A Christmas Village in the Tree and other Tree Traditions

Growing up, my absolute FAVORITE Christmas tradition was my bedroom tree. My parents let my brother and I get our own trees each holiday season. I have memories cutting trees in the great big forests. We would cut our family tree, then my brother and I would be on a search for the our own perfect baby trees. Three trees tied up, ready to take home. Year after year, that was my FAVORITE tradition! My brother had fake popcorn garland for his tree and I had fake candy garland. In fact, I still use my candy garland for my kitchen decor. You may have seen it in previous photos. My brother and I also had our own fake little trees for the years we didn't cut fresh trees. Our trees were always about 3 feet high and full of colored lights. I remember lying in my room on December nights with only my tree lights on. I would sit and just stare at my tree, full of true wonder and magic of the Christmas season. Having my own tree provided me excitement for Christmas that has forever stayed with me.

When I had my own kids, we started to follow the same tradition. We had a couple fresh little trees until last year and my Dad showed up in our entryway with three fake trees as tall as the kids for each of the boys!

My Dad surprising the boys with their own trees 2009

The boys were SO excited they started fluffing their trees before they made it to their rooms...

last year 2009, after the boys received their own bedroom trees.

Kotah makes me smile. He is so artistic and creative. Almost minutes after putting up his tree, he made paper ornaments, paper garland, and a paper angel for his tree....completely unassisted! He used the same paper ornaments this year too.

We also give our boys a Hallmark ornament every Thanksgiving to add to their little trees. My grandparents always gave my brother and me Hallmark ornaments each Thanksgiving for our trees and it was a start to both an enduring collection and timeless tradition.


Another decorating tradition we do is display snapshots of our trees from Christmases past. It's always fun to remember those years and see how the tree changes.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~


Onto the MAIN tree...

A Glittery Christmas Village in the Tree

Our family spends Christmas at my parents house. We stay the night on Christmas Eve and we stay through the holiday. Because of this, we consider their tree our official holiday tree. My mom hosted a family tree trimming party a few weeks ago. Everyone participated in decorating the tree...yes, even the guys! We spent a Sunday with chicken, cookies, carols, and tree decorating.

The guys really are helping! I caught them both deep in thought.
They did an excellent job too while my Mom supervised.

Last year her tree was filled with sleds, mittens, bells, and Roses. This year it was made over with glitter, whimsy, and a holiday village.



The little house...

The schoolhouse...

The cottage...

The church...

The glittery details..whimsical white trees throughout...

And fuzzy snowflakes...

Icy icicles...

Glitter Birds...


My favorite...the ribbon pinecones!


Under the tree are the BIG village buildings...
the BIG schoolhouse...

The big church and cottages...


A winter wonderland tree for our Merry Little Christmas. Thank you Mom for always creating a place of beauty for our magic.


Be sure to see last year's tree with Sleds, Mittens, Bells, and Roses. I'm CURIOUS what tree you prefer. We are divided at our house on which is better. {wink}

This post is linked to: No Minimalist Here, Centsational Girl, Somewhat Simple, DIY Showoff, Home for the Holidays, Deck the Halls, Southern Hospitality, DIY Showoff, The Lettered Cottage, Dare To, DIY Living, Seasonal Sundays, , Strut Your Stuff at Saturday Mornings, Making the World Cuter, Motivate Me Mondays, Market Yourself Mondays, It's So Very Creative, Tasty Tuesday, Tempt My Tummy, Tuesdays at the Table, Topsy Turvy Tuesday, Tuesdays Unwrapped, Toot Your Horn Tuesday, Get Your Craft On, We're Organized Wednesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Works for Me Wednesday, Show and Tell, Whatever Goes Wednesday, Tablescape Thursday, Spotlight Yourself, Show off Your Stuff, Strut Your Stuff, Friday Favorites*, Show and Share Day, Foodie Friday*, I'm Lovin It*, Funky Junk Interiors*, Fabulous Friday Finds*, Tickled Pink*, Be Different Act Normal, Weekend Wrap Up