Two years ago I bought my first tree. It was 6’5 feet tall and cost me $35, pre-lit. I got it from Wal-Mart. I then picked up some ornaments that cost me $5 for 12 ornaments. I picked up four of those. Then, I decided I needed some garland to go around the tree… so I picked up a paper chain. All from Wal-Mart.
Yes, I bought a paper chain. If you can’t remember what a paper chain is… think back to elementary school. You would cut strips of paper out and glue them in circles to make a paper chain. The typical colors were red & green. You enjoyed as school kid, so why not enjoy it now. I however, decided to create my own… well… I’m this working girl now so I can pay some poor kid to make it for me. Or in this case, it was probably an adult in China
Then, I bought a tree skirt. However, I was really surprised at how expense most tree skirts are. In retrospect, I bought a really expensive one that I wish I hadn’t bought… but, in my defense, I thought it was part of the $20 tree skirts. I found out later that it was in the $40 tree skirt section.
So, that was year one. $ Ornaments > $ of Tree. Hhmmm…..
$35 tree
$20 ornaments
$40 tree skirt
$15 paper chain
$110 total costs to decorate tree
Well year two rolled around. I got married. But we kept the tree!! But, I decided to go with something a bit different. Those $20 ornaments were no longer good enough and I threw away the paper chain (my thoughts the year before, well, were it was cheap enough to buy again if I wanted it again).
This time around, Rob and I went shopping together… and we went to Garden Ridge. Hmmph Wal-Mart--- hello Garden Ridge!!!! Umm, that place is slightly ridiculous. And my husband went crazy. God, I love him. He just kind of took over and started dropping things in the basket. We bought new garland for the tree, this type these silver bead things. (Side note: we neglected to buy enough & had to wrap the tree twice before we were clever enough to get it all the way to the top). We bought pink, green, blue, gold, and silver ornaments of various sizes and variety. Our rule was, just buy two of you know… everything. HA! Oh, and we didn’t replace the tree skirt. That was $40 bucks you know.
So, that was year two. $ Ornaments > $ of Tree
$35 tree spent in year 1
$75 on ornaments spent in year 1
$150 on ornaments spent in year 2
Yes… let’s not forget the important thing here people…. $35 tree!!!
So, now we are onto year three: the current year. Last weekend we put up our tree. However, I knew we had enough ornaments. And Dave (our Budget Nazi-- also known as Dave Ramsey--keeping us financially sound, so I can’t really talk bad about him, hehe). But, this year… I decided I need to up it up a notch. I decided to try the whole mesh thing. I found some at the Houston Nutcracker Market--- which is kind of like this huge craft fair type place--- I bought the color purple to go with my multi-color tree.
And then, I bought this red & green color mesh on a separate roll….for a separate tree garland that I decided I would buy. Note… I bought the decorations prior to the garland. WHOOPS!
Our only problem…. We had no idea how to get it on the tree. Or the garland. Yes, we did go and buy the garland from Garden Ridge. We also picked up more silver bead garland for the tree (I had not forgotten our problem from last year!) We looked at several trees online, called my mother-in-law… but I was too afraid.
My brave Robert took that mesh and just started going with it. It was AMAZING!!! He got it going and then it just took off. I had to ask, “can I do some?” He did the first mesh section on the tree. Got me started on the second and I finished it up. We even did all this while watching the Mississippi St. game that went into over time.
Once we put up all the ornaments on the tree (w/ NO new ones), I decided to start on the garland. We bought cheap garland.. had to string lights on it first. I couldn’t find twinkling lights like I wanted, but Rob said he could fix that. He traded some “regular” light bulbs for “twinkling” light bulbs. The only problem. It didn’t really make them twinkle. Instead, they blinked. On, Off. On, Off.
I decided to do the mesh myself on the garland this time. I did the red & green mesh on my garland. I started off real well, but the middle and the end didn’t look so great. By this time it’s double overtime in the Arkansas
THEN… The game ends (HOGS WIN!!!) and we try to hang up the garland on the lower section of our entertainment center. Only problem… it won’t stay up there w/o some assistance. So, I decide that we MUST make a quick run to Kroger (never going to Wal-Mart at ten at night in Houston
We hang up the garland and then head on off to bed. As you can see here… we don’t do too much at night. This Christmas tree decorating was the highlight of our weekend!!
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| The final result P.S. I did buy an Angel for the top, but she was to big for my tiny tree and wouldn't stand up. So she sits on a bookcase instead. |
Then a few days later, I just can’t stand looking at the “On. Off. On. Off” lights. Neither can I stand how my mesh looks on my garland. I make some “quick fixes.” Wrapped a couple of limbs (one of those “sticky out things”) around various areas of my mesh to make it look better. I wish I had the patience to just start things over instead of “quick fixes.” But I just don’t. It does look better now. Rob turned off my “blinking” lights and now they just stay on. Phew. I think every time they blinked, I blinked and they just mostly seemed off. HAHA… Ok, small joke. Probably not funny.
[I would insert the garland here, but it's not that great, so you aren't missing out]
To break down this down in dollars:
$35 tree spent in year 1
$75 on ornaments spent in year 1
$150 on ornaments spent in year 2
$24 on mesh spent in year 3
How is that I just keep adding to my $35 tree?? I can only think of the day that I buy a really nice, tall Christmas tree. If I can outspend my tree by three to one w/ a $35 tree… imagine what it will be w/ a more expensive tree? Hhmm.. I’ll save that for maybe next year. J
Anyways, that was the perils of my Christmas tree decorating.
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| Us in front of the tree! We had to kneel.. or else it loked like crazy stuff was coming out of our heads! |
On a random side note: I took this picture after my Company's Christmas party. This in a really nice neighborhood really close to our apartment. It's the kind of house I can only dream of living in. But the outside all decorated is beautiful.
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| This is the only part that I could fit in my camera frame. The whole house is dressed like this. |
Hmm.. if I can triple the price of my tree... I wonder what I will do when I have the outside of a house to decorate... we'll save that one for another day!
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