Well this is our jolly Christmas tree. Please ignore the barbeque in the background…

We upgraded to a 6′ tree this year, from this 2′ short tree last Christmas.

Since we left for Mexico right after Christmas last year I settled for this little guy but because we’re home for the entire Christmas season this year I insisted on getting a tree taller than me

He’s simple and sparse right now but as the years go on we will fill our tree with special souvenirs from the places we travel. I purchased the silver and red ornaments last year and although I would love to change up my colours every year, living in a rental apartment with little storage, just doesn’t allow me to do that so I’ll save all that fun for when we have a house of our own. I try to change it up each year by adding a new element to the mix, like some new ribbon around the Christmas tree, or a new pillow, or a piece of DIY Christmas art such as this years project seen here.

The only thing really missing from this tree is the topper but I’m holding off on that until I find just the right one. Same goes for the tree skirt. Right now it’s burlap that was formerly used as the table runners from our wedding. I’ve got over 100 feet of it so it’ll be put towards all sorts of uses.

The one souvenir we bring home with us from each vacation is an ornament. It’s nice to reminisce about the places we’ve been to when the Christmas box gets brought out of storage each year.

A few of our favourites include…

This one from our most recent trip to Key West, Florida in July.

A hand painted lighthouse on a shell from our trip down the Oregon Coast with my in-laws September 2011.

And this next ornament is from the same trip down the Oregon Coast. We stopped for this one at Cannon Beach hence, the cannon. We had $2.05 US cash remaining on us that we wanted to spend and this ornament came to $2.03. I can thank the husband, the accountant, for this one!

My cozy Christmas corner.

I dressed up my billy bookcase with just a few more of the silver and red bobbles. Super simple by just tossing them into any containers I already had lying around the house but it adds some festive cheer.

This rocking chair is thanks to the husband’s aunt. She was cleaning out her place and no longer wanted it and being the country bumpkins we are we nabbed it from her. It’ll be the perfect little rocking chair for the nursery when the time comes. Don’t hold your breath folks. That’s still years away.

I “faux” recovered the seat of the rocking chair with leftover fabric I used in a window display from a few years back. I simply wrapped the fabric around the cushion like a Christmas present. Easy peazy lemon squeezy. I can’t wait to find some new fabric and hopefully sew me a slipcover with my new sewing machine from Santa (!?!)

And to add just a touch more of Christmas cheer to our space I hung a few of the silver and red bobbles from the chandelier.

Now the only thing left to do is create a centre piece for that table….

Do you change up your Christmas colours each year or do you recycle what you have like I do? I would love to do a super bright, bold, and colourful tree one year…What would your dream tree look like?