Christmas Tree Skirt

When I was a little girl we always had a real Christmas tree. We would always go out to a tree farm the morning after Thanksgiving, pick out a tree, cut it down, bring it home, set it up and decorate it. My dad was always the one who took charge and even though it was a family affair, Dad definitely had a lot to do with making it happen. After he died we continued to go out and get a real tree for the first few years, but without Dad (or another man to help with the heavy lifting) we stopped putting up a real tree. Plus, by that time all of my older sisters had moved out and it was just my two little sisters and me living at home with Mom. We started putting up a small artificial tree that my grandparent's had gotten rid of when they moved out of their home, but it was pretty hammered and eventually got thrown away.

(I promise, there's a reason I'm giving you all of this background info on our Christmas tree habits, so bear with me!) For the past many years my mom has just opted for a small, 4-foot fiber-optic tree since it's small and relatively easy. Last year I decided I was sick of not having a nice Christmas tree in our home (especially now that we often have company for Christmas and I want there to be a nice tree for my nieces and nephews), so I talked to Mom and told her I wanted to buy a nice, pre-lit artificial tree. She wasn't too keen on the idea at first fearing that she would be left doing all the work of putting the tree up and taking it down, but I assured her that we will find someone to assist us. So I went ahead and bought a tree at Target the week before Christmas and I got a great deal since it was so close to Christmas.

I asked my sister Kristin to make a skirt for my tree because several years ago she made a really cute one for herself and I promised myself that if I ever had a tree of my own, I'd ask her to make one for me. Well, I asked Kristin about it about six weeks ago. She obliged me and said she'd do it. She gave me a list of materials and supplies and I ordered everything online from JoAnn's. Kristin sure makes quick work of things; it only took her a few days to whip it out.

She boxed it up and mailed it to me and I got it last week. I absolutely love the way it turned out and it makes me even more excited for Christmas than I already was! I love my tree skirt so much, so I have to show it off to all of you. Isn't it cute?! It's really big (more than 5 feet in diameter) so here's a picture of the whole thing laid out on the floor, and then another picture of it folded in half:

Then here are some close-ups of the different pieces on the skirt. It's very intricate and detailed with things like buttons, patches, bows and hand stitching: