Our Handmade / Old-Fashioned DIY Christmas Tree

The last few years, we've been going to the same tree farm -- well, I don't even know that you can call it that -- just down the road from our house.

Think very rural Ma & Pop Shop -- except it's not a shop at all, it's literally their yard.  They stick a sign up at the end of their long, winding driveway and open up their property during Christmas time for you to come cut down your own tree.

We cut our tree down the Friday of deer hunting... can you tell? :)

Now, if you want a well-manicured, perfectly symmetrical tree -- this is not the place for you.

But if you love to "shop local", chit-chat with a sweet old lady who gives your kid candy, and you don't mind a "rustic" tree, then this IS the place for you!

Ellis spotted the blue-hued trees right away and insisted we get one... a blue spruce.
Ellis is on a real blue kick right now... every single piece of art he creates, is blue.  He requests to take a certain route to daycare, because of the blue tractor we *might* see parked outside on the way.  And when he sees blue Christmas lights on someone's house, he goes bonkers.

So, a blue spruce it was.  Picky as heck, but what the boy wants, the boy gets (kidding, of course).

In keeping with the "rustic" theme this year, I thought it would be fun to hand make most of the tree decor & do an Old-Fashioned themed Christmas tree.

Zac cut oranges & apples into thin slices, and we then dried them in the oven @ 200 degrees for 4 hours, flipping them every 30 minutes.  I love how these turned out!

We bought this bag of cinnamon sticks on Amazon, and then bundled them together with twine.

With the help of my niece Elena, nephew Kane, & Ellis, we went in the woods & gathered pine cones -- I dried them out in the oven, then hung them with twine.

We mixed equal parts applesauce & cinnamon together to form a dough, rolled it out & used a cookie cutter to make gingerbread men.  They baked for about 2.5 hours @ 200 degrees.  And, our house still smells like cinnamon -- these little cuties are potent!  

The topper is a stick Kane found, that made the perfect "star".

Lastly, I tied some red ribbon to a few branches to give the tree just a little pop of color.

All in all, the tree was a little extra work this year, but it was fun to do something different!  Plus, I love how it became a family affair... we each did a little bit to make it all come together.
 

 

Merry Christmas friends, it''ll be here soon!!

Previous Christmas Tree hunt posts:
2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018