Construction of A Russ Christmas Tree

 

The traditional Russ Christmas tree takes me days to put up. (In my defense, when I was younger I could decorate the whole house for the holidays in one day… not it takes at least a week!) We have a 9.5’ tree that is more than a few years old, I’m in search of a taller, slim tree for the house we currently live in… We got the Christmas boxes out of the shop out back in under an hour, it was a huge help to have Mike help with that task this year! Once all the boxes make it to the correct rooms (yes ROOMS… they are all labeled!) I start by ‘fluffing’ the tree. I’m allergic to evergreens for we have a artificial tree… or as some folks have started calling them ‘forever trees’ (what a hoot!) Now, fluffing a tree can take a couple of hours… and for some reason always seems to produce a pile of fake needles on the floor! (not so forever after all!)

Then I add the white lights to the interior of the tree. I read somewhere years ago that it was supposed to make your small tree look bigger… I’m not sure if that’s the case with our tree, but I’ve done it for a few years now and really like the effect!

You might have noticed the random piece of carpet flipped over under the tree stand in this picture. I do that to protect the hardwood floors from the metal tree stand… I bet you are saying ‘but it will slide around to easy’ … I just but a rubber jar opener between the carpet and the hardwood floor and PRESTO… no more sliding tree! And once you put the tree skirt around the bottom of the tree you can’t see the carpet, only the kitties know it’s there!

I finish the tree off with colored lights. (I’m totally against blinking lights… I bet it has something to do with my OCD’s…)
Our 9.5’ tree has 24 strings of 100 lights (each string), I like a bright and cheery Christmas Tree. This year I managed to get the tree up, fluffed, and lights on it in about 4 and half hours. After that I was wiped out! Mike helped with the ornaments the next day!


In the mean time I was able to get the tree in the large guest room up. It’s what we lovingly call Charlie Brown’s Tree, it’s my grandmothers last tree she had. It goes up super fast… I remember that tree as a kid, placing icicles on it ONE by ONE … that’s a whole other post! I put it upstairs in the front windows and open the curtain to the outside and let the lights shine at night to add to the ‘outdoor’ decorations. I do place red, white and blue glass balls and red bead garland on it… it’s my patriotic tree!

(The picture is a little dark… but trust me if the room lights where on, you’d know why we say it would make Charlie Brown proud!)

 

We have a small 4 foot tree that I put up in our bedroom. It has all of Mike’s police ornaments on it and a star that is WAY to big! I’m in the market for a smaller one that will fit the tree better! This tree has white and blue lights on it… it’s a pre-lit tree, it came with white lights, I added the blue lights! I use silver beaded garland and glass icicles.

and lastly, here’s my office tree. This little guy is great! Every year I just take it out of the bag and plug it in! I’ve had him for years, each year when I get little gifts from reps or co-workers I ad the ribbon/bow to the tree. 

 

 

From our tree to yours… Merry Christmas to everyone!