Instead of the same traditional Christmas tree decorations this year, consider making your Christmas tree into a family tree.
The family tree is more personal and brings more of a sense of family into Christmas instead of just Santa and snowmen.
Most family members would love to find the photo of themself on your Christmas tree and look at all of the other photos of family members.
Here is how to decorate a family tree Christmas tree.
photo courtesy of Goldberg flickr.com/photos/goldberg/7539234/ and info_grrl flickr.com/photos/info_grrl/5214682558/Where to Start
First you need to decide which family members to start with for your family tree Christmas tree.
Maybe it is parents or grandparents or great grandparents.
Make a written list of the people you plan on including.
Ornaments
Get photo ornaments made of each family member who will be represented on the family tree Christmas tree.
You can have them printed on an ornament or purchase identical ornament photo frames to put the photo into.
Consider making all of the photographs black and white for a more artistic look.
The more photos, the smaller the photo ornaments should be.
The fewer the photos, the larger the photo ornaments should be.
Predecorate Your Christmas Tree
Before adding your family tree ornaments to your Christmas tree, predecorate your Christmas tree with lights and garland.
You should use, at minimum, 1 strand of 100 mini lights per foot height of Christmas tree. If you have a 7 foot tall tree, you need at least 7 strands of lights.
Start at the Top
Once the Christmas tree is predecorated, it is time to add the photo ornaments.
When putting the ornaments on the tree, the older the family member, the higher on the family tree Christmas tree their ornament should be.
If you start with grandparents, you may have 4 grandparents, then 2 parents, then 4 children.
Your Christmas ornaments on your family tree will be placed on the tree in the shape of an hour glass.
If you started with parents, then there may be 2 parents and 4 children with 2 children of their own, making the family tree ornaments in a triangle shape.
You may even want to use ribbon to connect the photographs with the next photograph farther down the tree showing who is related to whom.
Other Decorations
After all of the family member ornaments have been added to the Christmas tree, fill in the Christmas tree with other Christmas ornaments or floral picks in the color scheme you desire.
Consider adding Christmas ornaments with sentimental value, such as a Christmas ornament in the shape of a tennis racket if mom loves tennis, a Christmas ornament that looks like your family dog, baby shoes, or Christmas ornaments that you have purchased while on your family vacations.
