The Tree Is Finished - Yes It Is, For Real. I Ain't Adding One More Ornament To It. I Swear.

After the failure of Ribbon Application on Christmas Tree 101, I ended up taking it ALL off and started over.  That was after once again binge-watching several "Ramon at Home" Youtube videos and other designer videos on how to put ribbon on trees.  This is how the second attempt at ribboning (is that a word?) the tree turned out:

Before:  Ribbon Failure

 

After:  Ribbon Will Do

I also added some more picks to the tree topper decorations and am satisfied with it.  It's about the only thing that turned out relatively well on the tree.

It's Finished! (Round 1)

I had to get down on my tummy and wiggle around the tree like a giant worm to get the tree skirt under it and covering the tree stand.  The branches were very close to the floor, leaving maybe a foot of space.  I tried to work the tree skirt around on my knees but I wasn't able to get really under the tree that way to get the tree skirt properly tucked around the tree stand.  Maybe my arms are too short???

I determined on Sunday night (11/28/21) that I was done decorating the tree, and sat back that evening with only battery-operated candles and the lights on the Christmas tree (plus the light my lap top puts out), lighting the living room.  

The longer I sat on my sofa last Sunday night with my handiwork staring me in the face, I came to the conclusion that the decorations just didn't look right.  I kept focusing on the giant (and rather gaudy) pointsettias.  They were too much, or I had not decorated the rest of the tree enough to compensate for their large and gaudy glory.  I knew I'd have to do something, probably remove the pointsettias.  But I really didn't want to redecorate the entire tree.  I'd already spent hours first assembling it and fluffing the 928 tree tips, and then weaving six strands of LED warm white lights in and out of all the branches.

Monday was dedicated to running errands and taking a 43 minute bus ride downtown to visit my dentist.  By the time I got back home, the only thing I wanted to do was get into my warm slippers, wrap an afghan around my shoulders and drink a couple of glasses of wine while catching up with my emails and the news on MSNBC online.

Which brings me to Tuesday, 11/30/21.  The day dawned sunny and hit a high of 46!  The bird bath unfroze and those intrepid sparrows of mine were taking baths at the height of the day, LOL!  I spent my time switching between working outside to rake/sweep up yet more leaves, pine needles, pine cones and peanut shells left by my squirrels - working without a jacket or hat on, and hauling up a couple boxes of additional Christmas tree decorations from the basement. I ended up not using the second smaller box of decorations.  I stripped off the offending pointsettias.  The tree looked naked but also more balanced, I think the flowers were out of proportion to the rest of the decorations and ornaments I'd put on the tree.  But I needed to add more ornaments anyway to fill in the blank spaces where the pointsettias had been.

I added 34 additional ornaments (yes, I counted them) from the second box, many of which are larger (4 to 5 inches) decorated glass balls and finials.  I have more ornaments I thought about adding, but I decided to just go full stop.  I SWEAR.  Here is the finished, completely done 2021 Christmas tree:

It's Finished! (Round 2)

Well, we'll see.  When it comes to my Christmas trees, one of the givens is that I never stop putzing around with it.  I am going to try and break myself of that bad habit this year.