It's a bittersweet day because it's the final leg of the 12 Days of Holiday Ideas Tour and we're ending it by sharing our Christmas Trees. Ours is far from a designer tree; no theme, no color scheme, no matchy-matchy ornaments. I call ours a mishmash eclectic Christmas Tree where every ornament has a story.


Welcome to the 5th annual 12 Days of Holiday Ideas event, hosted by Shirley of Intelligent Domestications and Erlene of My Pinterventures. Between Nov. 11th and December 6th there will be hundreds of new ideas shared by over 55 Co-host bloggers!

Go here to see our kick-off collection of Holiday ideas as well as all of this year's talented participating DIY and Foodie Blogs.

---

Our Mishmash Eclectic Christmas Tree

I can't believe how quickly these twelve whirlwind days went by. It really was a lot of fun - stressful but fun none-the-less. I hope you enjoyed the tour and came away with loads of inspiring ideas for the holidays.

Last year on the Christmas Tree leg of the tour, I made two red burlap ribbon tabletop trees illuminated with fairy lights. This year I decided not to be embarrassed by the fact that we don't have a magazine-worthy tree and share photos with you all. Plus I thought it would be fun to share a bit about the history of the ornaments because they do each have a story.


There are very few ornaments on our tree that come in doubles or multiples except for these brass Christmas Tree Candleholders that I've had for over twenty years. The candles are real but we've never lit them, they just add Victorian charm to the tree.

The decorations are a collection of gifted ornaments from annual exchanges going back over thirty years, inherited ornaments from my childhood, handmade ornaments, and ones collected at quaint shops during our travels.

The first thing I do when decorating the tree is to wrap a loopy plaid ribbon around followed by silver beaded garland. That's about as designer as we get!


Not that I planned it but over the years a collection of vintage looking Santa ornaments evolved on our tree. I've lost count of how many Santa's we have but it seems someone sent a memo that said Marie is collecting Santas.


I also have a collection of Wee Folkstone Boyds Fairy shelf sitters. I love these whimsical fairies and I'm always on the hunt for more to add to the collection but they are retired and cost a small fortune.


Thanks to this blog, we have a growing collection of handmade ornaments like these Modern Farmhouse Embroidery Hoops, that may look familiar from Day 7 of the Holiday Ideas Tour.

The special ornaments on our Christmas tree

Wooden Sleigh Ornaments

Over twenty years ago when our children were young our family started an annual tradition of going on a sleigh ride in December. We'd take turns each year hosting a potluck gathering afterward. Whoever hosted would gift each family a sleigh ornament marked with the date for a keepsake. You can imagine we have a lot of assorted sleighs, not all wooden, and these are just a few.


The ornament on the bottom right in the photo above was a surprise ornament given to me a few days after our sleigh ride of 2017. Someone snapped a photo of me (Grandma) just as I slipped on ice and slid under the sleigh. Nothing was hurt but my pride and we still laugh about it two years later.

Childhood Shiny Bright Ornaments

My Mom gifted me with several ornaments that we had hanging on our Christmas tree growing up and I cherish these so. Christmas was a big deal in our house and you can imagine the whirlwind of activity and excitement with seven children running around. These ornaments always conjure memories of Christmas' long ago.

Boyds Collectible Folkstone Ornaments

These Boyds Folkstone Santas and Wee Folkstone Fairy Shelf Sitters are my second favorite ornament collection. I fondly refer to them as Dirty Santa's & Fairies because Santa's beard looks dirty and the whimsical fairies look a little mischievous. They are all retired ornaments and I cherish each one of them. I have several more hanging on the tree.

Hand-Painted Glass Ornaments

I don't have many in this collection (not all are shown) because they cost an arm and a leg. They were gifted to us over the years and they are hand-painted...from the inside!

Some are original Ne'Qwa Art Glass ornaments. The angel ornament is from a local artisan who makes them from broken teacups and saucers. I've had this one for over twenty years.

Memorial Ornaments

Of course, these are very sentimental ornaments hung on the tree each year in memory of loved ones. I made the Memorial Embroidery Hoop Ornament with the jacket my Mom wore in the photo hanging from it, on what would be her last Christmas.

My daughter made the clear glass ornament filled with pink feathers.

Mercury Glass Ornaments

I have a thing for mercury glass and most of these were gifted to us except for the large acorn, that was a splurge on my part.

There's an interesting story with the glass feather ornament, hardly noticeable in the photo below, right at the very bottom with the green ribbon.


Last August we went for a weekend getaway with my sister and brother-in-law to Jasper National Park. On the way down from an afternoon spent at Miette Hot Springs, we stopped at the Fiddle River Ashlar Ridge lookout point. While walking along the path Mr. Frugalista noticed something sparkly hanging from the guard rail fence.

Upon closer inspection, we discovered this handblown glass feather. Lucky for us the artist was still there who hung it just moments earlier. She was on a mission to hide these good luck charms around the Province of Alberta for unsuspecting travelers. Similar to the popular geocaching, instead of using GPS to find the hidden treasures, clues are posted on Instagram with the hashtag #goyotepie.

Old Fashioned Ornaments

It is common knowledge to everyone who knows me that I love old fashioned Christmas themed ornaments. Here are just a few of the ones in our collection. I told you I have a lot of Santas!

My grandson loves Santa fishing in a canoe ornament. It even has a hook!


This post was a lot more long-winded than I had intended. I do cherish each and every one of these assorted ornament collections. Guests love going right up to the tree and browsing all the different ornaments. You could easily stand there for over an hour before catching each one because there are so many.

We don't put the gifts under the tree until Christmas Eve. Instead, I have a small decorative wooden sleigh to fill the void and a couple small holiday pillows.

Sitting on the antique radio cabinet is the DIY Rustic Christmas Sign I made a few years ago and the Rustic Wooden Snowflake Box repurposed from my daughter's wedding centerpieces that make a perfect tabletop tree base.


How do you decorate your tree? Are you a ribbon or no ribbon kind of gal? Do you have a color scheme or a holiday decor theme? I'd love to hear about it in the comment section below or press the Contact Me button at the top of the blog to drop me an email. I love hearing from you!

I share my projects at these inspiring link parties.


Below you'll find several more Christmas Trees from our talented co-hosts on this, our final leg of the 12 Days Of Holiday Ideas Tour.

---