“More is better, or else it will look too spotty,” she adds. Twin Cities–based designer Bria Hammel, for instance, recommends between 15 and 20 ornaments per foot of tree to achieve “a balanced look.” She advises piling on additional garlands and baubles if you’re going with a lighter color palette. But even still, there are a few tips and tricks to making your Tannenbaum show-stopping this year. No matter how you choose to spruce your spruce, virtually anything goes. And if you simply can’t decide, you can always opt for four different Christmas trees, like Queen of Christmas Mariah Carey does. You can go faux or spring for the real McCoy you can opt for a traditional look or go wild with a maximalist themed tree. But the greatest gift of all (in our humble opinion anyway) is a Christmas tree’s endless decorative possibilities. Its glowing splendor has the capacity to cut through the bleakness of dark winter nights, provide a cherished holiday gathering space, and-of course-light the way for Santa to deposit presents. Nothing-and we mean nothing-captures holiday magic quite like the sight of a resplendent Christmas tree.
