It was last year around this same time that the idea for THE THANKFUL TREE was born.
During the past few years, my hubby developed a bit of the holiday blues. He really loves the holidays, but always totally dreaded holiday decorating. He wanted to be all into it for our kiddo, but it just seemed too stressful right at a time when you should be enjoying life. As the token male in our household, a lot of the grunt work fell on him. He was a little less-than-joyful!
We discussed what we could do to make it better. It is important for us all to enjoy the season and focus more on spending time with our family and less on the hustle bustle of the holidays. So, we made a few changes:
Our TREE:
We had been purchasing a real Christmas tree every year. Not only did they seem to keep going up in price, but they did not allow much flexibility for WHEN we set up the tree. If you did it before Thanksgiving, it would be dead by Christmas. If you did it too late, you wouldn’t have a chance to enjoy the fruits of your labor. Also, real trees always left a truck load of dead pine needles in their wake. So, more cleaning was involved.
Despite our initial sadness of not having a pine smell at Christmas, we searched and found a fabulous artificial tree from Balsam Hill. The trees seem a little pricey, but they always have coupons and specials. I have not seen a tree at the store that compares to the quality of our Balsam Hill tree. LOVE!
Timing:
My hubby did not like that Thanksgiving weekend was FULL of rushing around decorating when he would rather be relaxing with the family. Now we can set up our artificial tree whenever we want! AND we can take our time to decorate! Our tree went up after Halloween. The lights went on the next week. You get the idea!
Not wanting to rush Christmas too much, I thought it would be fun to actually decorate the tree for Thanksgiving. Now we can easily switch out a few ornaments to update the tree for Christmas. That sounds like a bonus to me….two trees in one!
THANKFUL Tree & Family Time:
We decided this would be an awesome opportunity to focus a bit more on gratitude. We named our Thanksgiving tree “The THANKFUL Tree.” We made DIY Chalkboard Ornaments from birch rounds. We sat down as a family and talked about all we have to be grateful for this year. We each wrote out our favorite gratitudes on an ornament and placed it on the tree.
I was touched by some of the things my kiddo came up with….things that I had not even thought about. We drew cute little pictures on some of the ornaments. It was a great time as a family to reflect over everything that has happened this past year. Now when I look at the tree, it totally warms my heart. It is a meaningful family project filled with all of the things we love. Each one makes me smile.
I even made a cute little pennant banner to display the word “thankful.” Another one of my favorite things is our new tree star. As a bonus, the chalkboard ornaments can be erased and re-written next year. So, now it is officially our Thanksgiving tradition to decorate “The THANKFUL Tree” every year!
Here are some of my favorite details from “The THANKFUL Tree”:
What are some of your favorite family holiday traditions? What all do you have to be grateful for this year?
Leave me a comment!! I would LOVE to hear from you!!
Peace, Love & Happiness,
>>> Want to party?? I’m linked up at Two Uses Tuesday, Totally Terrific Tuesday, Creative Spark, & Whimsy Wednesdays. <<<
Beautiful tree and love the idea of a Thankful Tree!!! This definitely reflects who you are and the thought behind every choice. Very unique!. Love the homespun look and it’s simplicity. WOW! Always amazed at your creative ideas. Happy Thanksgiving!
Thanks!!! We all love it! Not only does it look nice, it actually means something. AND the little lights are twinkling 🙂
What a great idea! I love all the decorations and that you sat around and talked about what you are thankful for.
I just have one little question, why did you call your husband the ‘token’ male? I’m not really sure what you are meaning with this word. I do hope that the change in our decorating has helped him feel less stressed out.
Kellie from Princess and The Yard Ape
Thanks Kellie!! I just mean my hubby is the one that gets to do all of the grunt work when it comes to dragging all of the decorations out. He has been a lot less stressed this year! 😉
What an awesome idea!!!!!!! I love this! I know I stopped putting up my tree years ago! 🙂 Love you, girlllll!!! x
Thanks!!! I’ve always loved Christmas trees. Even before I had a kiddo, I still had to have something up! Now that I have a kiddo, it is just a given that we will do something. We thoroughly enjoyed the Thankful Tree this year. 🙂