Red and White Nordic Style Christmas Tree....{again}

Well, here I am.....finally sharing my Christmas tree....on New Year's Eve.  A little late I know, but technically I still had 5 more days to get it in since the 12 days of Christmas don't actually end until January 5th.  :)

Ok, so if you've been around this blog for awhile you might remember that last year I did a red and white Nordic style tree as well.  See that one {HERE}.  We had just moved into our new home and the tree was basically the only decor we had time to put up.  Well, this year was my husband's year for the tree, (if you're new-ish to the blog and don't know our tradition, one year I get to pick the tree decor and the next year Hubby picks and we alternate back and forth each year.)  so that meant the tree would have colored lights, lots of non-themed ornaments, and tons of tinsel.  And I'm ok with that, I really am.  His family teased me a lot this year that I got upset about it being his turn and demanded to have my own tree.  Not true.  I simply decided that we finally have a nice home that has the space for two full sized trees, so why not?  I certainly have enough ornaments for it.  Truth be told, I could outfit a 3rd full size tree with my vintage ornament collection, but I didn't think he'd be willing to go that far. :)  

 I LOVED the red and white tree last year and it made me a little sad to think of it all staying packed away and not on display.  So, I used some of my hard earned Etsy money and bought my own tree for the dining room.  His tree was displayed in front of the big front window in what we call the school room.

I added 4 new ornaments and a new strand of white garland to it this year, but otherwise it was all stuff I already had.

During the editing process I realized that maybe part of a strand of lights quit working there at the bottom of the tree.  It's not lit up as bright as it should have been.

After looking at last year's pictures I realized the tree needed better garland on it.  You couldn't really see the wooden cranberry garland in the pictures, and I think a tree doesn't look complete without garland.  Plus, it just needed more white on it.  I considered going old-fashioned and stringing real popcorn, I can remember doing that as a kid a time or two and I always enjoyed how it looked.  But I decided against it since we have a kitten in the house this year and I just didn't know if she would try to eat it and in so doing knock the whole tree down.

So instead, I bought these felted strands I found at Hobby Lobby.  The guy cashier looked at it funny when he scanned it and in a bewildered voice he asked, "What are you going to do with this?"  I don't think he even knew what it was, lol!  He looked like he thought I was nuts when I told him it was tree garland.  Hubby had the same "wow, you're really strange" reaction when I showed it to him, too.  He said, "What is it?  It looks like dreadlocks from Santa's beard."  That made me laugh out loud!  :D  Well, whatever it was it was perfect for this style of tree. 

The tree topper is a fuzzy snowflake that fits perfectly with this theme.  I can't remember where I bought it though.  I'm thinking it was Walmart last year, but I didn't see them there this year so I'm not 100% sure.

The trees skirt is actually a round vintage tablecloth I bought on Etsy.  I cut a slit in it and it works perfectly!

The tree doesn't consist of just "decorator" type of ornaments either.  There are plenty of meaningful ones on there too.  The top left "Let it Snow" is a favorite of mine and just this year I discovered it was a favorite of Hubby's too when he looked up there and said, "Hey, you stole that off of my tree!  I really like that one."  Huh, I never knew that.  :)  There's also a new felt star in the that one.  Top right has an "H" for my daughter, as well as an ice skate since I used to love my ice skating lessons as a child.  I also have a nice collection of Santas/Father Christmases that I've received over the years and you can see one there.  Bottom left has an "R" for Hubby.  Bottom right has a set of mittens found at Sears last year.  I love them!  There's also another word ornament.  I love word ornaments on a tree.  I think it adds a lot of interest to it.  I have had the wooden primitive style icicles for years and I still love them.

In the above collage you can see another one of my Santas, a set of the mittens in white, a Christmas tree made out of shells that my mom bought for my daughter to remember a fun shopping trip they had, a swirly lollipop ornament that my mom gave me 21 years ago, the red felt tree is a new one I added this year (found at Home Goods), and a cute set of red and white snowflakes found at Cracker Barrel last year.  There are plenty more ornaments on here, I just didn't capture them all.  You can probably see a few more of them in last year's post if you're interested.

I wanted to point out these white and red snowflakes to you though.  These were actually two sets of felt coasters that I bought on after Christmas clearance 2 years ago.  They make for perfect ornaments on a Nordic style tree! 

Another new one I added was "Mini-Lucy."  I named my beloved red KitchenAid Mixer "Lucy," so when I found this miniature sized one at Michael's I just had to have it.

I wanted to show you one other new one on the tree this year.  This is one I made.  My husband's grandmother passed away in August and we miss her so much.  She was truly a dear woman and absolutely one of a kind.  At her funeral they let us each pick a flower from the arrangement on her casket to keep.  I brought ours home and hung them upside down in a dark closet to dry.  Once completely dried out I simply clipped the stems off and put them inside of a large clear plastic ornament that you can pop open and then put back together.  So simple!  It's a beautiful reminder of her and we have loved having this one on the tree.  I know it will be on every tree from now on!

I have loved having two trees this year, and have really enjoyed my red and white Nordic inspired theme again.  I'm not sure if we'll have two trees again next year or not, I guess it will depend on what furniture has been added to the dining room by then.  : )

I hope you all had a wonderfully blessed Christmas and I wish you and yours a very Happy New Year!

P.S.  If you haven't stopped by the Facebook page lately be sure to do so and check out me and Hubby's version of gingerbread "men."  Funny stuff!  :D