A Little Holiday Decorating

Although we sometimes like to pretend to have a say in things, the hard truth is that Momo makes the vast majority of our decorating decisions. Things that exist in his house need to be sturdy - or out of his reach. Having a pretty good idea of his abilities for destruction - intentional or not - we've never found the idea of a traditional tree particularly reasonable. 

I've spent the last few years shopping around for something that seemed sturdy enough to serve Momo's attentions while being attractive enough to warrant bringing home. I've found a few things that look like they meet both criteria - only to realize they fail an even more important one: my budget. 

Last year we went with a Pyramid - which I loved using. My parents had a similar, one level, nativity themed pyramid that they would put on the dining table throughout most of December, and to me, the arrival of the pyramid always signified the beginning of Christmas. So I was thrilled when we were given one - and I absolutely loved using it as our 'tree' for the year. 

Although I liked it, and it worked well, we both wanted a chance to display the ornaments we've been collecting over the last few years (though neither of us have yet brought the ones from our parents' places). I'm still on the lookout for something larger and more likely to work in the long run, but when we found a 4 foot lighted tree on sale this year, I wanted to give it a try.  

Ultimately, I'm hoping to lose the square base and instead somehow wedge it - along with some serious weight - into the vase you can see sitting behind it. Thanks to the coldest weather we've had this year, I wasn't about to head out to look for a way to do that, but I was ready to start decorating. That might work out in my benefit - since that desired base will probably make the whole thing more difficult to store and my storage space is very, very limited.

In addition to needing - I think - some kind of glue and some weights or rocks, putting the base in the vase will require dealing with the tree's cord. I could just drape it out of the top of the vase, putty it to the exterior of the vase and cover that part of it in white tape, but it would be more ideal to put an 'exit' hole in the side/bottom area of the vase so the cord is more out of sight. That sounds like more work than I'm ready to take on this year - and maybe like I should make sure I have a back up vase on hand in case things go wrong! If I'm not going to get it into the vase this year, I think I may go ahead and whip up a little 'skirt' of some kind to cover the square base that came with the tree. It is not particularly attractive.

The branches vary in strength, though only of our ornaments is particularly heavy right now. It didn't get put up, since keeping some kind of balance - both in looks and actual weight - is important to keeping the tree from falling. Adjusting the branches isn't difficult, but I do wonder how many times I'll be able to rearrange them before the branches, or more likely the "bark" covering them, get too worn out to recover. I'm certain this isn't going to be a long term solution - but so far we're enjoying getting to see our little collection out on display.

It's been up nearly two weeks, and Momo has shown no interest in the entire process. Still, to be safe, we rigged it up with a jingle bell on nearly every branch. It's not fool proof, but it makes us feel a little better about the kitchen hosting such a huge temptation for his curiosity.