I know, I know! We’re a week into the New Year already, so why am I showing something Christmassy for this week’s Friday Favorites?

Well, just before I close the holiday posts, I thought you might like to see my favorite gift given this year!

This Christmas version of a money tree was lots of fun to put together for my Mum & Dad. Every year it becomes harder and harder to figure out what to give them. They have 6 grown kids buying gifts for them, so the good ideas are dwindling. They don’t need any more knick-knacks!

This year, I decided to give them money, but I wanted to do more than just put it in an envelope. Money trees are nothing new, but I thought a Christmas money tree might be fun and a little out of the ordinary.

I found this pretty tabletop tree with the idea that they could re-use it as a holiday decoration in the future. It’s showy but doesn’t take up too much real estate when in storage!

We gathered an assortment of bills in different denominations, rolled each one, and tied them to the branches with gold curling ribbon. As you can see, a dollar coin with little green bows served as the tree topper! (Yep, that’s Lady Liberty holding her torch.)

For the final touch, I printed a small hangtag that read: “Sometimes money does grow on trees!”

Actually, I wanted to show this to you right after we put it together, but that might have spoiled the surprise for Mum & Dad – they’ve been known to stop by the blog now and then! 😉