Christmas for $3.33

Garrison and I are not very into shopping. We don't like spending money on lots of things actually. Neither of us have a credit card, and we love things like ksl classifieds and yard sales. Basically... we like finding good deals. But.... when it comes to decorating, we are usually going to just fork out the big bucks to get something that we love, that is well made, very useful, and will last us a long time.

decorating the house after our wedding was so much fun with all of the gift cards we got from our wedding that we basically got anything we wanted and still didn't feel like we were spending tons of money since it was all "a wedding gift." we didn't end up needing to use any of our own money at all. in fact, just this month we used up the last of all our gift cards at both target and walmart. im so amazed and grateful that our presents were able to last us that long. that's lots and lots of groceries people. thank you again. :)

anyway...... back to christmas. after finding out we are pregnant, our spending freeze came in full force. every little thing/fast food/expensive date night/etc was just one more way that we weren't going to be able to spoil our little baby once it got here so, we've done a lot more eating from our food storage and just plain going without some of the non-needed extras.

But how to make it work with Christmas decorations??? (cause technically, decorations are "non-needed extras")

here's how:
a couple months ago garrison got 3 things from someone at a yard sale. he paid ten bucks total for a cast iron pan, a christmas tree, and.... something else i can't remember. in actuality he just wanted the pan -boy does my man love himself some cast iron- but, the extras were just to impress me with his shopping abilities i'm sure. :) that means, that if you divide the three things equally our christmas tree cost a total of $3.33 nice deal.
fast forward a few months and you will find two expecting newlyweds wanting to spread their christmas cheer and yet having conflicting feelings about spending the money, trying to decorate and still find a way to move the day after christmas, and still enjoy their holidays.

options:
1. go to someone else's house to feel the christmas joy.
2. spend the money and just realize it will be worth it when we don't have to go shopping for it all next year and just force a smile as we pack it all away the next day.
or.... 3. use the few decorations we already have and make due.

so, on sunday we made some of moms hot chocolate, took the yard sale christmas tree out of it's box, and searched for anything we could use as ornaments from around the house. while garrison was matching the blue branch to the correct "azul" section of the tree, and green branch to the "verde" section -thank you organized latino's!-, i found in a box in storage full of wedding decorations! most of our wedding decorations have been used around the house already but these were the leftovers: yellow kissing balls, gold and gray ribbon, some lace, paper cranes and white lights from our backdrop and tulle.

what do you get when you put all that -plus a little creativity- together???

Christmas for $3.33 -that's what you get!-

we used the ribbon for bows, the tree topper, and a make-shift tree skirt. plus as a hint of christmas spirit in other places around the house such as windows and table tops.
we used the kissing balls in place of ornaments. i was worried they would be too huge but i think they look just great!
the paper cranes are sitting all over inside the tree and also used as ornaments. plus after making soooo many for the backdrop at our wedding, we have scattered them other places in the room as well just to make them feel loved.
the white lights are used as our christmas lights, it would be nice if they were green instead but... they will have to do.
and the lace we used as a garland. it gives the entire tree a kinda vintage feel which works great with the decorations we have in the living room and the dictionary coffee table!
the green garland you can see draping the windows came with the tree and were supposed to be used to help hide the tree trunk but, we used them there instead above the two windows.
i also have two >actual< ornaments from my two best friends: katie gave me a sock monkey ornament this year in celebration for our pregnancy. and chelsey's ornament is from our Caribbean Cruise that we went on together in high school.

im very pleased with our decorations and i'm so glad we didn't go without decorating this year just because we are moving. it really does bring a whole new "Christmas spirit" into our home and makes us remember the true meaning of christmas throughout this season. as a christmas present: enjoy a few more pictures of us decorating!

garrison's holiday decoration collection from his mom. (the one drinking in the middle is literally named "garrison the guzzler) this is also where we used the leftover tulle.

the "merry christmas" blocks i got for free from Deseret Book last year, with some of the origami birds and extra dvd's that haven't found a home yet.

doesn't it look so good lit!

We hope your holidays are just as wonderful!