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Our Green, Pink, And Silver Christmas Tree

Yes, we’re those people.

I personally get irritated whenever stores skip holidays. For example, if I’m walking around Target and they have Christmas stuff out but it’s not even Thanksgiving. Not ready yet. Let me get through Turkey Day before you push your red & white santas and snowmen on me. But this year we did the unthinkable…

Tree Color Pink Scheme

… we set up our Christmas tree before Thanksgiving. I’m so sorry. Feel free to virtually slap us or break out an “oh no you di’int.”

Tree Color Scheme

We’ve already warned our Thanksgiving guests, and thankfully they acted like it was some fun novelty. So we’ll be able to tell you firsthand if turkey and mashed potatoes taste less Thanksgiving-ish when eaten in the same room as a big glowing Christmas tree.

Why the rush? Well, we usually like to decorate our tree the first week of December. Sometimes the second if we’re not especially on the ball. But since we’re moving in mid December we decided that in order to enjoy it for the three-weeks-or-so period that we normally do, especially since it’s Clara’s first Christmas, we had to break that baby out a bit early this year (before we have to pack everything up for the move in a few weeks).

Tree Most Of It

Our color scheme this time around is champagne, metallic green, silver, and pink – all in honor of Clara’s aforementioned first Christmas (check out last year’s citrus theme here, and the year before that’s monchromatic scheme here). Thankfully we already owned a lot of silver and champagne colored ornaments so we got the pink bulbs along with some metallic green ones for $20-ish at Michael’s (where they were having a half-price holiday ornament sale). I was going for something frosted and girly but not too feminine for the guys in the house (I resisted the urge to bring in some over the top pink feathered boas as garland with John and Burger in mind). Speaking of our four-legged son, this festive chihuahua ornament (from John’s Godmother) is too hysterical not to put up- even though it’s not technically pink, silver, green, or champagne.

Tree Chihuahua Ornament

Ditto for our just married moose ornament (it’s a bride moose and a groom moose, procured during our Alaskan honeymoon). So even though it’s hardly glam and baby-girl-esque, it’s too sentimental to leave out:

Tree Moose Ornament

And you already may have noticed a few other personalized ornaments that worked their way in- like this silver (yes, it even fits into our color scheme) Empire State Building ornament that reminds us of our early days in NYC.

Tree Color Pink Scheme

In the end we love how soft and sweet it looks (John approves, and Burger seems oblivious as always). Definitely baby-girl-ish, but not too overdone and pastel-y to work in a room with a geometric rug and a clean-lined modern sofa. And of course I tossed down our faux sheepskin rugs as a tree skirt (an odd tradition that we’ve kept up for the past 4+ years).

Tree Skirt Detail

Oh yeah, and for the second year in a row we’ve had a bit of an issue with the pre-lit tree (the bottom strand of lights was out, but the solution was as simple as stringing a strand of lights around the bottom to correct it). I’m sure we could try to find the bulb that’s burned out to fix it for real, but the added-strand-o-lights approach works just as easily for us (since we already had one around).

So that’s our tree this year. What about you guys? Any fun color schemes or themes swimming around in your head for your own tree decorating adventures in a few weeks (edible? jewel toned? Jersey Shore inspired?). Let’s chat. If you’re ready, that is. If not feel free to wait the obligatory week or so to join the conversation.

Psssst- If you’re excited to get into your red footie pajamas and go holiday crazy, check out this section of our Projects page for lots of Christmas-related stuff.

Update: You can check out all of our favorite holiday decor finds here – many of which are under $15! 

Comments

  1. Amanda says

    When my sister and I were little, my mom would take some fishing line and a hook, and essentially tie the tree to a nearby wall where it wouldn’t be seen behind the tree. That way, if we pulled on an ornament, we couldn’t actually pull the tree down on ourselves. I imagine that would work for dog-proofing to some extent as well…

    Reply

  3. Sarah says

    Putting up the tree right now is totally reasonable, especially for you guys considering your move. My family goes out of town every year for Thanksgiving, and by the time we get back we already feel behind. My theory (which I even wrote a pre-emptive blog post about) is that if you are going to put the work into decorating and you have other fun activities to take part in during the Christmas season, you might as well get those decorations up 1) long enough to enjoy them and 2) early enough to not feel frenzied when you realize how much stuff you actually have to do in a month.

