It’s December 1st, which means the calendar has given us full permission to get our Merry Christmas on- or at least get things started. So we kicked things off last Sunday by putting up our artificial (reusable?) Christmas tree. It has yet to be fully decorated with ornaments, but if you wanna dive head first into the holidays with us, here’s a quick little video that captures the process (broken strand of lights and all) and hopefully drums up a little taste of seasonal spirit in the process.
And while we do our best to give all of you sneak-a-peek-at-work readers a non-video version to enjoy, there’s not much to say or show this time by the way of a photo rundown. Basically we put up our tree (after a couple failed attempts at figuring out which part was the bottom), threw down two sheepskin rugs as a tree skirt and plugged the tree in only to discover a section of lights was out. Sigh. But it’s all in fast motion with a bit of holiday music so it’s somehow still cheerful and fun. Oh and Sherry’s baby belly is clearly visible so that might be exciting for some of you bump watchers out there.
In the good news department: we’ve since fixed our little tree-lighting issue. The better news: we’ll have more pictures (and a sequel video) to share once it gets all ornamentified. Just gotta hunt down (or create) a few more in a certain hard-to-find color first (Sherry’s all about a punchy new scheme this year so stay tuned for that).
But what about you guys. Has anyone else started their holiday decorating yet? We were amazed to see tons of homes that were already fully decked out with lights along the roof and around the porch and a giant tree glowing in the window just the day after Thanksgiving. We’re starting a bit more slowly- but fear not, we’ll pick up steam in the coming weeks and share all the fun along the way. After all, ’tis the season…
Update: You can check out all of our favorite holiday decor finds here – many of which are under $15!
Bianca says
Love your cute video!! Can’t wait to see the final product! I love the soundtrack of your video. Where did you find the music?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Bianca,
We love using music that is “released” for public use (so we’re never caught inadvertently stealing anyone’s tunes). Here’s the site where we found the music for this week’s video: http://www.hermann-uwe.de/blog/10-100-creative-commons-christmas-songs
Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Jessica says
Loved that video!! And what a cute baby bump ;)
Kat says
Sherry you look so cute! Do you ever wear your hair down?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Kat,
The hair question! I actually get that a lot. Here’s a post with a pic of my hair down, a video with a few hair-down shots, and a video we did that actually addresses the “hair down” question. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
isela says
hahaha! I loved the video! and sherry looks adorable!!!
AKuhl says
This is a classic holiday movie! So cute with the baby bump too!
On the question of keeping cats out of trees, try hanging citrus fruit! Cats hate the smell of oranges so this year I made some oranges with cloves stuck in them (for my benefit, I love this smell!) and hung them on the lower portion of the tree. My cat hasn’t been anywhere near it since!
YoungHouseLove says
Thanks for the keep-cats-out-of-trees tip AKuhl! We definitely hope it helps Ashley M!
xo,
s
Jennifer says
I haven’t even started thinking about starting! I leave my Christmas decorations up for the full 12 days of Christmas (i.e. until Epiphany on January 6) and so don’t do much until much closer to Christmas day – if I’d started this past weekend, I fear I’d be tired of the decorations before December 25th rolled around! All I have up now is an Advent calendar, and over the next couple of weeks I’ll put out some generically wintry things, but for the hardcore Christmas stuff (tree, wreath, lights) I wait until the weekend before Christmas.
Jill says
Cute video! And even cuter baby bump! Congrats again!
Erica says
We put our tree and outside lights up every year on the day after Thanksgiving. We’ve seen quite a few houses with their trees and lights up already too…in fact we counted 10 houses just on our small street!
Malibou says
Dang, you two are so stinkin’ cute!
Erica says
PS. Can I ask, what is the framed art that hangs to the right of the fireplace? I can’t watch the video here at work so all I see is the picture of the video. Is it a heart with your names in it? Where did you get it?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Erica,
Here’s a post all about that poster: https://www.younghouselove.com/2008/01/you-and-me-baby/
xo,
s
Lisa in Seattle says
We haven’t had a tree in years because you can have a Christmas tree or you can have ferrets but you can’t have both (unless you hang the tree from the ceiling or put it in the garage). I can’t get around right now so we’re just hanging a lighted wreath on the door and stringing some lights in the windows. We’ll try to do more next year though!
Your bump is adorable, and the sheepskin treeskirt idea is sheer genius. Happy decorating!
