How to Decorate a Christmas Tree

During the Christmas season it's wonderful to pass houses with majestic trees in the living room window all decked out in lights, garlands, and ornaments. Putting decorations on a Christmas tree is a time-honored tradition for most households, although Christmas tree decorating as we know it now didn't gain popularity in America until the late 19th century. Early decorations were mostly homemade ornaments and brightly dyed popcorn garlands, but today's decorations include everything from souvenir ornaments to vinyl records and -- of course -- lots of twinkling lights. Not sure how you want to decorate? Follow our three easy steps for decorating the perfect Christmas tree.

The first step in decorating a Christmas tree is adding the lights. Tree lights typically come on green or white wire strands; choose the strand that matches your tree so the wire will be hidden. Illuminating your Christmas tree from the inside out will give it the most dynamic look. Start at the base of the trunk and work your way up, wrapping lights around every major branch, moving from the trunk to the tip and back.

Here are four popular types of lights to choose from when decorating your Christmas tree.

Traditional incandescent lights: These Christmas tree lights, which come in a variety of sizes and colors, are the most popular type of tree lights. They warm up the branches of a real tree, which will release the scent of pine into the room.

LED Lights: These Christmas tree lights are newer than the traditional incandescent lights and don't produce heat. They're typically more expensive, but are flameproof and fireproof and completely safe to put on your tree.

Globe lights: These Christmas tree lights are round and come in many sizes. They look like balls of color on the tree, and while they have a softer glow than mini lights, the light they produce covers a larger area on the tree.

Bubble lights: These retro lights stand straight up on the limbs of your Christmas tree. When the liquid tube on top of the light warms up, bubbles will float up and down inside the tube, resembling lava lamps.

Experiment with different lighting schemes until you find one you like -- it's okay to mix and match lights. For example, a background of white or clear lights can be highlighted with strands of colored lights that wrap the outer areas of the tree.

Editor's Tip: Don't skimp on lights -- for every vertical foot of tree, you should use a strand of 100 lights.