Reverb 10: Make

December 6 – Make. What was the last thing you made? What materials did you use? Is there something you want to make, but you need to clear some time for it? (Author: Gretchen Rubin)

Many apologies for this belated post. I got my “make” on, but thought that photos would be best to accompany this post…and my camera was just not being nice to me yesterday.

Anyway – the last thing I made was incredibly and insanely fun…our Christmas tree.

I’m sure many of you have the same experience: when you were a child, you began to collect yearly ornaments to display on your Christmas tree. Well, that is at least what WE did. Each year I was allowed to pick out one new ornament in the store that marked the year in which I purchased it. The intention was that I would have a small collection formed by either the time I got married or the time I moved out of my parents’ house and wanted to start my own tree.

Well, the intentions were there. However, when my family moved from Wisconsin down to Florida, the movers decided to be a little rough on some of our boxes…boxes that happened to contain our Christmas ornaments. Yep. Destroyed. We had to throw them all away, and from that point on, we started from scratch with more of a “show” tree than one filled with multicolored, sometimes handmade, ornaments.

So, here I am…married and living with my husband…with no Christmas ornaments. This puts me in quite a pickle. As much as I LOVE Christmas trees (my parents’ tree is my pride and joy, as I am the one who selected most of the ornaments and am the person who puts the tree together every year), I just can’t justify spending money on 1 – buying a Christmas tree and 2 – purchasing all of the ornaments and lights that it would take to fill it. It adds up!

However, this past weekend when we were visiting my parents’ home, my mom informed me that someone at work had gifted her a tiny little tree. It is a real tree…but it only stands about 3 feet tall. Of course, I took it. However, once I did so I realized that ornament shopping was necessary!

Each year, I tend to hypothesize what types of ornaments and decorations I would use on a new tree. Lately, my heart has been set on a rustic and woodland theme for my future tree. Think: red cranberries, popcorn wreaths, pinecones, woodland creatures, and rustic Santa ornaments. Well, as luck would have it, Macy’s put many of their Christmas ornaments on 50% off this weekend. And…my favorite type of ornaments…buri animals…were on sale! Justin and I quickly accumulated a menagerie of woodland creatures…I know you will love them!

I added a few silver balls to the tree, as well as some sprigs of red and white berries. Since I didn’t have a topper, I whipped up a flower out of wax paper and twine and tied it to the top.

I couldn’t be happier with how it turned out! I love that our little 3 foot tree can serve as a starting point for our Christmas ornament collection. Perhaps in 2011 we’ll be able to build a full sized one!

What have you created recently?