Alison says
BELLY!!!!! :)
Not gonna lie, I’m a sucker for Christmas, but my favorite part of the video was spying Sherry’s baby bump!
Erica says
Thanks Sherry! I just looked back and read the earlier comments to this post and saw the info on the poster you gave to someone else. And then there was your reply to me…gosh you’re fast!!
tricia says
Love getting to see your baby bump..so cute!
Laura says
I love that your tree comes in 3 parts instead of like mine with all the branches unattached… but it’s a good hand-me-down so we’ll use it until it doesn’t stand up. Now for a random question… since Christmas is the time to travel, I’m wondering what kind of luggage / shoulder bag / duffel bad, etc. do you both use to travel? I’m looking at getting a new travel bag for a trip I have coming up and would like some of your fabulous ideas (and possibly more eco-friendly… does that exist…?). Thanks!
Also, thanks you SO much AKUHL for the info about keeping cats out of trees! I’m DEFINITELY going to try this!
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Laura,
We’re huuge minimalists in general so a lot of our road trip traveling (we haven’t flown in a few years) is done with a single solitary black duffel bag that I’ve had for nearly seven years (and sometimes we bring just a backpack full of stuff for long weekend trips). We haven’t broken out our suitcases since at least 2005 (even when we honeymooned in Alaska we stuffed our carry-on duffel and didn’t check anything). I guess it’s accidentally eco-friendly because we’re checking less, or driving with less weight, and therefore using a smidge fewer emissions/energy to transport things. Mainly we just like to keep things simple. We have a small zippered toiletry bag that we toss into the duffel or backpack with our clothes and we’re off. Of course we usually bring Burger’s crate with us as well, but we stuff it full of things for him (his food, his toys, his blanket, etc) so there’s no extra bag needed. In short: our secret is to use what we have, pack light, and cram items into other items to maximize room and minimize effort. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
MegM says
Since this is our first year in the new home, strangely enough my fiance has gotten the painting bug. So, before we’re able to put up the tree or anything else, we must first paint the dining and living rooms! I’m sure our hall-decking will be later than usual this year…
Silvia says
here in Switzerland we put up and decorate our christmas trees just before christmas (normally the day before christmas or on christmas day itself). of course we do decorate during advent. we have advent wraths with four candles (they look like this http://eoipdeutsch.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/adventskranz.jpg)(do you have them over there?), and four sundays before christmas we light the first candle, next sunday we light 2 candles, then 3 and the last sunday before christmas we light all 4 candles. ours is on the coffee table, and it looks very nice! :)
we might decorate a bit more, depends on the spare time that’s left… :)
we don’t do electric christmas lights all over the house, we prefer real candles (as well as on the christmas tree).
greetings from over the pond :)
oh, btw: we don’t have santa coming, but christ child who brings the presents at christmas…
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Silvia,
It’s so interesting to hear how you guys do things across the pond! We do have advent calendars but I haven’t seen advent wreaths with four candles over here. Sounds pretty and festive though! And the real candles throughout the house instead of plug-in lights sound super cozy and inviting!
xo,
s
Silvia says
i got the link wrong… here it is again: http://eoipdeutsch.files.wordpress.com/2008/12/adventskranz.jpg
Tanna says
We put our Christmas tree up on Saturday. It takes a little while longer with the kids helping though ;) We let them put there ornaments on then we have to go back and move everything up so it looks even.
We have an artificial tree as well. Just less mess. We are talking about getting a real tree when the kids are a little bit older and having it downstairs with “grown up” decorations and putting the artificial tree upstairs in the den and let the kids decorate it any way they would like.
amy says
We purchased these a year and a half ago when we adopted our kitten to train to stay off our furniture, counters, etc. They work really well. We didn’t put a tree up last year cause we were gone so much during the holidays, but this year we did. I was a little worried at first, but we’re going on the 3rd day now and she hasn’t “set” them off.
http://www.jumpotrainer.com/index.html
YoungHouseLove says
Good tip Amy! Glad to know it worked for you.
xo,
s
Jenifer says
When I saw the title of your post, I was so excited that you’re going to start decorating for Christmas. I can’t wait to watch the video when I get done with work; you guys always have such awesome ideas!
