We grew up with the Traditional Christmas Tree like most Americans. But times have changed in the  Dattola household.  We have ditched the traditional REAL Christmas tree, bypassed the fake “real looking” tree, and advanced directly to a plywood Christmas Tree.  Like most things we do, some may like this idea and some, like my grandfather and sister think its un-American and disgraceful. This is year #2 with the tree (this year brought the addition of ornaments) and I have to say it’s really grown on us.

Heres how we made it…

MATERIALS:

• Plywood (2 identical pieces – size determined by how big you want your tree)
• Butcher Paper (for stencil)
• Jigsaw
• Skill Saw
• Drill with good sized drill bit (1/2 inch is what I used – big enough to get the jig say blade into)
• Sanding paper (just a little to smooth out jig saw edges)
• Spray Paint (for our six foot tree we used 3-4 cans)

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Make a template out of butcher paper (Let your creative juices flow – we googled sketches of Christmas trees for inspiration).
2. Trace the tree directly onto a piece of plywood – we used a 6ft piece of Plywood and our tree took up almost the entire sheet).
3. Cut outline of tree first.
4. Drill  holes large enough for jigsaw to fit into in order to cut out the interior pattern.
5. On Plywood #1: Cut a slit from the top of one tree half way down an 1/8” larger than the thickness of the plywood (used a skill saw for this step).
6. On Plywood #2: Cut a slit from the bottom up half way also 1/8 larger than thickness of plywood.
7. Spray paint to your liking
8. .