    Also, what’s so bad about dragging the season out a little longer? It’s such a fun time of year! Just think of Thanksgiving as a kick off to a month-ish-long cozy celebration and a time to appreciate everything you have to be thankful for :)

    Reply

  4. Jdirks says

    Have you found any cool “baby’s first Christmas” ornaments out there? I haven’t been impressed with the choices I’ve found.

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  5. Nicole says

    We don’t chop down our tree until the first weekend in December, otherwise I may have been all over this by now as well.

    My colors are usually dark green, light green, red and gold. I think I’m going to add some pink this year. I LOVE the way that looks!

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  6. Meghan says

    So I shamelessly put up my tree every year before Thanksgiving. I do this to save money, so I only have to buy Christmas decorations and can skip the Thanksgiving decor, and because I LOVE my Christmas tree. Welcome to the club, I’ll be interested to see if you carry the tradition next year!

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  7. Jackie says

    It’s ok! Moving in December is hard. Besides, we have enough Christmas weather here in Fargo, ND for all of you. -5 this morning and over a foot of snow yesterday!!

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  9. Valerie says

    Absolutely loved the video! I havent even begun to decorate for the holidays! :( You have me inspired though. I do have a question. The “you and me” print behind the tree – is that one of your diy projects or an etsy find? I love it. I looked on your “room source list” and couldnt seem to find it.

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  10. Meredith says

    We probably aren’t moving until at least january and the idea of getting out christmas stuff gives me hives! But I will – do you think 3 kids would let me not?

    Some day when I have more than one living space – only have a single great room now and nothing else – I will have two trees. One all formal and fancy like yours will be the second. But the first will always be around. It has our collected ornaments over the years – made in preschool by me, gifts from relatives, handmade, part of my mom’s collection after she passed away, ones my kids have made…it is a giant scrap book every time we pull them out. I will never give up that tree for all the glitz of a formal/theme tree. Not until I have room.

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  11. Dana says

    I agree with y’all and putting the Christmas decor up only AFTER Thanksgiving. My husband doesn’t understand but I want to celebrate each holiday as it comes in order! I do buy gifts and decor not during the holiday season but nothing goes out until after Thanksgiving. Totally get why y’all are doing it though. I hope Clara loves her first Christmas!

    Reply

  12. Brent says

    Ay ay ay, Christmas already! Well, I did see someone driving home yesterday with a Christmas tree on top of their car…not really sure where they got it since there are no tree lots to be found yet in California? They were driving back down the mountains…suspicious!

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  13. Kathy says

    Just wanted to share a Christmas decorating story:

    When we moved into our first (and only, so far) home 10 yrs ago, it was also mid-December. There used to be a wood stove in the livingroom (we’ve since remodeled and it’s gone) and we thought it’d be oh-so-fun to have a fire, hot cocoa, and trim the tree in our new house. Little did we know how much heat a wood stove can put out!! We were roasting with the windows wide open, and ignored our hot cocoa. We still laugh about how grumpy we all got as we tried to decorate that tree in the “tropical heat” in a Seattle December. haha–so much for the idyllic scene we’d planned.

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  14. Sarah says

    Woah! Easy there Mrs…. I’m not feeling really guilty at the moment.. I’ve not only been listening to Christmas about once a week since September, but I also put my tree up and decorations… on.. wait for it… November 7th. Yeah. You read that right. I love my Christams tree. I love the glow.. I love the look at night with the candles…
    So yeah – i skipped right over all the orange fally stuff and went straight to Red/White candles.. snow men… pengiuns… ornament ball wreaths… Oh the beauty of Christmas!!!!

    As for a theme of my tree… I was blessed with a mother that bought around 3 or 4 ornaments a year for us… So I have enough to fill up an entire christmas tree…. i love to put them up every year.. remembering the first time i opened them.. or an arguement I had with my brother over one… I love the memories..

    I’m glad you put the tree up. Enjoy it. It’s a beautiful thing.

