This post first appeared on Oh That's Chelsey! and is used with permission.
By Chelsey Erdmann
We’ve been married for 8 Christmases, with kids for 4 of those, and this year is the first year we’ve had an actual Christmas tree.
Real tree as in an artificial one, but an actual tree. Not a mini tree or a tree made of horseshoes. Now, a proper Christmas tree.
Unnecessary spending
Honestly, part of the reason I never bought a tree was because of the work it takes to put it all away. It’s fun to put up and decorate, but daunting to go in reverse.
It’s also money and I’ve prioritized my “fun” spending. We have indulgences and treats where we spend money, absolutely, and they are all weighed against each other.
A tree wasn’t high on my list.
What about a free tree?
The funny part is how much my dad encouraged me to get a tree! It meant so much to him that when he mentioned the church had a tree to give away, I said I would take it. I mean we had gone without a tree for 6 years, we could start now with a free tree.
Except when I got the tree, it was beautiful!
Balsam Hill, beautiful.
Plus it was all packed neatly in clear totes with the lights wrapped around wooden dividers.
So I made a donation to the church, which I was happy to do.
Year 7 with no tree
Then we moved and lived in a tiny rental house with less than the bare necessities, so we didn’t put the beautiful new tree up for year seven.
We’ve got a tree & a dilemma
Now that we’re living in the shop, we have a place to put this beautiful tree and we’re ready to do Christmas like we’ve never done before! Except now, I have no ornaments.
I had thought of this before setting the tree up, and my plan was to simply have lights this year. I would wait until the after-Christmas sales to find ornaments on sale to decorate this tree.
Then I got the tree up with lights and it looked bare. I wrestled with the thought or purchasing ornaments this year for a week or so. Luckily, I never found any I loved enough to feel guilted into purchasing them.
Tablecloths on the tree
Kade told my mother-in-law that we put tablecloths on the tree and the way he said it made it sound like quite the sight!
After I decided not to buy ornaments, I searched for ribbon to buy. The plan was to tie bows and place them around the tree in place of ornaments. Luckily, again, I couldn’t find the ribbon I had in mind.
I had sold some items on Mercari, had a credit on the app, and bought cheesecloth table runners to decorate our tables for Thanksgiving. You know, because with the credit I had, they were “free.” I was folding them to put them away after washing when I thought about tying them into a bow to put on the tree, and IT WORKED!
Read the rest of Chelsey’s post about her Christmas tree on her blog, Oh That’s Chelsey!
Chelsey is the District 5 representative on the NDFB Promotion and Education Committee.