Christmas tree and candy cane topper

My house has a gorgeous formal front sitting area with bay window. It was a recently purchased foreclosure (not us unfortunately getting it at the foreclosure auction, but still a great deal for the neighborhood!) I never saw how furniture would look in the house before we moved in, as when we toured it there was nothing inside. When I asked the realtor what to put in that area, the first thing she said was a Christmas tree! I am still working on what kind of seating arrangement I want in there for the rest of the year, but right now the Christmas tree is perfect!

This past summer I was diligent to look at craigslist and find a tree. This 9 foot beauty was $75 in July – just FYI look for things off season! People move in the summer and great finds can be found. I was so excited to have a place to have a big Christmas tree! I had never bothered to put up a large Christmas tree in my previous homes. I had a small one (2 feet) that had been traveling around with me from house to house. Now it was time to upgrade. This house was screaming for a formal tree.

Since the tree was brand new (to me anyway), this also meant that I had barely any ornaments for it. I plan to hit up the after Christmas sales this year to find some deals but I did splurge on just a few items around the house to make the tree look like home. In this case, I went with a polka dot theme to match my fabric from the table runners with some ribbon and candy canes thrown in. I just used the traditional green and red colors this year. All of the ornaments I got at Hobby Lobby – the unbreakable kind so that the kitty and any future kiddos will not break it. I also bought some ribbon (notice the absence of many items on the bottom as kitty thinks they are toys) . A tree really makes a home seem like Christmas!

I had no tree topper, and all the ones I liked were over $20, so I tried a candy cane topper I saw on the web. Turned out pretty well for $2 worth of candy canes and a glue gun!

View from outside

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