    Reply

  16. Bekah says

    My parents always put the tree up on their anniversary in early December. This year my niece (the only grandchild) is staying with her dad for Christmas though- so they put up all the fluff early so they could have a big family holiday with the tree even if the ex-husband has the one kid we all share :)

    We wait until after the black friday sales. We’ll start testing lighting strands tomorrow or tonight and making sure that none of the decorations need replacing- if they do, we buy replacements at the sales and set up a day or two later.

    We have a fun Christmas tree though, in my opinion. All the ornaments are bells with a variety of colored ribbon loops to hang them on the tree. We’ve been collecting bells for the tree for a couple of years and with the cats playing with the bells and us brushing the tree walking by every so often (It’s hard to resist!)- the entire Christmas season is filled with the sound of bells. We have a second small “porch” tree for the heirloom ornaments that we keep in our dining room on a display table.

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  17. Ashley says

    I actually just went Christmas Crazy at Target today and decided I am going to start putting Christmas stuff up tomorrow. It must be something in the air this year. :) PS – Love the tree and the video!!

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  18. Rachel says

    Drat! My post got deleted. But ditto with Sarah about a dozen posts up. The season is too short and too hectic to not get out the tree early and enjoy if you can Ours has been up since last Friday. No ornaments yet, but we are already enjoying the lights.

    We had 60 degree weather here in Wisconsin on Sunday, so call me crazy but I put up all of our outdoor decor (lighted garland on the fence and lighted trees on the front porch and some other classic decor). The crazier thing is I am not the only one in the neighborhood that took advantage!

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  19. Anastasia says

    This probably makes me slightly stalkerish but in response to someone asking where you got the ESB ornament you said Target. I thought you bought it at CB2 while visiting NYC a couple years back?

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  20. Bekah says

    Oh! And we moved one year a week before Christmas. It was the Christmas after we got engaged and I was miserable because I couldn’t justify buying a replacement fake tree or a real tree that would only be up for a couple of days or that I’d have to move.

    Early on Christmas Eve, we went over to my parents house for dinner- my parents were keeping the tradition of the kids getting one present from Santa to open on Christmas Eve. My now-husband asked if he could give me a gift from his mother, in the spirit of our traditional gift exchange. Inside was a tiny pine branch.

    While I was at work, she, my fiancee, and my future sister-in-law had set up a full sized real tree with lights and ornaments (including several heirloom ornaments- his first Christmas ornamant, etc- from his mom for our new family tree) and a note, welcoming me to the family. That was the year we started the tradition of leaving the tree up until my husband’s birthday in early January- just to stretch out our favorite holiday a little more.

    Reply

  21. Christine says

    We have thanksgiving in October in Canada so it’s not too early for me!! I love the video – Clara spastic arm movements are hilarious!?

    I’m seriously impressed with how much you can do with a baby in your arms. How do you do it!?

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  22. kelly says

    Love your tree! And Clara is so cute, that little ornament monster!
    Up here in Northern Canada, we are already buried under a blanket of snow, so we went out and chopped down our tree this past weekend. It is now proudly wearing all of our favourite ornaments that we have collected over the past few years. Definitely no colour scheme but we love it! (It also helps that our Thanksgiving is in October, so we have free reign to put up our tree now!! ;) )

    Reply

  23. ginnie says

    that is too funny! my boyfriend and i went to check out a nursery that we knew was getting trees just to ask questions! well we ran into a pushy yet very convincing salesman and ended up buying a tree on the spot! yes, a real one. i haven’t gotten a real tree in years but after work, we’re bringing out little hatchback back to the nursery and picking up our treee..we haven’t even gotten all the finishings for it. talk about impulse. glad to know we’re not the first to set up pre-Thanksgiving this year!

    Reply

  24. Hannah says

    This will be my first Christmas in my new apartment – and my first Christmas not living in my parents’ house. I’ve been saving up Christmas stuff for YEARS in plastic bins. I always loved the blue/silver/white theme. So that’s the plan for this year. I actually put up the tree last night – just need to run out & buy some lights before putting on the ornaments. :) And I don’t even care that the blue/silver/white theme doesn’t match anything in my apartment! :P

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  26. Sheila says

    I like the idea of a second small heirloom ornament tree. Sounds perfect to give those special ornaments a special place. Thanks!

