How to Celebrate Christmas on a Budget

When the month of December came rolling down the hill outside our little white cottage this year it took me by surprise… where has the year gone?    Where did the time go? It’s almost hard to believe that this is going to be our second Christmas in the South.  Our first one in our little white cottage!  I’m excited.  Days are not long enough for me to savor them all; savoir all its moments, its blue skies and sunny days.  I drink all my days with an enormous thirst; always wanting to stretch them; stretch each hour and make them eternal if only I could.    

This year I wanted a new all clear lights Christmas tree.  A less dark green Christmas tree if you know what I mean.  I’d never really liked our pre-lit multi light Christmas tree, but it was a gift from my hubby several years ago and I couldn’t do much about it.  I was planning on giving it away this year though, because I knew I didn’t want it in our little white cottage; which calls for a more romantic, hazy and serene look. 

I didn’t want to buy a new Christmas tree either as I’m learning to keep my life affordable, and we don’t have the extra space for a much larger tree anyway.  So this year I was planning on a ‘no Christmas tree’ Christmas.   Until I thought about some possibilities…

Oh yes… I could paint my old Christmas tree! ;)

I was going to get rid of it anyways, so I didn't mind if it didn't turn right. 

I spray painted my tree in white… lights and all.  I didn’t want to use the colored lights anyway so that really helped.  I can’t imagine spending hours covering each light with masking tape or removing them.  I wouldn’t have painted the tree if that was the case.

Since I wasn’t going to use the cable that came with the tree, I cut it and throw it away.

I didn’t want to paint my tree super white in case it turned out too fake.  So I just toned it down with one can of paint and left some green in it to just give it the feel of a light snow on branches.  If you want to change the color of your tree entirely you will need a larger amount of spray paint to cover it.

After the paint dried up I took the tree inside and adorned it with all clear lights.  I never thought I could do something like painting a Christmas tree and still come up with a product that I would love displaying in my home ;)

 

 

No more colored lights...

Love how the white paint toned down the dark green

 

Love the amount of ruffles on the pink Christmas tree skirt!    

Can I share a secret?  Yes, it’s an old window curtain!

I like simple Christmas trees and try to avoid cluttering things with excessive accents.  I prefer lights to ornaments.  So I didn’t use any Christmas ornaments... only a few lace trims for garlands and some snowflakes spray painted in pink. 

 

Frugal yet creative 

Every day that passes I’m more and more in love with our little white cottage… it is a humble home indeed, with a humble kitchen that doesn’t even have a garbage disposal or a pantry… yet, I’d never felt more in love with any of our homes than with this one. I can honestly look back and realize that everything happened for a reason. Everything that fell apart has fallen back into place beautifully and magically.

Thank you for being here my friend!

LINKING TO:

 

FEATHERED NEST FRIDAY
SHABBILICIOUS FRIDAY