This year, I decided to take it easy on our Christmas tree. Even though we set up the tree (which, by the way, is a fakesies) in our office (ie. not in the living room and farther away from HDawg's main play space!), it's still a room that H ventures into. So the tree needed to be toddler proof.

And, the more I thought about setting up a tree at 7 months pregnant, the more I realized I be taking all of this down at 8 months pregnant... so simple definitely won the battle this year!

I used the red and white pom pom tree skirt that I picked up from Hobby Lobby a few years ago.

 

While I didn't tie in any rustic elements, I did maintain the red + silver + gold color scheme from this year's Christmas mantel [Psst! You can still link up your mantels through Christmas day!] Most of the ornaments are simple shatter-proof balls, but I also threw in a few fun ornaments like the cardinals (which are special to me and David because cardinals were the mascot at our elementary school!), acorns, DIY frosted cranberry ornaments and sparkly drums. No fancy garlands for us this year!

The tree (which is new to us this year, from Home Depot) almost reaches the ceiling, so we didn't have room for a true star or angel tree topper. Instead, I placed this glowing gold bow up at the top.

Even though the tree is pretty simple this year, I love it. And that's mainly because HDawg loves it. He helped us decorate the lower sections... and you can bet that I didn't touch all of the clustered ornaments he put together. They're priceless! He absolutely loves the Christmas lights, too. I videoed him watching us turn on some lights around our stair bannister the other night... I'm telling you, this kid loves himself some Christmas lights!

Needless to say, we spend a lot of time laying on the floor, looking up at the tree in awe.

 For those of you wondering what the rest of my office looks like right now, here ya go. Messy desk on the left, messy craft area on the right. One day I'll get this room together!

Want to see some of my trees of Christmas past?

2010- a pine cone decorated beauty

2011- red and silver pom pom tree

2012- our tiny fake red and silver tree

Also, if you're looking for more baby and toddler proofing ideas for your house this holiday season, check out this post that I recently wrote over on BabyCenter!

Now it's time for you to link up your Christmas tree with Courtney and Megan!