Eleven Jaw-Dropping Trees
Can you imagine 11 trees filled with beautiful ornaments? When customers come in and I tell them we have 11 trees to peruse, their jaws drop open. They wonder, “How in the world do you get 11 Christmas trees dripping with ornaments in 1500 square feet?” Well, you just do.
You use tabletops and every nook and cranny you can find. Some trees are big and some are small, but they are all perfectly appointed with a well-thought-out and well-curated theme. There are just so many good ornaments that it’s hard to stop!
In January, we already start buying for Christmas. We go to the Atlanta market where our main Christmas vendors are, and develop our themes for the year. It’s where we get our inspiration. We build on that inspiration until we introduce our finds at the unveiling. It really is a yearlong process to bring you 11 trees. Don’t get me wrong, it’s also a labor of love.
There are several themes that have been on rotation from the beginning. We just can’t quit our Great Outdoors and By the Sea trees. They are perennial favorites. Every year, we like to try a little something new to see if it sticks. Four years ago, we launched our What’s for Dinner tree, and that has been a huge hit. Then, we introduced our Cocktail Hour tree the year after. Now, both trees are in our list of greatest hits. Two years ago, we dabbled in sports-themed ornaments on our shelves. Last year, we had a small tabletop tree, and this year, our Sports tree is a full, six-foot tree dripping with everything from Ted Lasso, to soccer playing bears, to everyone’s new favorite – pickleball paddle.
This year’s experiment is a slight deviation to our Classics tree last year. That one was fun. It had classic books and their characters, artists, musicians, and fine art paintings. This year, one of our vendors had these amazing ornaments that looked like framed insect collections. I know, not for every tree, but they were just so inventive and wonderful that I had to have them. Thus, the Manor tree was born. What does that mean? Well, imagine an old Victorian mansion down a long road with wood paneling in almost every room. There are secret doors to get places, and the owner is a semi-reclusive author who collects species, smokes a pipe, and has stacks upon stacks of books everywhere. If you’ve seen Knives Out, (and if you haven’t, you should, it's fantastic!) think of that house coupled with Bill Nighy's character and the stacks of books in The Bookshop, which is also a lovely little film.
So, that’s six trees so far. The others are our For the Littles tree, with everything that a kid would enjoy, our Farm tree that has goats, seed packets, and barns (of course!), our Americana tree, with Washington’s monuments and past presidents, our Twas the Night… tree with Santa, Frosty, and everything old-fashioned about Christmas. Last but not least is our Pets tree, with as many breeds of dogs and cats that we can find. My apologies to the very nice woman who was looking for an American Samoyed dog. We just can’t find it. Maybe next year!
Some people like a single theme for their trees at home, but I am on the other team. I love a tree that’s full of ornaments that are meaningful in some way. They remind you of the time that you took a trip or they represent something your children loved at that moment in time. My tree is a regular time capsule of our memories. This year, I’ll be adding the Acadia National Park ornament to our tree to represent our trip to Maine this year. I’ll also be adding this Robin with goggles, because it’s just so darn cute. And, so that our dog Maggie’s love of chasing chipmunks is immortalized on our tree, this guy is coming home with me!
Be sure to check out all of our trees on our website and wake up early on Plaid Friday to stock up in store and online!
