I cherish all of my handmade gifts from my kids. I get so excited each Christmas to open the boxes of ornaments and unwrap the ones that we painted together, the ones they put their tiny paint dipped handprints on, the ones they signed with a barely legible precious signature, and the ones made in their school classes that they proudly and sweetly wrapped and placed under the tree. Oh the sweet memories...

We set out the day after Thanksgiving and picked the perfect tree. With the Christmas music playing, I had all of those precious ornaments hung and the tree lit by 5 o'clock. I sat on the sofa so glad to finally be done and at 5:30 it all came crashing down. I stood over the tree laying in in a pool of water and broken ornaments and not knowing what else to do...cried.  

We stood it up and rebolted it down in the tree base that was advertised as the 'biggest and the best' with no understanding of why, after using it for years, it let us down. It was such a mess. The rug had to dry overnight and the next day the lights were restrung and all of the non-broken ornaments were back in place.

Until last night at 9:30. I kid you not, the tree fell over again. All of the ornaments that survived the first fall weren't so lucky the 2nd time around. After another massive vacuuming, the rug is redrying, and the tree has been stripped of every single ornament and is propped against the back door {I kinda want to chuck it over the back porch}. And the ornaments, well, they are going back in their boxes. I'm simply not willing to do a Round 3. Just call me Scrooge. So I am thinking, this just might be my answer.

A giant adorable fabric tree.

IKEA sells this really sweet tree fabric and it's been quite popular as it has been making the blog circuit. At $6.99 a yard with a 59" pattern repeat, this one won't do any damage if it slides off it's dowel....

 Any other suggestions??

1-Oh Happy Day 2- Cuckoo 4 Design