If you have followed this blog over the years, you have probably gathered that I am Christian, a Lutheran to be exact. I believe that Christmas is more than a time to put out sparkly ornaments and eat tasty treats — although I enjoy those parts of the holiday too. Christmas is the season of the church year when we thank God for sending His Son into this sinful world to live a perfect life and die for the sins of the whole world. Christmas is about Christ. When Christmas Tree Market gave me the chance to donate a tree to my son’s parochial school, I wanted the decorations on the tree to reflect that focus. I designed ornaments and choose decorations for this tree to remind those who see it of the most important message of Christmas: Today in the town of David a Savior has been born to you; he is Christ the Lord. – Luke 2:11
I had never decorated a themed tree before so I reached out to some of my blogger friends who I consider experts in this area. Colleen from Just Paint It! and Aunt Peaches have both decorated Christmas trees professionally, for private homes and public businesses. I used their tips and suggestions for layering the decorations on this tree. Head to those blogs and enter “Christmas tree” into their search boxes to go down the rabbit hole of beautiful tree tips and tricks!
The tree was very easy to assemble because the branches are all hinged. I was also pleasantly surprised at how nice the branches of the tree look. Each branch forks out once or twice, and those forks have their own branches that can be bent and fluffed into a realistic tree shape. This was the fullest looking artificial tree I have ever set up. After the tree was set up, I strung on 600 white mini lights on the unlit tree. Next I tucked decorator mesh and burlap ribbon around the tree as garland. The white decorator mesh has pretty metallic gold threads running though it. The rough, course burlap serves as a contrast against the lighter mesh.
The largest ornaments are these laser cut wood crosses (affiliate) which I spaced around the tree.
I used chalk markers to write forty names of Christ on circle chalkboard tags. On the flip side of each ornament, I added the Bible reference for each name. I looped lengths of baker’s twine through each tag so I could hang them on the tree.
I tucked silk poinsettias into the branches of the tree to add contrast. Since it’s more economical to buy faux flowers in larger bunches, I just clipped the individual flowers off the bunch before adding them to the tree.
I filled in any bare spots with shatterproof ornaments in gold and silver tones. I hung some ornaments singly, and others I wired together in bunches of two or three.
When I found this topper at Goodwill, it was a brassy gold color and the circles on the sunburst were embellished with gaudy plastic gems – some of which were missing. I pried all the gems off and gave the whole thing a coat of Plutonium’s metallic gold spray paint. I super glued 1” and 1/2” mirror discs onto some of the sunburst circles. I filled in the rest of the circles with gold glitter Dimensional Magic.
Lastly, I wrapped two yards of silky champagne fabric around the base of the tree as a tree skirt. I am pretty pleased with the way the tree turned out, and I hope it serves as a reminder to those who pass by of the real reason for Christmas! Below are the materials I used to decorate this tree. These are all affiliate links.
Jessica, it is so beautiful, “awesome and cool” (I stole that quote from Erick Zimmerman). I may use some of your ideas to add to our Chrismon tree.
Hi Jessica,
I absolutely love the tree you decorate. However, I love the fact that I was able to find some Christmas decorations that give honor to the reason we celebrate Christmas. Thank for using your blog for being a steward and sharing the Good News! The true and only reason we are guaranteed our home in heaven spending eternity praising God!
May you and your family have a very Blessed Christmas.
Your sister in Christ,
Kim Brown
Just beautiful, Jessica!!! Blessings to you and your family!
Beautiful tree, Jessica! Thanks for being part of Christmas in the Community! Have a wonderful Christmas.
What a beautiful tree ! And I’m very pleased to find a DIY-blog which talks about “christian” Christmas as a everyday-life thing. It’s my reality !
Happy new year from France ! (We are still in January ^^)
Perfect. The names of Christ ornaments just topped my list of favorites for gifts for next year. Really beautiful job.
I am so glad! Thanks for the kind comment!
I love this tree and your ideas! I can’t get the link to the Forty Names of Jesus to work. Will you pm it to me?
The link should be working now.
Jessica,
What a wonderful Witness to Jesus for Christmas to all the children in your son’s class as well as their parents!
I love that you backed Jesus’ Names with scripture and it may even cause people to search them out in a Bible to see what it really says about Jesus. He is so worthy to be praised and glorified that Jesus is the Light of the world!
Thank you for such a focus on the Christ of Christmas!
I would LOVE to know how to tuck the ribbon in and loop out the way you have it here. If you could link me to a site with detailed instructions I’d appreciate it. I’ve watched you tube videos but mine still looks sloppy. Thanks.
It is much easier to do on an artificial tree than on a real one. This is a pretty good explanation of how to use artificial branches like twist ties to hold the ribbon in place. Hope it helps!!
https://youtu.be/R7N9JT773m8
I tried to get the forty names of Christ but says owner trashed. Can you help please?
Thank you for letting me know! The file should be accessible now.
For many years, I was responsible for the Chrismon trees at my United Methodist Church. I used different ways to add names of Christ to the trees. I have also run across cardboard circles with gold trim that would be great for this. I am wondering if the shatterproof plastic clear balls could be used with a gold paint pen. Thank you for the beautiful inspiration.
Thank you for your thoughtful comment! A gold paint would work well on the plastic ornaments. You will want to make sure the paint has time to cure before handling them too much to prevent the paint from scraping off.
This is lovely. I especially LOVE the names of CHRIST since He is the reason for the season. Thank you for the inspiration.
This is beautiful, to the eyes, and to the soul!
What is the link for the names of Christ?
THANKS !