Yes, this is the last installment. A short one, at that.

Yes, we’ve basically run out of room for more Christmas trees. Big ones, that is.

But there are tabletop trees. Which fit conveniently in small places. And a few other decorating ideas as well.

I’d been given a little 2 foot tabletop tree a couple of years ago from a coworker to use in my office. I loved it, and I even made my own garland to go on it. It was a perfect addition for Christmas, and I also added some Santa Claus flamingo ornaments (of course) to the little tree skirt. Everyone loved it.

Because of Covid, last March my department started working remotely, and we have been ever since. So this year I brought that little tree home and set it up in my craft studio. And it fit perfectly! I can work on my jewelry and have a Christmas tree with me.

That gave me an idea though, of course, and I decided to do a little tabletop gingerbread man tree in the desk area of our kitchen. After all, I bake Christmas cookies in there every year, so it was only appropriate. The size was perfect. Plus there was no room in the kitchen for another tree. I love these ornaments with the cookies holding the spoons and such, and so did the grandkids! And yes, the wine cork snowman sitting beside it is also my creation.

Then there are the wine cork trees I made for the dining room bar. They actually aren’t quite as easy as I thought they’d be, but since I had several bags of corks just waiting to be used, who was I to just let them sit around and do nothing?

And since I had a few of those Styrofoam cones left over from the wine cork trees, I decided to try making the yarn wrapped decorative trees, which were a lot easier to do. My husband says I’m done now for this year, because we’re running out of room again!

And as a surprise for our granddaughters, in their mermaid bedroom we‘d decorated for them at our house, I set up another little white tabletop tree with mermaid and seahorse ornaments. They were so excited! They may not spend the night here often, but it doesn’t mean their room has to go undecorated for the season.

Last, but certainly not least, there’s our Christmas ledge, decorated by my husband. When we built our home some 20+ years ago we had the builder add this feature we’d seen in another model house. We thought it gave a finishing touch to the two story foyer, and it absolutely did.

Although usually decorated with a generic theme most of the year, Ben also loves to decorate it for Christmas. Over the years we’ve had small Christmas trees up there, several wrapped packages, Christmas angels, lighted poinsettias, and for the last couple of years two fancy Santa Clauses we just couldn’t resist. All set up on lighted Buffalo snow. 

It’s something he really enjoys doing, and he changes it up just a bit every year.  Of course I sort of assist by helping him take the current decor down and handing him the lights, snow, and whatever else he wants to add, but this is his creation, and lots of our neighbors have told us how much they enjoy seeing the lights from our ledge every year.

Yes, all of this is a lot of work, but it’s worth it to see the house just filled with Christmas every year. It puts us all in such a happy holiday spirit.

And just about every room now has its own Christmas tree, so I guess there may not be any new ones for next year. But….I saw this really pretty little blue Christmas tree decorated with teal ornaments on the December issue of Southern Living just a few nights ago, and I’d sure like to figure out a way to add that one next year, but please don’t tell my husband yet….

So Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to all. Spend time with your family. Love each other. 

And remember the reason for the season. It’s not all about Christmas trees, you know. They’re just a nice accent!