    Reply

  27. Caroline says

    Your tree is gorgeous! I loved the video, so much fun! I’m excited for my first Christmas with baby (though I have two years to wait, silly grad school), I think my favorite part about the holiday season is the tradition and anticipation. I know my husband and I formed new traditions our first year together and a kid will bring all the more!

    Reply

  28. shereen says

    We are “those people” too! As a Canadian our Thanksgiving is in October – the xmas decor hits the store shelves here around Halloween! Our tradition is to put up our tree mid Nov since we are usually visiting with family in other cities over the holidays and miss out on our tree during the real holiday crunch time at the end of Dec. This way we get to enjoy our tree for a good month before the holidays officially begin! Our theme this year is candy canes! We’ve got a beautiful candy cane striped ribbon swirling around the tree, and red and green ornaments through out! Happy Holidays!

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  29. Rhiannon says

    I usually try to wait until the week after Thanksgiving but I was so excited about the jewel tone candles and decorations that I got for our new mantle that I set everything up yesterday! Except the tree which we get live. I’ve been filling jars with jewel tone ornaments and gold pine cones to bring the decor throughout the house. Now I’m thinking of making my own matching wreaths for the front door! Holiday time always makes me feel crafty! I love your tree, so pretty but perfect for the whole family! I always add the sentimental ornaments too, especially this year we get to have a new house ornament and a just married ornament!

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  30. stacey says

    I think you guys qualify for a special exemption from decorating for xmas too early…but only for this year ;o) I can’t stand the rush to get the xmas merchandise on the store floors either. All in due time, I say!

    I come up with a yearly theme/color scheme for my wrapping paper, bows, etc. I can get a bit obsessive with it. My friends tease me about it, but I always get complimented on how beautifully my gifts are wrapped.

    I don’t change themes yearly with my decorating. Our tree (always fresh cut) is predominantly decked out in sentimental ornaments spanning back to MY 1st xmas. My grandmother is a ceramic enthusiast so I have many cherished ornaments she’s made for me and now my children. I love unwrapping each one and finding just the right spot for them on our tree. My mother also started the tradition of gifting each of us an ornament each year. I use some red glitter balls (handed down to my by my mom — she has an uncanny ability to preserve things pristinely) and gold painted paper maché stars I made to fill in the rest of the tree. I also add lengths of wire-edged ribbon from the top down to add some extra “pop”. I do change that out if I fall in love with some ribbon I come across in my holiday shopping.

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  32. Jeanette says

    We have the same moose ornament! Love it! I love Clara’s face when John holds up the pink ball :) Is this recorded with your Flip camera?

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  33. Jaime says

    We are limited to a very small tree (think about 3 feet tall) which will likely stand on top of a bookshelf or somewhere else in our apartment. We wanted to be thrifty this year, so we decided to make an origami themed tree with orgami cranes, swans, and stars made from some leftover gold wrapping paper we’ve had lying around. On top of that, we have some lovely silver streamer icicles and some mini glass bulbs in silver and gold that I picked up recently at the G-Will.

    Hopefully it will all work out.

    Your tree, btw, is absolutely gorge! You two are always an inspiration for me with your creativity, thrifty natures, and inventive repurposing. Keep up the good work!

    Reply

  34. Alicia Parsons | Atypical Type A says

    We obviously don’t have Thanksgiving here in Australia and Halloween is not big either, so the shops are straight into Christmas in October!

    I put my tree up on the weekend closest to the 1st December, so that’s this weekend. I actually think that’s a little early, but I need to have it up to take photos for my blog! This year I’m going for a rustic look with natural elements and red.

    Reply

  37. Laura in LA says

    When I found out my cousin was heading to Ikea this weekend (250 miles away) I put in my request for her to pick up two furry rugs “like Sherry’s”. I loved the look from your tree last year and had to have it.

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  38. Merissa says

    This may be the oddest comment you’ve ever received, but I cannot believe you held Clara that whole time while decorating the tree!! You are both quite talented at the “baby in one hand/multi-tasking with the other” technique. I’m not a mother (obviously – what kind of mother would I be if I wouldn’t even think of holding my child), so I expected her to just be sitting in a cradle somewhere. How lovely, interactive and fun holding her is! Beautiful tree, beautiful family!

