Dust off your finest crystal, stock up on hot coco, grab your favorite bottle of vino and pick-up (or cut) your holiday tree to celebrate the most festive time of the year! Easy as that, right? WRONG. The tree is my biggest challenge. Not the making the trip to my local vendor on York Avenue part but figuring out how to start decorating. I’ve literally been giving it a Charlie Brown “confused” face whilst drinking some bubbly for a week not knowing where to start. I took to instagram for holiday tree inspo and stumbled upon Holiday Workroom (our holiday savior). Here is their story:

Holiday Workroom was created and founded by Erin Swift in 2017.  As a previous Creative Style Director at One Kings’ Lane and Market Editor at both Architectural Digest and ELLE DECOR, published author, and now interior stylist, set designer, and creative director for advertising and editorial clients alike, Erin is well-known for bringing her considerable direction and passion for design to all of her clients’ projects.  As a veteran New Yorker, Erin knows the pains of transporting a Christmas tree across several blocks and up enumerable flights of stairs, of having to buy new ornaments because of lack of apartment storage space, and of wanting to create a warm and enchanting space for friends and family.  Seeing a gap in the market and wanting to bring her touch of magic into New Yorkers' homes, Erin launched Holiday Workroom, which designs, delivers, decorates AND removes editorial-worthy Christmas trees and decor.

Desperate to know more, I asked them to provide a step by step guide on How to Decorate the Perfect Holiday Tree! See these super helpful steps below!

1. Lay down a moving blanket where you want your tree to live, and THEN place your tree stand on top.  This protects your floor, and makes it super easy to rotate the tree to its best side and position once you've opened it up.

2. Immediately fill the tree stand with water to make it easier on yourself.

3. Get yourself a tree bag for easy post-holiday cleanup and insert the tree stump through the middle, creating a hole and wrapping the bag around the stump, where it will remain throughout the tree's time in your home.

4. Secure your tree in the stand and unwrap any of its netting.

5. IMPORTANT STEP HERE - start lighting the tree from the TOP and work your way down.  We like to keep zip ties on hand to secure all of the light string ends to branches so that we know where they start and stop.

6. Work your way down, alternating between pulling the lights tightly around the center of the tree, to further out along the branch edges.  We like to use a minimum of 1,500 lights (or 15 100-count strands) for an 8ft tree.  Plug the end into the wall occasionally to see if you're missing any gaps.

7. Once your tree is fully lit, use green floral wire to really secure your ornaments to your branches, rather than the strings that often come with your ornaments (we know your pain of too many broken ornaments).

8. Always put more ornaments on your tree than you think you need - trust us, it'll make it really SHINE.

9. We like to finish our trees off with a chic twist on tree skirts, such as throw blanket or sheepskin rug.

10. Enjoy your tree!  If it is a real tree, be sure to check on the water every other day and fill the stand as necessary.  We've been told that adding a splash of Sprite may help the tree's vitality (but we're no scientists!). We also recommend keeping it away from any heat sources and turning it off whenever you are not home or sleeping.

Just as you put precious time + effort into making your holiday tree special for the season, so should be the wines you sip. Two festive + truly special wines to pair with your decor-ing below!

A special splurge from a local favorite Wölffer Estate! A truly elegant wine that will get you in the holiday spirit and forget you have to go to work the next day!

A Sicilian escape will have you singing holiday tunes in Italian and having you plan your next escape. A gorgeous wine that truly represents the essence of Sicilian culture.

The holidays can be a stressful time but since having our little baby HAM, I have learned to SLOW down, enjoy every minute, take everything in and know that IT WILL ALL GET DONE.