Today I will share with you some of our traditions and tricks we’ve figured out over the years to create a special tree, including the best way to string your lights. Each year our “Sapin Nôel” {“Christmas Tree” in French} becomes the core of our family holiday traditions.

I always search for the tallest tree I can find

because I like to put it in our stairwell where everyone can enjoy the fragrance and beauty each time they use the stairs.

This one is 11 feet! To make it even taller I created a base with two wooden wine crates topped with a piece of wood.

One of the most important things I’ve figured out is buying these lights made with brown cords! We go for the trees with plenty of space between the branches and I find the brown blends in with the bark and branches much more than the green corded lights. Over the years I’ve played around with different lights and lighting techniques and this year, I finally feel like I got it “right”.

Here’s another epiphany: in the center of the tree I ran the lights up and down vertically, following the form of the trunk.

In the boughs I loosely wove the cords in concentric circles over and under each branch.

After I have the string lights in place, Mr. Splendid likes to place these candle lights on the tips of many of the boughs.

Next the boxes of ornaments come out, it is an eclectic mix ranging from those the kids {and even my husband} crafted as children to ornaments we bought on our travels…

and everything in between.

We choose a night to have a festive, yet casual dinner, turn up the holiday tunes and start hanging ornaments.

The more delicate, antique ornaments are placed towards the top of the tree by Mr. S to keep them out of harms way.

We’ve used this green quilted velvet tree skirt for years. Each year I painted my kids hands and feet with gold acrylic paint and pressed them into the lining of the skirt,

indicating with fine point 3-d gold paint which year it was. By the time it was filled their feet had stopped growing. Truly a family heirloom.

The final stage is creating the alpine village at the base of the tree including the “lake”. When the kids were little we had an electric train set with a Polar Express car encircling the village, the kids would sit for hours running that train run ’round and ’round the track.

To make that fabulous tree scent continually pronounced as the days go by I filled my hand-blown diffuser bottle with Thyme Frasier Fir diffuser oil.

What are some of your favorite holiday traditions?