Sunny Christmas Ideas!

If you are going for a tropical theme with your Christmas tree this year, you are not alone – it seems this has become one of the most popular ways to decorate your tree and home for the holidays. Everyone loves seeing Santa on a surfboard!

The two finishing pieces however, the tree topper and Christmas tree skirt, can be tough – and fairly pricey, unless you come up with a creative solution yourself.

There are many fabric tropical-themed print Christmas tree skirts for purchase, but they can range from $49.99 and up, and if you take a good look at them you will notice that they are extremely simple for even a beginner to assemble and sew. If you are good, you don’t even need to make a pattern first!

Go to your local fabric or craft store and pick out a few yards of a tropical print you like – and there are many to choose from, some even with a Christmas theme (yes, Santa’s on Surfboards) – a few yards of coordinating solid print for the backing, thin batting (sold in rolls near the quilting supplies) and some bias tape to finish the edges. There are even cheap patterns for purchase. I’ve even seen Christmas Tree Skirt fabric with the pattern printed right on the fabric – how much easier can you get? You will spend a fraction of the price they are asking in stores and online for premade tropical Christmas tree skirts.

Ok, so you don’t know how to sew and you still refuse to pay a fortune for the above mentioned tree skirt. Here’s an easy solution I’ d like to call the Lazy Bum’s Island Style Christmas Tree Skirt. Make a grass skirt just like the hula skirts around your tree. You may have also seen them used as bed skirts and table skirts for party decorations. Raffia is very inexpensive and can be found at party supply stores or catalogs like Oriental Trading. It is a very inexpensive way to decorate the base of your tree – you might even glue or tie seashells or starfish for an extra touch!

This is not something normally covered here, but since it happened about a mile from my home, I couldn’t resist. It appears that an 18 year old girl (apparently short a few brain cells) kidnapped baby Jesus from the Village of Wellington’s nativity scene and stashed it at her boyfriend’s house about one block away. She confessed to the crime and now faces a rather stiff penalty for her stupid act – bail set at $3,500 for the stolen baby Jesus, which is valued at $800, plus the GPS tracking device valued at $400. It was a wise man (or woman) who thought to install the tracking device this year. Sorry for the pun, but this girl is the butt(head) of many jokes going around today.

Here is a link to the story in the Palm Beach Post- Higher power provides for safe return of stolen Nativity Jesus.

It is sad that the times necessitate such measures – in this case, the GPS tracking device was a great idea and paid off.

The prices of these devices are becoming more affordable for homeowners who want to protect their valuables. Using a tracking device such as the  DeWalt MobileLock GPS Locator with Anti-Theft Alarm #DS500 can help protect valuable equipment around the home – your lawn tractor, for example.  Many times thefts occur because the thief has had a quick moment of opportunity, and therefore does not take the time to check for tracking devices, nor even think about the possibility of one being installed on the item.

Check these out! It’s a set of Ornaments that includes:

6 Tropical Santa Ornaments

8 Flamingo Ornaments

12 Hibiscus Clips

1 string of Surfing Fun Lights and

1 bright pink raffia Hula Skirt for the base of the tree (31 inches at the waist, 28 inches long).