Our Artificial Christmas Tree Roundup
Christmas (TREE) time is here! Most years we love to go get a fresh cut tree, and last year we even shared how caring for a fresh cut Christmas tree is easier than you think. But this year, we have quite a bit of travel planned here and there so we decided to go all-artificial for ultimate ease. We have three artifical Christmas trees, and usually do get them all put up in addition to our fresh cut, but since the basement is still getting finished up, we sacrificed the basement tree this year and brought it upstairs. All three are so different from eachother and give off different vibes!
The Unlit Full Family Tree
The convienence of a pre-lit tree is great, but I love having an unlit tree that we know we'll be able to use forever. Plus stringing the lights around it still makes me feel like it's more "real" tree. It was a hand-me-down tree from my parents, purchased from Earl May so it's a very premium, realistic tree that should stand the test of time. We can light it with anything we want - like the twinkling white lights we put upstairs, or when we use this downstairs it gets colored lights.
It has some larger pinecones, and the needles and branches on this tree vary in color and stature which I think helps it look more life-like too. It also helps hold up our big-ol heavy family ornaments. I shared a couple years ago about how it took me a while but I have fully embraced the kid craft tree as the central tree in our home. Click the link for the backstory.
Sidebar: As our home evolves, so does where we have to display our holiday decor. Specifically above our fireplace I used to display our Santa themed decor and photo memories but since we got the frame TV, we had to simplify. I do love finding different seasonal "paintings" to display on the TV as the year progresses.
The Tall and Dusted Bow Tree
We added this tree to our set last year and I shared the simple but beautiful decorating tip of using ribbons and bows. We were wanting something a little more narrow and tall and found this one on a good deal at Walmart. It's pre-lit, and I will say you can definitely tell the quality difference in branch structure from our other trees, but i love its height and overall shape.
This tree is flocked, but I'd consider it to be more "dusted" with snow and glitter, not truly fully flocked. The tips an branches are a bit more narrow, but it does have pinecones scattered throughout too helping with the realism.
After Christmas last year I simply put all these bows away in a gallon zip bag as they were and brought them back out ready to hang. It took no more than 5 minutes to decorate this year! Plus, since all this ribbon was from my grandma's collection I have to think she would have loved this tree.
The Fully Flocked Pretty and Glitzy Mom Tree
This tree is my personal favorite and the one I started calling the "mom tree" after i embraced the "family tree." It's loaded from head to toe. It's a fully flocked premium tree from Earl May and the difference in brance structure and fullness is night and day from the Walmart tree. It takes longer to "fluff" each year, but it's so worth it.
Thick and beautiful, it holds all of my glitzy decorations, and faith/nativity inspired ornamanets.
That wraps up the tour of our current big 3 artificial trees! Though i'm thinking it's time for a bedroom tree... falling asleep to the twinking lights sounds simply lovely. Who agrees?
Need a Christmas fix? Here's what we used:
Our more premium unlit and fully flocked trees were from Earl May - we'd highly recommend checking those out in person if you are in the midwest and have an Earl May near you!
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