O Kitchen Tree, O Kitchen Tree

I finished putting up the kitchen tree tonight. Katie Anne and I worked on the lights while dinner was cooking, and I put the "ornaments" on after we got her to bed. I use red ribbon with snowflakes on this one, and the ornaments are all cookie cutters (stole this idea from my mom a few years ago).

We weren't planning on

putting up the kitchen tree this year, and this isn't actually even the tree I normally use. (I normally use a shorter one- hence the short ribbons.) We were actually just going to put up this one skinny tree this year as our "main" tree, but Saunders and I both felt like it was a little anticlimactic as our main tree once we saw it in the living room. So, since it was already up, we moved it in to the kitchen, and then we put our main big one up in the living room. I was really glad that Saunders broke his "one tree this year" rule because now we have a tree people can see from the street.

Okay, so three people have emailed me, wanting to know what is up with seven trees! Actually, when I counted, I think it is 8 trees. :) Go ahead, call the funny farm. First of all, let me say they are NOT eight full-size trees... only 3 are big trees. The others are from two feet - four feet tall, so they are not huge by any means.

Here's the run down...
Tree 1: Regular big tree in the living room, decorated with all the mix-matched handmade ornaments, yearly ornaments, handprints of KA and dogs, etc... homemade, kind of country look, I guess. This is my favorite tree of all because it looks like the tree we always had at my parents' house. I can't wait until Katie Anne starts making all those cute little handmade ornaments for it!
Tree 2 and 3: I have two of these tall, skinny trees, one of which is this year's kitchen tree. They usually go in the two dining room windows with all the "fancy" stuff (aka clearance beaded fruit bought circa 2000 at after-Christmas sale at Michael's and glass ornaments bought on Joanne's clearance last year) on them.
Tree 4: I have a four foot tree that's usually the kitchen tree, decorated with cookie cutters.
Tree 5, 6, and 7: I have three small trees that are usually my teacher ornaments trees, and these usually go in the living room, too. Sometimes in the office.
Tree 8: I have a silver tree for Katie Anne's room with pink and green ornaments. Very small (I think 3 feet), kind of funky looking Charlie Brown silver tree with really cool, modern, tiny funky ornaments. I LOVE this tree. I really wish I could put this up this year, but Saunders put his foot down.

I take great pride in my Christmas decor thriftiness, which means I've never paid full price for a single tree. The best deals by far were one year when my mom and I bought a ton of stuff after Christmas at Old Time Pottery... that's where I got the two skinny trees, and I think I paid like $20 for each of them, and they're labeled $69.99 on the boxes. We also found a lot of cool stuff last year at Joanne's, which is where I got the pretty ribbon for my "fancy" trees. I do not remember when I got my metal, springy-legged snowmen that are on my mantle, but I remember I got them for a great price and I just love them. I noticed Stacey said on her blog that she's started doing that, too- buying things after Christmas for next year. The good thing about this is you get some great deals on cute stuff. The bad thing is that you get so excited about stuff you find, but you have to wait about 350 days to actually use it. This is why I got so sad when we were getting out Christmas decorations this weekend- I saw all those great deals from last year crying out to be used after sweating it out all summer in a hot attic, and I had to deny them! Oh, the guilt.

What's on my decor wishlist this year? I probably won't buy much this year because we're working on saving $$$ for the basement. But, if I can find some really sweet after-Christmas deals, here's what I need...
*2 new wreaths- both of mine are broken. I had to toss the one that's usually on the garage door, and I'm hoping the front door one will last through this holiday season. The pinecones are falling off, so I just kind of sat them in the wreath and hoped they didn't fall!
*Prelit garland for the front porch- I've never really found a front porch decorating scheme I've been happy with in the 3 Christmases we've been in this house. Maybe prelit is the way to go.

And, I do have an idea for a new themed tree. Okay, so it is an illness, but hear me out, fellow moms. I was thinking that, in a few years, it would be so pretty to have a handprint tree. I did handprints of Katie Anne and both dogs last year with white air dry clay. If I do one every year of the kid/kids (the dogs' paws won't change that much, and they HATED the air dry clay, so I won't make them redo it), in a few years I'd have enough to have a whole tree of just their little white handprints throughout the years. Wouldn't that be a pretty thing?

Wait. Can you imagine the giant circles of clay it would take to do teenage hands, though? Saunders and I have monster hands, so our kids probably will, too. I'm looking at my hand and guessing it is at least 8 inches long... so it would take at least a 9 inch diameter circle of clay... that would be huge. Hmm... maybe not so good of an idea...