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  39. samantha says

    I think you guys are great, and your tree is very pretty, but it looks a little too manufactured, like it’s right out of a Kmart ad or something. I was hoping for a little more Z Gallerie funk.

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  40. Rebecca says

    Gorgeous! I loved that Clara seemed to want to taste-test every ornament going on the tree … Enjoy your first family Christmas!

    Reply

  42. Funnelcloud Rachel says

    Love this – I was just thinking about the tree-decorating video you guys made last year & was hoping you’d do it again. You should make it a tradition – it will be fun to see Clara (and future kids?) grow in each video! Also – I’m amazed at your ability to arrange the tree and hold the baby at the same time – nice work!

    I, too, am one of those people who doesn’t want to see Christmas until after Thanksgiving is over – but you guys have a good excuse this year! Will it be sad to miss Clara’s first Christmas in your beloved first home (and to have to celebrate among moving boxes in the new place) or are you only looking forward at this point?

    Reply

    • YoungHouseLove says

      I think we’re both feeling extra sentimental these days (soaking up every last moment in our first love house) but we’re definitely more excited about what’s ahead of us than interested in dwelling on the sadness. I guess its really true- when one door closes, another one opens. So even though we have to close the door of our current home in mid December we’re so insanely excited about opening the door at our new place!

      xo,
      s

  43. Newlyweds on a Budget says

    This is our very first Christmas together and this will also be the first weekend my husband has had off in three months!! so we are SO going Christmas tree shopping this weekend! I may stop at Michaels and grab some decorations for our tree!

    Reply

  45. Amanda Z. says

    I’m rather baffled by the “theme” tree. My (long gone) grandfather would give us an ornament every year and my mother has continued this tradition, so we have zero matchy ornaments. We have an eiffel tower for our honeymoon, a few squirrels because of our insane squirrel population, santa on a scooter since we have a vespa – every year is a journey in memories to unwrap and hang each ornament.

    Since we are also have a baby’s first xmas!!!, and we already have tons of soft plushy ornaments in our collection, we purchased a teeny pre-lit 4 foot tree for his room. I think it will be amazing tradition for him to put up his very own (kid safe) tree and enjoy the glow of lights as he goes to sleep.

    Reply

  46. Ange says

    Oh! Thank you so much for a little taste of Xmas. I’m an early Xmas decorator but not quite so early since kids joined our family. I loved the video, especially the music. The glow of that tree in your space is so nice! I noticed that you are wearing more jeans & starting to “layer up”. In Brisbane we are still waiting for our Summer to arrive. It’s been unbelievably cool for this time of year (by that I mean low to mid 20’C) – still we have been enjoying our pool & eating meals outside.

    Reply

  48. erika says

    oh, we put our tree up WEEKS ago. i can guarantee you that when clara is 4 years old, you will be putting up the christmas tree as you are taking down the halloween decorations. all it will take will be ONE trip to target the day after halloween (to buy the costumes on clearance to use for dress-up). that’s what happened to us this year and how i found myself hanging stockings on nov. 1st!

    :-)

    -erika

    Reply

  49. Jaime @ Queen of the Creek says

    I had to do a complete DOUBLE TAKE.

    Long story short – my husband doesn’t celebrate holidays (willingly). We just bought our first home (after 15 years of marriage) and I INSISTED we are FINALLY going to have a tree in our house (normally we go to my parent’s house).

    He bought me a nice (albeit, fake) tree.
    I went out to buy decorations. I had NONE.

    I was trying to decide on my color theme…
    I found three colors that I loved, loved, loved…
    and you, my dears, just posted what my tree will look like come Dec 1.

    Bronze, Gold, and Green.

    Now that I know the colors work well together, I think I will go take off the tags now! ;)

    Cute vid of you guys!!

    Reply

  50. Jaime (again) says

    Uhem. The pink look bronze in the pictures! lol…
    So, we won’t be twinsies, but I still like the look!! ;)

    Reply

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