Christmas Tree Decor: A Tree of Memories

I've had a variety of decorated trees over the years, but my favorite always come back to my favorite over time. This one will have more or less décor dependent on your stage of life. For those first starting out you can add a few more budget conscious beginner items. For those who have had a few Christmas' you may have to select the most precious items or have a more heavily decorated tree. So, here's how my tree of memories grew over the years. Here is a list of five of the most wonderful tree decorations to treasure for a lifetime and traditions to share year after year.

#1

One of my favorite Christmas tree decorations and actually whole home décor is popcorn strings. I started this my first Christmas away from home due to no decorations and low budget, but it kind of became a family tradition. All you need is a cheap 50 cent roll of thread, a needle and a bag of popcorn. Pop up the corn, thread the needle and start stringing. You can use this as garland for the tree and hand it from corner to corner in your living room. If you start it in the corners and bring to the center, you can hang mistletoe at the center and candy canes from the droops. This is gives a wonderful homey Christmas feel to your home and your tree.

#2

You can always pick up red and white beads and pipe cleaners from the dollar store to make candy canes, round ornaments and any other design that suits your imagination. Sit down with the kids, grandkids or even your new spouse and make a few new memories while sharing apple cider, hot chocolate, tea, etc. These will weather the years well but be sure to hang a tag on each so the date is not forgotten.

#3

Picture ornaments are always a great memory recorder for the tree. Take a school picture or just a favorite of any family member and glue it to a piece of cardboard. Next, create a frame with Popsicle sticks and customize your frame with coloring, paints, etc. The younger generations would love to help in designing these as well and you will have precious memories to save for a lifetime. Again, be sure to place the date on the back so as your tree grows over the years you can look back with precision on those wonderful memories.

#4

Plastic canvas is another cheap crafty kind of ornament you can make with your family members. Label and carry them down through the years. You can watch the maturity and ability of your family grow when looking back at their talents over the years. You will need plain plastic canvas, yarn and perhaps glitter, beads or ribbon. Anything you might want to glue on to the final canvas. Pick up a pattern book for $5 at Wal-Mart and you can get the cut outs already done for you. All you have to do is trace the pattern, but out the canvas and weave the yarn throughout. You can decorate such things as a square gift with crossed ribbons and a bow. A glue gun and stick to apply the extra touch and you have beautiful ornament and memory to boot. Again, be sure to wrap with caution, but these will last for years with proper care.

#5

Finally, and certainly not the least fun or memorable, ceramic ornaments are an excellent and fun way to build your memory tree over the years. You can pick up a huge variety of unpainted ceramic ornaments at your local craft store for $1 or less. These can be painted with any simple water color set or even model paint if the smell doesn't bother you. Of course, there is the potential for mess, so supervise and be prepared for mishaps as they may occur. You can get candy cane ornaments, teddy bears, Santa's, sleighs, Christmas trees and hundreds more. As your collection grows over the years you may decide to spray them with a shiny glaze or glitter them. Use a marker to date them on the back and place a ribbon through the hole at the top to hang them by. When you take them down if you wrap them carefully in several layers of bath tissue they will weather the years well.

Though I have changed up a couple of years and decorated with a different theme such as gold and red, blue and silver, etc., I always come back to the memories because it just makes Christmas be what Christmas is supposed to be. You can look back at your family's growth and love over the years. There may be some fond memories or even some sad ones, but for sure you will have treasures to last a lifetime.