Sunday, December 9, 2012

Christmas Tree Plantation

This year, we decided to stay in New York for Christmas.  We left our plastic tree when we moved, so for the next two years at least, we will have a real tree.  I'm pretty excited about that.  We always had a fresh tree growing up, and I think we've only had one once since we've been married.  There is a large tree plantation in Clarence, NY just down the road from us, so we went to go get our tree last week.

We walked up and down the rows of beautiful Christmas trees searching for just the right one.


The tree needed to be full, but not too wide or too tall.  Our duplex is tight on space as it is, and we didn't want to have it in the middle of the front room.


After searching for awhile, Stephen spotted the perfect tree, and was very adamant that we get that one.


Everyone agreed that it would be just right!



The kids each took turns with the saw (well, not Tanner).  Then dad finished it off.



My camera battery died, so I didn't get any pictures of them carrying it back to the barn to get wrapped up, but it was quite a sight!  Part of the time, Dad had the stump end and the boys were helping drag the other end along the trail.  But most of the time, Blake carried it by himself.  He did this by holding the truck up by his shoulder with the whole tree standing straight up in the air.  I wish my battery hadn't died.  Oh well, next year I guess.


We got it home and set it up.  The next day, we put the lights on, and the kids went to town with their boxes of ornaments.  It was great!  We don't have a designer tree with matching ornaments, but it is perfect for us, and I wouldn't have it any other way!


Christmas Vinyl

So, I wanted to make a vinyl lettering block for Christmas that I could give to the ladies I visit from church.  I looked on Pinterest to get some good ideas before I started.  I saw a few blocks that had a lot of Christmas words all over.  I really liked them and might make some of them for our home, but for the one I had in mind, I wanted something a little more about the Savior and a little less about Santa.  I decided on the phrases I wanted, and set to work.  After I got all the words and fonts I wanted, I arranged them so they fit together, and added an ornament and a Christmas star.


I used silver vinyl for the border and most of the phrases, but did the center in black so it would stand out more.  On one, I did all silver, and it looked really nice that way too.  I cut it out with my Silhouette SD (which I love by the way!) and put it on a wooden plaque I got from JoAnn's and painted green.


It's not perfect by any means, but it turned out about how I wanted it to.  Hopefully it will add a little extra Christmas spirit to some already awesome homes this year!