My husband and I started decorating on Black Friday, but we’re not yet finished. We have the outside lights done and the inside trees decorated (an 8-9 ft real one, a 6 ft fake one that he had when I met him 5 1/2 yrs ago, and a 1 ft mini fake one). I never really thought about the real vs. fake tree debate, so I’m surprised it’s generated so much of a debate. My hubby is gone this week, so I’m hoping to have the rest of the decorations up by Friday when he gets back. I’m hoping it puts me more in the Christmas spirit; I’m having a hard time feeling Christmas-y with 4 weeks to go yet. Maybe your decor posts will do the trick. ;)
Tasha says
It’s our first Christmas with a puppy and as such we’ve accepted the fact that we will have no lights or decorations on the bottom third of our tree. Boo. It’s also likely a tree skirt will be out of the question. You guys totally scored with Burger.
denise @ little ant design says
Where did you get your sheepskin rugs. I love that you used them for a tree skirt – a fun modern take on the look of snow.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Denise,
We always get our sheepskins at Ikea. For around $20 a pop you can’t do better and they’re faux so they’re guilt free too!
xo,
s
layersofmeaning says
Sherry! You look so cute!
Fe
Aimee says
We put our tree up on Saturday, with much, MUCH hassle! (We had the same issue w/ figuring out the bottom layer, and I’m making labels to wire to them this year so next year will go more smoothly.)
The lights. Oh, the lights!! Our last house had ever-frustrating electrical issues, which culminated in blowing most of the lights on our tree last year. Which we forgot about until we plugged it in this year. We replaced at least 120 bulbs on Saturday, and we have a few more to go.
The tree is up, though (all the hassle is funny in retrospect!), and decorated, the traditional egg nog has been consumed, and the tree skirt my mom made us is underneath, waiting for gifties!
Oh, and Advent tends to be (in my experience) more common among Catholics in the U.S. than other denominations. We had an Advent wreath growing up, but we’re those crazy Unitarians who have Christmas trees, menorahs, kinaras…the whole works! :)
micah says
Our holiday decorations went up after thanksgiving dinner was over :)
Can’t wait to see the tree with ornaments!
elizabeth says
love it! especially the bump part!
do you have any ideas for those of us that have no place to put a christmas tree?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Elizabeth,
We love the look of a small potted live tree on a console table, dresser, chest, etc. It’s super fun because you can actually plant it after the season is over but you can decorate it just like a full sized tree until then. We also love the idea of decorating an exterior tree with big unbreakable bulbs and lights so that’s always an idea if there’s no room for one inside. Otherwise you can decorate things like your window ledges with candles and your mantels with evergreen boughs and your front door with a wreath for a festive look- even sans tree. Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Carrie says
You two (three!) are absolutely adorable.
We start decorating as soon as we return home from our Thanksgiving travels. So far the artificial tree is out of its box, and my “recycled” snow village is on the mantle–I made the entire thing out of old cereal boxes–it’s definitely my favorite Christmas decoration.
Kelly H says
I can’t believe that I somehow missed that Sherry was pregnant!?!?! Was watching the video thinking hmmmmmmmmmm…. Then you mentioned it like it was old news. I had to go back to figure out where I missed this!! :)
Anyway Congratulations!! I’m very excited for you. I’ve got an almost 2 year old daughter. Having kids is a blast… and a little tiresome!
Jeni says
This video could be my husband and I! Same tree with the same section of burnt out bulbs! I’m going to go listen for a buzzing bulb now! :D
Tracey says
Cutest. Bump. Ever.
Danielle@Newlyweds Paradise says
Awww…how cute! We put our trees (Yes trees…we have two) put before Thanksgiving because we had to help put my mom’s up. So I am treed out. But I love looking at them. Can’t wait to see the follow up!!
Amy Kelly says
I couldn’t love the sheepskin rugs as tree skirts any more! It looks so chic and whimsical. I only have a little 4ft tree at the moment. I was tempted to buy a full size tree this year, but my husband and I will likely be moving after he graduates next summer and I figured one less thing to move was a good idea. I definitely want to steal your idea for the sheepskin tree skirt when I have my own full size tree in the future. It’s gorgeous!
Also, Sherry, you look so cute with your little bun. :)
laurajane says
Hilarious video. I love the bump too! :)
Pamela says
Sherry, You commented that you hadn’t seen advent wreaths here. They are around, but you’ll usually find them in catholic homes/churches. I don’t know if any other denominations use them. There are 3 purple candles and 1 “rose” (aka pink) candle. One additional is lit every Sunday leading up to Christmas in anticipation of His birth. I really like it because it’s a reminder of the reason we should anticipate Christmas so much.
