Decorating the Perfect Christmas Tree, Part I
Jean Rennick

Defined Tag: Christmas Tree.

The first thing you want to do when you bring your new Christmas tree home is to create a fresh cut at the bottom of the tree and immediately place it in water. It is important to make sure that your Christmas tree stand has a water reservoir that will be able to adequately supply the watering needs of your new tree. Be sure to refill your trees reservoir multiple times per day during its first week. After the initial week, you will not have to give it as much water, but early on a freshly cut Christmas tree will absorb a few quarts of water quickly.

In order to help preserve your new Christmas tree you can mix up a simple concoction of liquids that will help improve its lifespan and help its overall appearance look healthy and full for a longer period. This simple mixture is composed of half a cup of light corn syrup, 1 quart of water and 1 teaspoon of liquid bleach.

Decorating your tree.

For many families decorating the yearly Christmas tree is an event upon itself that is worthy of celebration. Not only as a tradition but also in its ability to help bring the family together. If you want to have that perfect tree then it is best to have a plan of action and specific order in which to put up your lights and decorations. Here are a few simple tips and techniques that are commonly used by those who decorate trees for commercial displays.

The order of decoration should follow along these lines. Begin decorating your Christmas tree by putting the lights on first. It is important that you work from the inside outward when you start arranging your Christmas lights. Start with the branches close to the base of the tree and then weave the strands of lights from the inner branches towards the outer edges. Once you have finished arranging all your lights, you should begin to string your garland around the outside of your Christmas tree. Try to leave adequate space between each row of garland as you make a full pass around your tree so things do not look overly cluttered.

Now that you have your Christmas tree lights and garland up, we can start adding ornaments to our tree. We should start by placing basic filler type ornaments up first. Filler ornaments are any ornament that is fairly simple and basic in design such as solid color glass or plastic balls that come in a huge variety of colors and are often found in large chain stores. The important thing we need to remember when adding our ornaments is to try to maintain an even spacing around our tree between each ornament. We will need between 15 and 25 filler ornaments for every 2 feet of our Christmas tree.

You also want to make sure that you do not hang all your ornaments on the tips and edges of your Christmas tree branches. Try to place some of your decorations and ornaments along the inner portions of your tree to help add depth and fullness.

If you have any special or collectible type of ornaments try to mix them in, in between your basic filler ornaments. Ideally you want to use between eight and 12 special ornaments for every 2 feet of your Christmas tree.

If you follow the simple guidelines above your on your way to having yourself a beautiful looking tree that you will want to show off to the rest of your family along with your friends and neighbors. A little bit of planning and preparation can indeed go a long way.

Jean Rennick is editor of www.GetCelebrating.com, where you'll find articles and information on seasonal holidays, and everyday occasions.