You know, this time last year we were all like “2021 can’t come soon enough”. And while that was true, and 2021 is by and large a better year; we are halfway through this year, with less then 6 months to go till Christmas. And as someone who takes her Christmas decorations seriously (I started planning my theme in January!), OH MY GOSH CHRISTMAS IS COMING!

And in that moment of excitement and anticipation, I thought it appropriate to look back at my 2020 Christmas theme, because of a few reasons. For one, it’s always good to do a quick review just to see if there is anything glaringly obvious that you didn’t see at the time, but time and a fresh perspective seem to reveal. And two, what do we want to improve on? Try new? Try different?

I have a lot of ground to cover in this moment of reflection because 2020 was all new to me, at least decorating wise. I worked with colors I’d never played with and used a lot more floral picks and stems in my tree décor than ever and had a fair few DIY projects to accentuate the theme. Not to mention the coordinating dining room table decor, complete with accent tinsel tree.

Oh, and everything had to be shatterproof because, well because we got a Mousse.

So, let’s take it from the top of the tree, and work our way down the areas of décor I’m recapping. It’s never too early to start your Christmas planning if it makes you happy!

The colors, let’s start with the colors! As you can tell from the photo of the tree topper, I went with a dark midnight / navy blue, with metallic shades of copper, bronze, and champagne. I even included pops of chocolate brown to help ground the metallics, even though it was more of a glittery brown in most instances. It’s a Christmas color palette out of the ordinary, that I will admit to, but it has been on my list for so long. And I recall doing some shopping and the stars aligned. I had fallen in love with the blue Christmas orchids (a Michael’s find), and when I saw Hobby Lobby had clearanced out all these fantastic metallic floral stems from their fall / autumn collection, I couldn’t resist going for it. With everything going on in 2020, I needed something exciting and fun to do.

I opted for an all-floral tree topper, which helped emphasize the color scheme, as well as add some unexpected elements into the tree, especially noticeable in the copper magnolia leaves, and the cascading blue amaranth that had just a touch of metallic on it to catch the light.

Here’s a quick video of my tree topper coming together:

I don’t get the impression many people think of this color combination, let alone the florals for Christmas. But if you search the reasons for the reasoning behind the red and green, well I think at this point it’s just nostalgic for most people, a habit really.

And if we are being completely honest, I don’t really need evergreen anything. I live in a climate that is literally green all year round. A perk of Florida life I suppose. So I pivot! And pivot into something spectacular!

This picture gets me every single time. I gush over the combination of metallics, textures, and those blue orchids! I created clusters of these and used them strategically over my tree. Not only do they provide beautiful focal points, but they also help hide any gaps in the tree branches where there could be some extra space you need filled in.

I would be amiss if I left this note out: I did buy a new artificial tree, but I also added in my favorite slow twinkle lights. It’s been mentioned by my husband that I am a bit of a light snob, and that’s true. I want the nice, slow and calming twinkle. I grew up going to Magic Kingdom throughout my childhood and adult life, and if you’ve ever been lucky enough to go, you may recall seeing those slow twinkle lights while waiting in front of the castle for the fireworks. Goals people! I know what I want! If you want to see a video what a difference the lights make, here it is:

No photo can really capture the wonderful glow of the right lighting on a tree, but it was good enough for me, and good enough for Wally (our goldendoodle!) to nap under. (The pups are on Instagram too!)

With two puppies, I didn’t want to run the risk of any glass ornaments. Plus, after using shatterproof ornaments the last few years, I’ve REALLY enjoyed tossing them, quite literally, into the boxes when it’s break down time. It saves SO much time.

But I want more on my tree! More bespoke! More, me!

So I upgraded my ornament making game.

Years ago I made this tutorial on how to make snow globe ornaments:

But this year I stepped it up and made a snow globe ornament, with a matching starry night sky to complete my “midnight sky” inspired tree. Hand painted dark navy blue skies complete with a sky full of stars were the perfect backdrop to these tiny bottlebrush trees with shimmery snow.

The best part? Besides the fact they were super easy to do, they are shatterproof! What’s not to love? Here’s how easy it was to make them:

Did I stop there? Nope, I even made a commemorative Christmas Star ornament for the cosmic event we celebrated in 2020. A true Christmas Star. A slight variation on my snow globe ornament, but it made a lovely addition:

The ornament making didn’t stop there! I found myself getting frustrated with my ornaments essentially all being spheres, just with different glitter finishes and only in a few sizes. One thing led to another, and now I have shatterproof finial ornaments, another surprisingly easy DIY.

If you don’t believe me, look how easy it was to make:

I went a little crazy with my ornament shopping. My haul video is here if you enjoy watching those types of recaps:

Now tree skirts are hard. I tend not to gravitate towards the ones in stores. They are often so expensive, and truthfully, I change my mind/style too much to keep up with them. For the same price of a tree skirt, I can usually get a whole container of shatterproof ornaments to change up my theme next year.

Instead of a traditional tree skirt, I opted for a navy-blue tree skirt. Did I sew it? Heck no! I didn’t even make it! Would you believe me if I just cut up a cheap sequin tablecloth?

The puppies don’t seem to mind all the sparkle!

Let me show you how incredibly easy it was to do make this tree skirt. All you need is a sequin tablecloth (cheaper than you would think!) and a pair of scissors. I suspect a normal tablecloth could work too, but the sequins are very forgiving so +1 points for sparkles.

That wraps up the Christmas Tree portion of my recap. I can only hope this inspires you to be a playful or bold or adventurous next time you are decorating! It’s ok to break the rules. If you are THAT worried about doing something non-traditional, then may I suggest making your Christmas in July your unusual theme, and your December Christmas your more traditional theme? That’s what I’m doing this year!

Stay tuned for part 2 of my 2020 Christmas Recap, where I cover all the diys and designs from my dining room!