Last year I didn’t light ours because I couldn’t find candle holders for my tapers. I found some last week and was so excited to get to light it for the first Sunday of Advent this past weekend.
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Aimee and Pamela,
Thanks for the info on advent wreaths here in the states. You learn something new every day!
xo,
s
Andrea says
Since this is our first married Christmas, in our first home no less, we couldn’t wait to get a jump on our decorating! Our tree was up the day after Thanksgiving, and the hubster crawled around on the roof after dark (!) last night putting lights up. We’re so proud!
sally says
Loved the fast-mo. I also love the alternative title. :) It was a delightful edit. Thanks!
Karen says
How did you put yourselves in my home when I put up my tree? I finally gave up and decided to donate my tree to my newly engaged stepkids! They can deal with that burnt out strand or two….
jbhat says
Loved the music. Loved the togetherness. Your tree is just right. And Sherry is looking adorable.
I just Young House Love you guys. Thanks for getting me into the Xmas spirit.
Donita says
I LOVE IT!!! You guys make me smile…..love the “rapid” version of your video. LOL
SHERRY your baby bump is sooooo adorable. PLEASE keep the videos and pictures coming. Merry Christmas from Southwest Washington and the McCarty’s. ;-)
Colleen says
Our tree installation looked a lot like that. Once we fixed the broken strand on the bottom we put the second part of the tree on and then the top and that too lit, then we moved the branches and the top went out. After lots of troubleshooting and a little drama we got another strand to add on and have declared this the last Christmas for this tree. It’s served us well, 6 years! Our decorations are finished and we’re ready to enjoy the season!
Kirsten says
Awesome!!! (The music tops it off…)
Erin T. says
It’s so funny that you posted this video today– I was thinking YESTERDAY how fun it would be for your weekly video to be of y’all putting up your Christmas tree! Perfect timing! We put up our own (artificial) tree on Sunday, and we were busy restringing the whole thing the past few days (inherited tree = funky stringing scheme). The rest of the decorating is going slowly, but we hope to have it finished by the end of the weekend!
Stephanie Fantasia says
Wow, LOVE the tree skirt and LOVE your baby bump even more. You make a cute little preggo. I just want to hang out with you guys, you seems like my kind of people. :o)
Jean says
Sherry’s baby bump is so cute! I never thought I’d say this, but I can’t wait until I have a bump.
My husband and I were going to haul out the Christmas decorations on Sunday, too, but then I developed some mild pregnancy complications that required me to stay off my feet and avoid heavy lifting (and my husband’s disabled, so all of the heavy lifting around here pretty much falls to me), which put the kibosh on that. Hopefully we’ll get to deck our halls in the next week or so.
Can’t wait to see Part Two!
Samantha Vinyard says
I love the song. Where did you pick up that holiday music?
YoungHouseLove says
Hey Samantha,
We love using music that is “released” for public use (so we’re never caught inadvertently stealing anyone’s tunes). Here’s the site where we found the music for this week’s video: http://www.hermann-uwe.de/blog/10-100-creative-commons-christmas-songs
Hope it helps!
xo,
s
Tammi says
Cute!
Yup we’re mostly done with our stuff. We got the tree up the day after Thanksgiving and set up our mantle. As soon as it stops raining (hopefully Thursday) we’ll get the lights up on the house. This is our first Christmas in our own house so we were super excited to get it all decorated!
Meredith says
I have been a total slacker on the decorating front this year. I’m due at such an awkward time (doctor said be prepared for anytime between Dec 17-Jan 14th since my measurements have fluctuated and I don’t have solid dates) that I’m not sure if I want to go all out on the holiday decorating this year–everything might end up staying up until June if I do!
We do have a wreath on the door though :)
Jessica at Lavender and Lilies says
You guys are too cute!
The Classy Woman says
cute video, love your baby bump! Like you, my hubby and I managed to get our tree out of the box and set it up. It’s a Martha Stewart tree and the white lights were pre-strung and one strand is out. I can’t really remove it and I’ve checked all the bulbs too. So frustrating! It’s in the corner of our living room and it’s at the bottom so we turned the tree around and nobody will be the wiser. :p The ornaments are going up tonight/tomorrow but even now it’s nice just to see the tree all lit up!