I don’t know if decorating a Christmas tree is a bigger deal for a “lonely Jewish girl” or if I’m just weird. Okay wait. I am weird so that doesn’t really help my argument here. LOL but I absolutely love decorating for the holidays!
Growing up we had a “Hanukkah Bush” that incorporated both of the religious faiths of my parents at one time. But I absolutely love decorating the tree! I love decorating the mantle and the rooms in general and this is just one of my most warm and fuzzy favorite feelings ever.
So as a Jewish kid getting to decorate someone else’s Christmas tree whether it was mine or everyone else’s in my life was extra special So today we’re going to cover all the different ways you can decorate a tree. Some are ideas about traditional ways and actually have a tree involved and some are a lot more creative. So let’s Dive Right In!
Doing an ornament covered tree
This is your vanilla version of Christmas tree decorating and involves a tree on a stand that you either bought from a tree farm, or went to a really cool tree farm and cut down yourself or Target was selling the plastic ones and you just took it out of the box you have kept in storage for the year.
This concept revolves around hanging ornaments, some are round balls of glass, some are shaped like the character that they are depicting, some are homemade and some are store-bought.
Some families have a tradition of buying a new ornament every year and hanging it on their tree and then every year bringing out all of the ornaments, reminiscing about the year that they were bought or the meaning behind them. Some trees are decorated with strings of lights, while some are decorated with strands of freshly popped popcorn.
Getting glitzy when choosing items for your tree
Some trees are decorated with tinsel which has long strips of shimmery thin metallic paper that can just get dangled and tossed all over the tree. Some people make paper chains to string around the tree from top to bottom.
That’s easy and fun to make as a family anytime!You could try your hand at slices of dried fruit made into garland too.
Some people even like to add fake snow. I’m not entirely sure what fake snow is made of but I know that in the movie Home Alone they used gallons of dehydrated potato flakes to recreate the images of snow outside.
Sadly, during filming they had a terrible rainstorm or snowfall and all the potato flakes got wet and completely rotted all over the streets. For a full description of that incident watch the Netflix special “The Movies that Made Us” the Home Alone Edition. You’ll thank me for it. 😉 c, you should watch them all if you are into nostalgic and interesting facts about your favorite movies.
Trees can be thematic. You can have a tree with a color scheme, Red, Green and Gold. Everything you use has those colors on it. But more unique ideas might be, candy themed, a snowflake/winter theme, rustic items, homemade only items or things found in nature. I live in Texas so a cute cowboy, farm decor might be soooooo apropos. Really the sky’s the limit.
Actually, I think you can buy an upside down tree that kept the cats from climbing the tree and worked well for people with small children or small space to have a tree sitting for a month. Google this and see all the way people have used an upside down tree. It’s brilliant and odd at the same time.
Decorating a Christmas tree that’s Not a tree
Decorating a christmas tree does not have to be with a “real or fake” tree. There are so many interesting ways that you could interpret decorating a “tree” for the holidays. You can buy a styrofoam cone and cover it in strands of yarn, use straight pins and sequins and bling that baby out! You can stack mason jars like in this link and add twinkle lights to each jar even (check item 11 on their list)!
Apparently in the current financial climate that we are facing in the United States during COVID as well as a supply and demand crisis, Christmas trees this year are going to be more expensive. However, this article says there is NOT a shortage of trees. It is recommended that you invest in an artificial tree and the New York Times has an article about the top five ones to buy.
Honestly I’m not sure how I feel about it. On one hand growing trees with the intent to just cut them down at some point seems frivolous and very unfriendly to Nature. But this other side of me really loves the smell of a fresh-cut pine tree and the beauty of nature inside my house. But if it were me I’d probably just decorate one that’s already growing in the backyard or find a small tabletop fake tree to decorate and used to symbolize my celebration of the holiday.
No matter what you decide and which direction you want to go, whether it be about being kind to nature or going for the gusto. Just remember the purpose of the holiday, we are getting together as a family to celebrate, to eat good food, have meaningful conversations, and time to rest and regroup.
Happy Holidays!
