how to make your own christmas tree.

john and i had a discussion this season.  are we going to be one of those families that throws down $100+ a year for a fresh christmas tree, or are we going to be the family that buys a really nice, $250 fake christmas tree that will last us (hopefully) a few years?  it turns out - neither.  since we are going to be out of town for christmas for the foreseeable next few years, we didn't want to throw down the money on either type of tree.  at least not right now.  we threw around the idea of buying a tree once they all hit the clearance aisle at the stores... but we'll see.  so we made the decision there would be no tree in our house this year.  and i tried to come to grips with that.  i really, really tried.

but i couldn't.

so i started thinking about what i could do for a cheap alternative.  and i finally settled upon this:

i went to home depot and asked the nice man at the paint counter how many paint stir sticks i could take for free.  he was okay with 20, because i thought that it would do the trick.  then i went over to the lumber section and searched for a piece of wood of comparable color and thickness for the trunk.  i found a 4-foot piece of "hobby wood" that looked perfect, and bought the other necessary tools:

nails
wood glue
cheap lame saw

now for the fun part!  laying down your trunk and arranging branches how you want them.

while i was sawing paint sticks {which it turns out, are probably not meant to be cut} with the crappy, cheap saw, i thought that was going to be the most annoying part of this whole project.  and then, while i was gluing the pieces down in the places that i wanted them, i thought that was going to be the most annoying part.  but the nailing.  the nailing was it. but it was worth it!

after i got all the branches placed the way i liked them, i glued the main pieces on a few at a time.  the glue bottle suggests using a clamp to hold the pieces together, but who wants to take an extra trip to michaels for clamps?  not this girl!  no, what are our old textbooks good for if not makeshift clamps?  i placed a couple books on top of each piece of wood, and i put nails in the places i thought they should go.  there was no particular pattern, i just put them where i thought they would be best.

i used no-damage hanging strips to adhere it to the wall so i wouldn't have holes to patch up come january. the hazel and i enjoyed decorating the tree together.  {which mostly involved me making sure she didn't rip out all the nails as she took off ornaments}

the final project:

i think it fits pretty nicely in that little corner.  even if we end up buying a fake christmas tree at the end of this season, i will proudly put this one on display for the next few years :)