Christmas in Vermont
Hello, folks! I am currently taking a break from cleaning my house and thought I would jump on the ol' blog here and give you a look at our Christmas tree! As you may know, we've moved to Vermont into what used to be a vacation/weekend home. We are full time Vermonters now with the green license plates to prove it!
I've spent quite a bit of time editing this home in the last three months. Deciding what stays and what goes, figuring out what changes we need to make in the house to comfortably live here full time, and just tweaking things a bit to meet my design aesthetic now that this is our only home.
When we purchased this house six years ago we were so excited to have a mountain retreat. I embraced all things rustic and mountainous when it came to the decor of this space. My home in New Jersey was quite a bit more formal and I wanted something completely different from a design perspective.
Well, 2020 threw us all some curveballs, am I right? J and I found ourselves very quickly deciding to move to Vermont full time. Our home sold within a week and we moved within two months. While I am absolutely thrilled to be here I quickly realized I didn't want to live in a house with such a rustic vibe 24/7. That didn't mean pitch everything and start over-I am wayyyyy too frugal for that. It meant taking a look at what I already had from our previous home and combining it with the rustic elements I had going on here already. It isn't easy and it is not yet finished but I am aiming for some sort of elevated/rustic/glam/mountain vibe. Sounds very pinteresty, I know. If you follow or are familiar with Studio McGee, you'll have some idea what the goal is.
I feel like I've captured that feeling in our Christmas tree this year. We used to have huge, live Christmas trees in our New Jersey place but absolutely do not have the space for that here so I had to be ruthless in editing our Christmas tree ornaments. Also, this year just FEELS so different to me that I just wanted something simple but beautiful.
The tree is artificial. We purchased it because we wanted a tree here in Vermont but weren't here all the time so could not have done a real one. I think I may get a real tree next year but this year was all about simplicity so we went with it. The tree is from Martha Stewart Living and isn't too bad as far as artificial trees go. I don't love the lights on it as they are LED but it works for now. Let's get into the fun stuff!
My tree here was previously all decked out in red with very cute ornaments. My trees in my old home were all silver and gold and flashy (in a good way I promise). I knew I wanted to get rid of the red and go with my gold ornaments but still keep a mountain feel to the tree.
Two of the ornaments I hung on the tree absolutely had to make the cut this year. We celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary a few days ago. At our wedding we gave Christmas ornaments as our favors and we kept a couple for ourselves. They are just the right amount of sparkle and shine to complement our little tree, and a lovely reminder of our special day so many years ago.
I purchased six ornaments this year even though I had not planned on it. I certainly had enough to choose from but really needed something that was going to bridge the deisgn gap with mountain and glam. These were purchased from Joanne's Fabrics and I think they fit the bill perfectly.
I made the tassels you see here with some twine and some bleached wood beads purchased at the craft store. I had some yarn tassels on my tree last year and really thought they were cute but wanted to change them up a bit. I also have a couple of felt ornaments that I just adore. I can't really explain it but I think they're kind of perfect.
I've got an assortment of mercury glass ornaments in the tree for lots of sparkle. I am a sucker for mercury glass. There's an ornament from my grandmother that was gifted to me by my Mom. It's a tiny bird made out of a small pine cone and some cardboard and glitter. It not only made the move from New Jersey but also made its way onto my tree. To me it will always be beautiful in its own shabby, vintage way.
The ribbon is from Offray Black Label collection, also purchased at a local craft store. I cut it into lengths and just tied it casually onto several branches instead of using a garland or wrapping ribbon completely around the tree. It's the simplicity I was going for this year.
So here's a full view of my tree in all its glory! I really love it. I'm sure I will tweak it a bit next year but it is exactly what I needed it to be this season.
Wishing you all the very best of whatever you may be celebrating. Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and a very Happy New Year to us all! Cheers!