Our family room tree is 10′ tall and it is a pain to decorate. I use two ladders, one on each side, so I am not having to move the ladder so many times. I use fabric as my garland because it is soft and flexible and it kind of floats where you want it to. Unfortunately, I always have to put the fabric on twice (UGH) until I get it positioned right. This tree takes a lot of energy and PATIENCE. I personally love using color lights, but this tree is for those of you that only like white lights. I do love this tree because I buy kooky ornaments for it, so when you see it live it is fun to look at. It really is much prettier in real life.

Here is a closeup of the big Family Room tree. I use Ornamotors to bring motion to the tree, so the bottom left ornament is actually turning that is why it is a little blurred.

My husband loves Bullwinkle, so this stuffed animal always goes on this tree for him. The little prissy cat ornament represents one of my cats that you can see in my Sewing Assistant gallery.

This tree is a fun tree to me because I love puns and kooky things. This CatFish ornament is one of my favorite of the kooky ornaments, and the other ornament is dressed like me if I were a fish. LOL

Mixing my kooky ornaments with traditional ornaments. See how they are looking at each other. Sometimes I think I put too much detail in my ornament placement that no one picks up on it. Oh well, if it gives me pleasure than I guess it’s not wasted. LOL

Here is a lit close up of the family room tree. See how the gold fabric kind of floats, creating softness and dimension to the tree.

A close up of the big tree. I wish I could truly capture the beauty. I love mixing all types of ornaments on this tree, and I put ornaments way in the back to create dimension.

I usually put some type of flowers, sprays and stems on all my trees.

One side of the family room topper. As you can see it looks different from all angles.

This is the topper from a few years ago, as you can see it is the same flowers but it looks different. I think I actually like this one better, but it is too late to redo it this year. Next year I think I am going to change my colors again.

Here a view looking up at the 2011 family room tree topper.

10′ Family room tree lit.

Think outside the box when decorating a tree. I had been given several Christmas stuffed animals throughout the years and they were just taking up space, so I decided to buy a small 3′ tree and use my cuties as the ornaments. The tree needed a little more style to it, so I added holiday corsages I had made, little animal ornaments, a few flower rings for candles, and of course a butterfly. The tree skirt I found at Hobby Lobby is perfection. This would be a great tree for a child’s bedroom or playroom (or if you are playful like me in the family room).

Teddy Bear Tree Topper.

My husband bought me this cute little frog, it talks when you press it’s belly.

I love this Santa Cat, it has a Victorian look to me. The cat and the rabbit are the stuffed animals that inspired the vision for this tree.

Full view of the family room fireplace.

Family Room fireplace. The snowman and nutcrackers are actually a little shorter, but I put them on top of little bowls, no one will see because they are hidden by all the garland. So if something isn’t working together because of height or proportion, see if you can change it by placing it on top of something. Books and pretty boxes work good for that if the bottom of the object you want taller will be seen.

This wreath is 3′ in diameter, it has changed several times throughout the years. I love mixing colors and putting non traditional colors into Christmas. I started with a plain wreath and added two styles of lights, two ribbons that I sewed together so that both sides would be pretty, flowers and picks. I hang it from a nail that I put in the frame above the fireplace. I leave the nail in place all year long because you would have to look hard to see it.

Close up of the main wreath over the Family Room fire place.

Each year I start with plain garland for my mantles, I add lights, and then I decorate it with a mixture of flowers, things I find in the floral sections and picks I find in the Christmas decoration section.

This swag is just plain garland that I added lights to, then ran ribbon through it and added a few floral stems and picks. Simple to do. I don’t glue my decorations on so that I can change them after a few years. I do store them with the decorations on them so they are easier to put back up the next year. When I get tired of it I redecorate it before I hang it back up for Christmas.

I love M & M’s, especially their “UH Santa?” holiday commercial, with that said I have had these M & M’s lights forever. This year I am using them as a simple entryway decoration from the family room to the game room, All I did was put push pins up on the center of the entryway and on the corners, draped the lights and then added a poinsettia garland to it. Simple but cute.

This is just a picture showing how I like to be able to have my decorations flow from one room to another.