It's like Xmastime or somethin'

Yay the holidays. Since it's our first year in our new condo, we were especially excited to set up a tree and decorate. So we went down to see our friends at Delancey Street, where we've gotten our Xmas tree for the past few years. As soon as we walked into the lot, I saw our tree:

"This one," I said, pointing.

The BF, a little hesitant, "Uh, it's nice, but it'll never fit."

It is 7'8" tall.

"If you can get it through the front door and haul it up the stairs, it'll be perfect."

And it is!

1. Our lonely tree in the lot; 2. Our naked tree at home.

This was a problem: a naked tree? We needed ornaments. Sure, we had some from years past, enough for a smaller tree, but they looked pretty skimpy once we put them up. We got a few boxes of new bulbs from a non-profit shop down the street. Still, we needed more. But with the recent purchase of our condo and the economy as it is, I decided it was time to get thrifty and creative. I went with some extremely simple, but festive ideas. No real explanation necessary for the candy cane ornaments. Everything came from Walgreens and probably cost me about $6 for 25 hanging canes. (Yes, I ate one!)


The next simple project involved our old clear bulbs from Target. I don't know WHY we bought these last year. They look kinda cool in the box, but completely disappear once you hang them on the tree. I mean, they're CLEAR. Duh. I needed something that was lightweight but full enough to fill up the bulbs. A smart and crafty coworker of mine suggested feathers. Thank god for smart friends! So I swung by our local Cliff's Variety and picked up a bag of red feathers (only $1.50!) and stuffed them inside the bulbs. They looked pretty cool up on the tree. At least, they were visible!