Have you been taking in all those gorgeous, non decorated Christmas trees here and there lately?
I’ve loved their simplicity.
So after getting our tree home, I honestly did attempt to decorate it to the hilt.
But… everything just felt wrong.
Spindly trees look strange with lots on them.
I love this real tree’s quirkiness, and wished to highlight that instead.
So I stripped it one last time, and made snow instead. Just like you’d find a tree in the woods.
Then proceeded to decorate the base of the tree, and deem it,
“A natural cabin in the snow Christmas tree”.
My son did not approve, at first.
“WHERE ARE THE DECORATIONS?!”
But I did invite him to fill’er up as desired!
Funny how short lived that need was…
How to make realistic-ish snow:
Slightly pull apart some cotton balls.
Mound on the tree in a random fashion, creating drifts.
Spritz with spray snow, allowing the spray to build up on the cotton.
Mist the surrounding branches.
Snow!
Another post on making realistic snow indoors is HERE.
The base of the tree got the decor this round.
Re-using the Cabin Resort sign you saw on my fall mantel HERE (full tutorial), it worked perfectly to hide the tree stand.
The sign is made with a Cabin Resort stencil found HERE.
Then natural elements such as branches, lantern, some gifts, and a hat kinda spins the story that Santa just may have landed here for a short break in between his many duties this time of year.
I wish the pictures captured how pretty it is in real life. It’s a tough room to photograph.
Simple and non complicated. Kinda like the entire theme of Christmas at our home this year.
Christmas mantel post is HERE
I may fit in more decorated rooms as they get done. But I won’t panic if they don’t. I’m actually busy painting my front entry.
What Christmas baking? oops…
Something I always tell my son when he freaks out about us running out of something…
“The stores have lots! We’ll just get more!”
Good thing they stock cookies, huh?
So now all that’s really left to do is wait for Santa…
Cookie-less.
Hey… at least we have a carrots… 🙂
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Did you go real or faux this year? What’s the theme of your tree?
It’s gorgeous, Donna. We have a spindly tree also, they are my favorite because they allow the ornaments to shine without looking “stuffed” with them. 🙂 Love the “snow!” Merry Christmas!
Perfect!!! What a happy tree. I love that you let things happen…..you are in tune with your projects.
The tree is lovely. There is beauty in simplicity. But the fact that you don’t have cookies in the house is inexcusable! Get to that store now, and tell your son you made them when he was in school! 😉 Merry Christmas!
Interesting – I too have been feeling that it just feels off to be decorating the tree – but maybe my reasons are a bit different. And I did bend to tradition and decorate – but just may do otherwise till another year. (side note – I love, love your blog and ideas… but my system can hardly handle it anymore – and we have highspeed whatever its called – all the videos ect. running in the background make it very slow and sometimes it won’t ‘budge’. So I visit very infrequently anymore – makes me sad…)
Greetings from Ontario & Merry Christmas, Donna. I just LOVE your “undecorated” tree and perfect decor at the base!!!!! It suits your house and setting to a T. (Love your cat too!).
It’s a funny coincidence but just these past few weeks when seeing the many trees on blogs, Pinterest and such, I found I’m really disliking that overdone look. There was one tree in particular last week, where I actually said out loud “gee, where’s the tree??”. (I live alone so I do that a lot! Ha!). It was so over-loaded, no greenery showed ….. AT all! All you could see was a tree-shaped mass of that mesh ribbon – to me, the tree looked absolutely garish. Here’s hoping you start a new tradition! All the best for 2016.
I love it! I’m also happy to know that I’m not the only one tackling painting jobs only a couple days before Christmas. I just finished painting the front hall closet. It was bugging me for y-e-a-r-s! I have a small spindly fake tree and love it. I’m thinking maybe a live one next year. I too have decorated my house kind of sparsely this year, but I like the look of the simplicity.
I wish you and your son a very Merry Christmas!
GORGEOUS!!!!
Season’s Greetings, Donna
I have enjoyed your articles since the beginning. And will continue to enjoy them for a long time. I loved this one on the Christmas tree. I think it turned out great. Wish I had seen it before I put up our “prelit tree”
Something shorted out and, ‘No Lights’. So; to find enough lights, it’s a big tree. It almost ended up in the garbage container. It still might. But I did scrape enough lights together to cover it adequately. Now to find the rest of the decorations.Oh well. Tis the season to be crazy er merry.
Hope you and your son have a fantastic Christmas, and all the Best for 2016.
Hugs, Carol.
Oh no Carol! Here I was envious of those trees all pre-lit, but if they short out, no thanks!
I held onto our faux trees for so long, it was a joy to let them go. Now I’m forced to get real. LOL That’s one way to save space anyway!
I really like that Donna and it’s exactly the type of tree I’d love to have at my cabin (by Anderson Lake BC). Maybe next year because this year Christmas is in England and the tree is a very traditional one with loads of sparkly baubles and huge garlands of tinsel. Robert is very much into tradition and I don’t have the heart to suggest that we change that. 😀
If I were in England, I’d want to do what they do there too! Your tree sounds AMAZING! I hope you have a wonderful season, Veronica!
LOVE LOVE LOVE the beautiful simplicity of it….We’re sweltering down here in Florida – Christmas is expected to be in the 80s – ugh., and my tree is decorated to the hilt with just a portion of my collection….. Oh well, what’s a girl to do? I love all your decorations. How do you keep your beautiful cat from eating everything? We have a cat we call our “junkyard dog” because he eats anything and everything he can reach – he is especially fond of drinking the water from the Christmas tree stand! Have a wonderful holiday! And thanks for sharing.
Haha, sounds like you have your hands full, Dianne!
Our cats have no interest in the tree. They just walk by it like it’s another piece of furniture. How did we get so lucky, I don’t know. But I’ll take it! 🙂
Our cats are spoiled and super particular… water MUST be fresh out of the fridge dispenser, ice cold, or it’s a no go. That right there saves the tree I guess! haha
I love this! We can’t have real trees because of allergies. 🙁 Fake trees just do not look very good empty…at least none that I can afford to buy. I did buy a new tree for my screened porch this year & left it empty. It doesn’t look too bad during the day but I mainly set it up for night.
Love it! And love the cabin sign!
Love the tree, I don’t know why, but I could see few twig/wood reindeer flying down towards the cabin, Donna, you make my imagination come alive, Thank you and Merry Christmas to you and yours.
What a fun idea Dawn! And Merry Christmas to you!
I absolutely love this! Simplcity is perfection!
I forgot to add…. Merry Christmas!
That snow looks amazingly real. What kind of spray snow did you use?
Ohhh boy… I just pick up whatever I can find. They are pretty much all the same, but what I did was let the spray snow ‘spit out’ slowly so it would pile up a little. Worked great! The more layers you add, the more realistic it gets!
Merry Christmas, Donna! I just want to take a minute and thank you for all the work you put into not only your own blog, but for everyone. Your home, your style is amazing, and your skills maddening! It’s always a treat to see what your creative mind is up to, and I hope your 2015 is even more successful than this year past. Best wishes.
Rita
Love the rustic simplicity of both your tree and fireplace mantel. Both add welcoming and homey feel to your home. Merry Christmas to you and yours Donna!
P.S. In my blog post today you may recognize your stencils used creatively on a few of the home decor pieces I DIYed for the holidays.
Donna,
You did it again, naturally! Thank-you for sharing your Christmas tree, and everything all year long. Merry Christmas, Lovely Lady.
Love your tree Donna – it’s simply perfect.
Merry Christmas from Mississauga, Ontario.
I think the tree looks excellent, and the cotton balls misted with spray snow worked great for realistic looking snow.