Christmas Trees From Top to Bottom

CBN.com Join 700 Club producer, Gorman Woodfin as he takes you to Midland, TX to "Miss Cayce’s Christmas Store" and more. Now it’s run by two fantastic sisters, Kathy Harrison and Becky McCraney.  And they have such a great reputation when it comes to Christmas decorating—they are the official decorators of the tree in the state Capital building in Austin, TX.

Their store has a tree for every theme and every space. Like the merry multi- tree—it’s upside down to fit in narrow spaces. Or the tree made of large wreaths linked together by chains. Or the western themed tree—called “Home on the Range,” complete with an outhouse. And a tree even a bachelor can handle by himself...

Gorman Woodfin: What is the first thing you teach people?

Becky McCraney: We want them to pick out ribbon. That’s the first jumping off point for them planning the rest of their tree around. We’re gonna have a diamond pattern. The reason we have a pattern is to make it simple for the person at home ... when they get home to decorate. We start at the top of the tree with two back to back. Then, we’re gonna put one on that side of the tree, and you’re gonna place yours on this side of the tree, and that’s going to be the side of the diamond. So by having this diamond pattern—we have a space here right now that is going to be our next element. 

Woodfin: Okay, now we’re finished with the bows, so Kathy you’ve got the next element, and we’ve already started that—it’s the balls.

Kathy Harrison: It’s the balls.—what are you going to do with this Gorman?

Woodfin:  Well, here’s the thing ... if I were to look at the size of the tree and look at this, I would say—wait—this is too big. Why do you feel it's not too big? 

Kathy Harrison:  It's not. It's all about layering. This is giving you a background for future ornaments as you come out.  It's kind of like—it's going in the diamond pattern. It's our next biggest thing that’s going on the tree.  So we’ve created a space with the diamond pattern to get our balls on. So then you graduate down to a smaller size—you keep creating spaces for the next items to go. 

Woodfin:  So Kathy as you’re finishing up that—Becky, what’s the next stage after these ornaments? 

Becky McCraney: Tthe next addition that we’re gonna have is our florals. And that’s gonna continue to carry out our color, our theme that we presented with our ribbon. And we got started with it. And there are beautiful florals out there.  They’re hand wired. They’re glittered. We like to add  a lot of glitz and glamour at Christmas time. It makes it different than your regular home décor . And you’ve really added an extra element. And again, once the bows and the balls are placed on there—you have some more empty spaces—so in all of those places where we have on the tree that are empty—we’re gonna go back in and add our beautiful pointsettia pick. 

Woodfin: We’ve got all the floral on it now, but you’ve added a second step to it—what have you done?

Becky McCraney: We’ve added a filler spray, and this is something that is glittered, its gold. Again, this continues to carry out our theme of red and gold. 

Woodfin: The next stage is the bead work, right ... putting the beads on?

Kathy Harrison:  Yes, this is kind of like the jewelry.

Woodfin:  Would you also call this like garland ... like people put garland on their tree?

Kathy McCraney:  Yes, it's called beaded garland. There are tinsel garlands. Sometimes a tinsel garland may be done a little sooner in the process, and be laid up in the tree to be part of the filler. This bead garland however is more of a droopy thing on the outside, kind of like icing...

Woodfin:  May I help?

Kathy Harrison:: Yes, get it started up there. We always start at the top, and you work your way around the tree. You can do it several different ways. You can go all the way around on the different layers. You can go at an angle. 

Woodfin:  How do you select the theme ornaments for the tree?

Becky McCraney:  Well, again back to our ribbon ... red and gold. We chose a music theme doing a drum, musical instruments. You know a lot of people think about music and Christmas carols at Christmas time. So, it’s a great theme to carry out the red and gold. 

Woodfin:  What about those special ornaments? What do you suggest that people do with those—like baby’s first Christmas and first ornament as a couple—that kind of thing?

Kathy Harrison: Well, we want those definitely put on the tree. And those are the ones you get out of the box with your kids and your family members. And you relive when we got that ornament—maybe a vacation ornament.  One like this, and I love to dance, and I think about my daughter loving to dance and the dance classes and recitals that you do.  You might want a cross that represents a baptism for one of your children. I think you have more of a sporting ornament there ... whatever sports your kids are involved in. Those are the kind of fun things that your kids want to add with you and that are important to them. 

Woodfin:  That is a georgeous tree, and I did help, didn’t I? Ihelped up there and over there...