Bringing your Christmas tree out of the past

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/12/2010 (5513 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

It’s barely into December, but it’s never too early to deck the halls.

Opting to extend the holiday season, more and more people are setting up their tannenbaums as soon as their Halloween decorations come down.

“We’re decorating our trees a lot earlier,” says Deborah Sirman, co-owner of Greenland Garden Centre near Edmonton.

While tree trimming can be great fun, dusting off dated holiday baubles can leave even the most festive types less than jolly. If you’re finding your ho-ho-ho is starting to feel ho-hum, try adding a new twist to your evergreen.

Canadians are moving away from traditional tones, choosing instead to build trees that follow trends in fashion and interior design.

Champagnes are now regarded as the newest neutral colour — not quite gold and not quite silver. It ties in a lot of colours that people are liking, like burgundies, browns, purples and blues. The bubbly hue is being accented with plums and pewters.

Updating your tree can be as easy as investing in new ribbon, some floral accents and picks, and a small set of new ornaments. Then go ahead and add whatever you want from your old ornaments.

Here’s what you need to do to make sure your Christmas tree is rockin’.

— Take time to fluff your branches. If you leave them stuck together, you may as well buy a cheap tree. Fluffing can take a few hours, but it’s worth it, because then your tree is beautiful.

If your tree is looking sparse, Sirman suggests buying lifelike evergreen stems that can be inserted into gaps, or even upgrading to a new tree. Artificial trees are truer-to-life than ever, with branches that are injection-moulded to replicate the look of a real spruce.

Ugly artificials have become ones that you honestly have to touch to see. From a distance, you wonder if it’s real. And when you get a good tree, you need fewer ornaments and don’t need to cover it up as much.

— Ditch the popcorn for ribbon, which updates a tree immediately. If you’re wanting the best bang for your dollar, investing in a ribbon that will help tie in your colours is probably one of the first things you should start with.

Apply your ribbon from the top, using branches to secure the ribbon. Let it balloon from branch to branch, and work it right to the bottom, where you can tuck the ribbon in and bring it back up, bottom to top. Don’t cut your ribbons. An average 7.5-foot tree will use about 20 yards of ribbon.

If you want to get really fancy, layer your ribbon with another one in a complementary tone.

— Edit out old ornaments. Replace anything out of date with a new, cohesive set in a uniform colour and texture. If you start mixing it all up, it’s not going to look as good,

Make sure you bring samples of old pieces you want to reuse when you go shopping so you can more easily match pieces.

— Think birds and words and three dimensions. Once you get to the smaller accents, butterflies and birds are the biggest sellers. Festive sayings — joy, Noel, peace — are also popular.

Always place large pieces such as floral stems first, and follow with large balls. Then arrange by importance: Special pieces should go up first and fill in gaps with whatever’s left over. Specialty shapes such as birds and butterflies can be placed last.

To add dimension and texture, finish with picks of coloured berries and artificial greens around floral stems.

— Try a new topper. Although there are still plenty of angels and stars out there, ribbons and picks also work well as tree toppers.

— Postmedia News