ran to the yard to get a clay pot to place the tree (remember it has all the ornaments on it!). I was able to stuff it in the pot, with the addition of newspaper, floral foam and wrapping paper, and averted a major crisis. That base was never very stable, and the tree was always leaning a bit. I think this pot will be a much more stable base for it.
Now the decision is whether to take the ornaments off or not this year? I'm considering taking at least the breakable ones off since they do get banged up during the shoving in the closet process. Not to mention, what if I have another stability crisis? We'll see. . .
Oh, and what happened to the big old tree? No, it did not end in the dump thank God. There was a happy ending there as well. It turns out our local community theatre group needed a large tree for their Christmas show. So guess who made a splash on stage? Finally a place where that tree could be given its proper space to shine, literally! It was really made for the stage!
We are assuming it is back in storage now. Not sure if they will be able to use it again. But if someone needs a giant tree, we all now where they can find one now.
So was it all worth it in the end? I think so. . .Don't you?
Overall, I was pleased with the results. On the bonus side, since the tree was up on the table, I could display my collection of miniature Nativity sets and they wouldn't be trampled by the cats. On the down side, there was not as much room for the gifts. . .but that was ok, since I put the gifts at the last minute usually. Again. . .the cats. . .
The best part was at the end of the season. I did not have to take the tree apart at all, take any lights off. Hey, I decided to not even take off a single ornament. I simply put a black garbage bag over the entire thing and shoved it as it was right in the closet under the stairs! The following year, yeah I did have a few casualties in terms of ornaments that "shifted during travel", but hey, I got a surplus of ornaments now, so it was not a big deal!
This year I had a bit of a catastrophe with the pedestal urn base though which was buckling under the weight of the tree (check the first picture and notice the different tree base as compared with the last picture). I had to think quickly on my feet and ran to the yard to get a clay pot to place the tree (remember it has all the ornaments on it!). I was able to stuff it in the pot, with the addition of newspaper, floral foam and wrapping paper, and averted a major crisis. That base was never very stable, and the tree was always leaning a bit. I think this pot will be a much more stable base for it.
Now the decision is whether to take the ornaments off or not this year? I'm considering taking at least the breakable ones off since they do get banged up during the shoving in the closet process. Not to mention, what if I have another stability crisis? We'll see. . .
Oh, and what happened to the big old tree? No, it did not end in the dump thank God. There was a happy ending there as well. It turns out our local community theatre group needed a large tree for their Christmas show. So guess who made a splash on stage? Finally a place where that tree could be given its proper space to shine, literally! It was really made for the stage!
We are assuming it is back in storage now. Not sure if they will be able to use it again. But if someone needs a giant tree, we all now where they can find one now.
So was it all worth it in the end? I think so. . .Don't you?
Posted by Jacqueline Arroyo. Posted In : Holiday decorating
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