My Grand Botanical Christmas Tree
Embrace the joy of a botanical themed Christmas tree with pink and green gingham ribbon, magnolia, orange pomanders, red berries, sugar pine cones, Danbury Mint ornaments, and glittery fern. Don't miss the two video tutorials for adding sugar pine cones to your tree and tying a ribbon tuft!
Oh Christmas tree, Oh Christmas tree
How lovely are your branches...
Or as James is singing it:
Ooooooohhhhhh CHRIS
Ooooooohhhhhh CHRIS
😂😂😂😂
It is seriously too cute! I sang this song to him as we were putting the ornaments on the tree, and he totally loved it. Now every time he sees the tree he sings oooooohhhhh CHRIS! Of course the "Chris" part is almost shouted.
I think the absolute best part of decorating for Christmas this year has been seeing James' reaction to the decorations. Every ornament has been a fascination. Every ribbon a chance to create tangled chaos. And every floral deemed "preeetttyy mama"! Oh the joy!
If you've been a reader here for a while, you know joy is always my Christmas decorating mantra. No matter what color scheme I try or themed look I use it has to spark joy. I wrote this back in 2023, and I am going to re-state it here because I think we all need this reminder:
Joy is the root of Christmas. To feel it, receive it, and give it in big ways and small.
Whether it's:
The joyous celebration of our Savior's birth who brings hope and love...
The joy we feel at bringing family and friends together...
The joy of happy children eagerly awaiting Santa...
The joyful beauty of decorations that commemorate the triumph of light over dark...
Or the joy of helping others know the peace and meaning of Christmas!
As you explore my Grand Botanical Christmas tree and start decorating your own home for the holiday season, I hope you keep joy at the root. It is so easy to get tangled up in the to do list and focus on perfection, but at the end of the day those are just the trappings of Christmas. Make your home joyful for the season in whatever way you can!
Alright! Alright! Enough philosophizing.
Here is My Grand Botanical Christmas Tree!
Outfit Details: Red & pink fair isle sweater past season Vineyard Vines - available here on eBay or similar cardi here and similar turtleneck here | Jeans DL1961 Mara | Loafers Ecco
Joy is sparking all over the place for me with this botanical themed tree!
Every year in my formal living room I play with this botanical theme, but the 2025 version is chef's kiss! There is something about this combination that just sings. Don't you think?
I started with a flocked tree from King of Christmas. The quality is amazing. The millions of flexible branches brilliant for holding all my florals and ribbons!
Then I added a layer of greenery with draping cedar stems (similar here) and flocked red berry stems (similar here). Next I created my swoop and tuck ribbon streamers in a pink/green/red gingham that I've been using for years and a new green and white velvet toile, running diagonally down the tree. I'm sold out of both of these ribbons, but you can get a 4" version and 2.5" version of the gingham here and my friends at Hoskins in the Flat have some of the toile!
I share how I add these streamers to my trees in the Holiday Ribbon Decorating Guide. Available here.
Then I added in the magnolia blooms, a stem of magnolia leaves, the sugar pine cones, and orange pomanders (similar here). I try to space all of these evenly across the tree often working in a diamond shape, so if I put one high then I put two down from the top one at the wide points of the diamond then another goes below those two. I work with this pattern all across the tree never lining them up perfectly though.
I generally plan for 2-3 of a specific floral accent or ornament per foot of tree, depending on how wide the tree is and how many sides are showing. You can read more of my tips for decorating a tree in this post.
Here's a quick video showing how I add sugar pine cones to my tree:
Next I added in these ribbon tuft bows in this gorgeous floral embroidery ribbon (similar here and here). Watch this video to see how I make them:
The final botanical layers are these red berries, gold glitter fern stems, and gold holly. Then for ornaments I used my growing collection of Danbury Mint ornaments to bring special meaning and merriment to the tree. Finally, I tipped a few branches with burgundy organza bows.
I'll be selling a special collection of vintage ornaments, including gold Danbury Mint ones in my Instagram stories on Saturday 11/15 starting at 10AM.
I'm so proud of James who helped me hang the Danbury Mint ornaments on the lower branches. He took each one out of the box and picked a spot to put it. We practiced gentle hands and only had one or two tussles over having to give them up to be hung on the tree. I chose not to add any glass ornaments to this tree this year to cut down on the anxiety of a toddler fiasco. LOL!
Now every morning our ritual is to visit the tree and try to find all his favorites from the goofy moose to the teddy bear with an umbrella. It really is the sweetest part of the day!
My Grand Botanical Christmas tree is full and lush -- filled with all the accents I love to decorate with for Christmas from the elegant magnolia to the glittery gold fern and the pink and green ribbons to the precious ornaments.
Down at the base of the tree I nestled my ceramic swan planter filled with kids' Christmas books, a blanket, and 12 days of Christmas ornaments that James can play with. I wanted to make a little space for him where he could touch and play without any admonishments to be gentle.
A comfy chair close by means I can sit and read to him or just keep an extra eye on the tree!
Thanks for visiting and merry Christmas! Stay tuned for more posts showing the rest of my living room decorated for Christmas!
More Ways to Get the Grand Botanical Look: