I love the holidays. Being with family and friends, giving gifts, and decorating are the elements I love the most. Having Santa ride around our neighborhood on the fire truck is certainly an extra bonus. All these things is what makes the holidays so much fun. And in the middle of it all, stands the infamous Christmas tree.

This year my husband, Dan, and I got our first big tree and you can bet I was excited to decorate it. It may sound silly how happy it made me but since we’ve been together, we’ve used tiny trees, both fake and real, and it just doesn’t compare. When we went to buy one, we laid our eyes on the first tree in our view and both agreed it was perfect. And the perfect place for this beautiful tree was right in front of our main window for all to see.

I dressed it with all the ornaments in our collection which includes many from Dan’s childhood as well as mine, along with some new ones we acquired along the years. I like to use white lights so the colors from the ornaments shine. And since it was our first large tree, I thought I should do something special. So I strung popcorn and made a garland, which took me about 6 hours to make. It was all worth it though. Then I sprinkled a little tinsel along the edges and it was good to go.

We love how the tree came out and the warmth it adds to our living room. At night, it glows so beautifully, it truly makes me smile. The holidays are surely felt in our home and since we are having my family here for Christmas Eve this year, it’s going to be one of the best we had in a long time. So excited!