Outdoor Christmas Decor – Adventures in chainsaws and Christmas trees…

You guys, it is CUH-RAZY outside right now, and I couldn’t be more giddy about it! Bring on the snow storm and batten down the hatches. Well, at least now that I’m safe and cozy in my house (check out my commute to school photos on instagram).

And feel loved, very loved, because I braved the 4 degree windchill not to mention the snow to stand outside (in my pi’s and uggs of course – the unofficial uniform of a blogger) and snap some photos of my outdoor Christmas decor  just for you.

Then of course I came back inside to find that little man had dumped his entire bowl of rice krispies in his lap (which is what I get for leaving him at the breakfast table for 3 minutes while I stand in the front yard), but don’t worry he had devised a plan – he was laying on the floor while Buddy (our dog in case you are new here) was busy eating cereal off his pajamas.

“I feeding Buddy, momma! He like my breakfast!” Well, at least they make a good team :)

 Are you wondering about the title of this post, did I promise talk of chainsaws?

PS Sorry about all the white blurries in the photos, at least you know I wasn’t kidding about the crazy snow.

 So, this year I decided to be a little simpler with my window boxes (see last year’s craziness here) and just do pine boughs. There are plenty of trees around here to clip branches from, but venturing out in the woods during hunting season always makes me feel like I’m gonna get popped at any moment… I decided to avoid becoming target practice this year and just bought a Christmas tree.

And when I say bought I mean my Dad got me one for free from someone he knows. He totally didn’t understand why I needed a Christmas tree when I have had mine up since Halloween, but he knows better than to ask questions at this point.

Now enter the chainsaw! Or not, I’m such a dork I was really thinking I was going to need a chainsaw to cut the branches off and was kinda geeked about using one except no one wanted to volunteer to hold the tree while I cut the branches off whhhaaat?

C’mon trust me!

I got my little hand saw out from my miter box and that worked just fine, sigh, someday chainsaw, someday…

Guys this was my best idea ever, it was so simple to just slice off all the branches and stick them in my window boxes vs tramping thru the woods.

(I included a few non snowy photos in case all those flakes are driving you nuts.)

You could even buy the ugliest cheapest tree on the lot that no one wants, because it is shaped all grinchy and do this. I know some tree places will give you free clippings too, but if you have 10 gazillion window boxes like me that would fill up my whole car rather than being wrapped up in a nice neat little tree package.

I bought these cheapy wreaths at Hobby Lobby last year for 70 percent off, I think they were like $15 total. I also bought several boxes of red and silver ornaments on clearance and just wired them with some floral wire.

I strung them up to my windows with some clear wire.

Side note next year I will definitely do window boxes first, hang wreaths second…

the huge wreath from the 2nd story may have taken a free fall, during my attempts at hanging out the window, stuffing branches in the window box…

in my pi’s and uggs of course :)

Take the rest of my holiday tour here if you want to see more of my hair brained ideas, no chain saws in sight…