on all orders over $99
U.S. Orders Only (lower 48 states)
on all orders over $99
U.S. Orders Only (lower 48 states)
Yes yes....I know.....it's February! But honestly, with the ice and snow we have right now.....I was more in the mood to look at RAZ Christmas trees versus other work.
When we go to markets in December and January we are shopping for fall and Christmas the coming year. So, I went back through my showroom images and video I had taken and decided to go ahead and share this RAZ Holiday Spice 2021 Christmas tree.
Isn't this just a gorgeous tree!! I love it. You can just tell this home must smell great)))
I was just thinking about how this tree could be put up in September.....you know some of us really like to put our decorations up early. But, you could put a similar tree like this up in September and add in a few fall pumpkin style pieces and leave out the Christmas ornaments and have a beautiful fall tree.
Then after Thanksgiving, remove the fall pieces and add in more Christmasy ones.
Here's a quick video that we made in the RAZ showroom. They do such a wonderful job with their trees each year.
The Holiday Spice tree is just loaded with decorations that simulate dried fruits. Orange and dried lemon slices, pomanders, pomegranates, whole oranges and lemons add such a warm and inviting look.
You'll find bundles of cinnamon sticks. spice jars. crabapples and beaded garlands.
While this tree is very beautiful, it would be an expensive tree to decorate for sure!
We do have some of the products used on this tree at Trendy Tree, and some that will be coming in this summer, but not everything of course.
At the time of this post, we do have the crab apple pick and the crab apple garland in stock.
We also have a couple of styles of a mixed fruit pick available.
The wheels are always turning in my head when I see something like the Holiday Spice tree. I start wondering if there is a way to re-create the same look perhaps without spending as much as it would take to decorate a tree like this.
The spice jar ornaments are so cute and might be easy to recreate by using inexpensive jars purchased from the Dollar Tree. Salt and pepper shakers for instance? You could always find some free printables on Pinterest for pretty labels and just tie a ribbon around the tops for hanging.
You could also add some scented pinecones to the tree.
There is a way to make your own dried fruit slices and even dry whole fruits. I haven't tried it personally, but I have seen tutorials about doing it.
I'm always wondering about the finished color of the homemade dried fruits. I'm just not sure if the colors would remain vibrant. The only way to know would be just to experiment. That sounds like something to add to my "to do" list.
Pomanders are easy to make, I've done that in the past. You can take oranges or lemons and just stick little clove pieces into them and they are beautiful and smell good too.
One year, I decorated a small tree on my dining table with nothing but fresh fruits and bundles of cinnamon sticks. It looked great, but real fruits are heavy!
Do a search on YouTube and you'll find many videos showing how to dry fruits for decoration. I was intrigued! This is something I may have to try myself. Maybe not enough dried fruit decorations for a tree the size of the Holiday Spice tree, but maybe enough for a tabletop Norfolk pine.
The cinnamon bundle ornaments would be easy to make, expensive maybe, but still easy to do. You can buy whole cinnamon sticks in the spice area of grocery stores. You might be able to get them in larger quantities at a place like Sam's or Costco. Just tie up a few sticks in bundles with raffia or ribbon. Hey, even I can do this!
If you've tried your hand a drying fruit slices let us know. We would love to hear from you.
My only experience in drying fruits is from my childhood. Apples and peaches. We had a "June" apple tree out by the pond that produced small but tasty apples. It was always a dreaded time when "the apples were in."
It took a lot of peeling those small apples to create enough to prepare for drying. We would peel the apples, wash and core, and then slice fairly thin.
The thin apple slices would be spread out on a clean sheet, usually made from feedsack and left out in the sun to dry.
Don't ask me about flies and insects.....all I can say is well...I'm still here aren't I? Sometimes the slices would be spread out on the back porch which was covered and reduced the insect problem.
If there was rain or threat of rain....someone had to run out and grab the sheet and bring the fruit into the house until the sun came out. It was like having clothes dried on the clothesline. If it started raining unexpectedly, the entire household would run outside and start jerking those clothes off the line)))
If you have never smelled fresh clothes and especially bed linens dried on a clothesline in the sun....well....I would be rich if I could create that scent and bottle. it.
Once the slices were nice and dry, they would be stored in a clean pillowcase also made of feed sack.
The pillowcase full of dried apple or peach slices would be left hanging on a nail on the back porch. When it was time for fried pies, someone would be sent to retrieve a couple of handfuls of fruit slices for the pies.
If the weather was damp and rainy for a few days, the sack of fruit would be laid back out in the sun lest the fruit became damp and molded. Here's an old pic of my grandmother and me.....I'm pretty sure the sack on the doorstep is filled with dried apples or peaches. Or it could have been peas.
Apples were usually more plentiful, so it made the peach pies even more tasty.
The fruit slices would be cooked on the stove with some water and sugar until they were nice and tender and water cooked down until it was a thick consistency.
A saucer was used on the biscuit dough to get the round shape. The dough would be spread thin, the saucer laid down and then cut around with a knife.
A spoonful or two of the fruit mixture would be placed on a round thin piece of biscuit dough.
The dough would be folded over and the edges sealed with a fork. Sometimes doing the sealing would be my job.
The folded pies would be fried in a black cast iron skillet with shortening. Once they were nicely browned on each side, they would be placed on a newspaper to drain. So good, so good.
Well I have digressed so far from Christmas trees! Maybe that's why I like the Holiday Spice tree so much....it brings back sweet memories from my childhood.
Anyway, I was thinking that you could make this a fall tree by tucking in some plush pumpkins and adding some bittersweet.
You could use some fall ribbons and switch it out at Christmastime. Lots of potential for changing up this tree to make it last longer)))
We have several more RAZ trees to share with you, but lots of time to get to them. The Holiday Spice tree just seemed to catch my attention today.
If you have any questions or comments, just leave us a note right here: Trendy Tree Blog
