🎄 How I Made My Charles Dickens Themed Christmas Tree! 🎄 // Bookish Holiday DIY!

Hello Folk of the Hollow! And Happy Holidays!✨

Last year I went with my mom to the village’s local Christmas charity event. The idea was that you would buy a bunch of tickets, then put them in the boxes in front of things you would like to win. They had all kinds of prizes there—gift baskets for all kinds of interests (I was particularly drawn to the hot chocolate themed one!) and Christmas trees made by local businesses!

Right away I saw the one I needed to have. It was this big, beautiful Charles Dickens themed tree decorated and submitted by our local library! I threw almost all of my tickets into that one, hoping beyond hope that I would win it. I didn’t even care that, realistically, it was a miiiiite too big for the cottage. But, unfortunately, I didn’t win 💧 . Honestly, though, I think it worked out for the best because, again, there’s no way it would have fit into the cottage anyway. It was much too tall for our ceiling and at the time I didn’t have my library to put it in.

All was not lost, dear reader!

I took to Amazon and realized that all the decorations I could need to try and recreate that glorious tree on my own were right there. So I steadily collected what I needed, and when the time came to decorate the tree we got a new one for the downstairs so I inherited the old one for my library! What better place for a Charles Dickens themed Christmas tree than a library, after all?

In the end I deviated from the original idea just a bit—but hey! That’s okay! It was a great beginning concept, and I love that through the process I made it feel genuinely like my own take on a Charles Dickens Christmas Tree.

Here is how I decorated it!

Of course, you start with a regular tree. Ours looks a litttlleee . . . anemic, I’m not gonna lie, but she’s still a good tree and fits perfectly in my office! We had to replace the lights because it was a pre-lit tree to start with and the lights it came with had long burnt out. But hey, I won’t tell if you won’t!

Then I added some lengths of red ribbon. Would you call this gingham or checked? Or wait, maybe tartan? I think maybe it’s tartan. The point is, I feel like the ribbon really begins to bring the tree together and looking like something from

Next came a string of pearls!

I love, love, love how these draped across the branches. At first I draped it a little tight and I had to loosen it in some places, but I feel like the pearls give it a very soft aesthetic.

Also (and this is one of my favorite parts)—the frosted berries!

I wasn’t sure when I got these how they would look in real life, but I was willing to try. I tried not to overdo it in the berries, even though I was obsessed with them when I saw the first ones on the branches! They are the thing, I think, that makes this tree what it is. They’re so cute and make the tree feel like something out of nature and not a plastic thing Wednesday has broken the branches on. These are definitely going to come back out next year when the time comes to put the tree up again!

Now, time for the final piece, the stars!

These are paper mache stars I got from Hobby Lobby. I had originally intended to mod podge a bunch of book pages on them and make them look like folded paper (and, honestly, I might do this next year) but when the time came I honestly couldn’t be bothered (lol!) and actually I think it looks pretty okay this way.

And here it is! The final look! Ta-daaaaa!

I added the “Merry Christmas” top hat (also from Hobby Lobby) last and, oh my god, doesn’t it look so good? I love how you can put it on the tree totally normal but it looks like it’s askew, which is exactly what I wanted for this tree!

I had planned to add silver ornament balls (and, again, maybe next year I will) but Danny told me it would overwhelm the tree too much and would make it look over decorated. Which, I mean, I totally get and so I decided to hold off on them this time. What do you guys think? Would that have been too much?

Sharing my Christmas Tree with you guys has been so much fun! I hope you like it! Leave me a comment below telling me what you think, and what your favorite way to decorate a Christmas tree (if you celebrate) is!

Until next time~💚!