Christmas decorations

[sylvie]

We go out to the edge of the property to cut and drag a Christmas tree back about the 15th of December. This has ended up being at dusk after work and usually in snow, which helps slide the 12 footer along. I plant assorted pine, fir and spruce seedlings each year to assure we have stock.
I celebrate the Solstice so that date allows us both to enjoy it on our respective holidays.
The tree comes down after January 6th.

One mid March I was on a art auction committee where we met at a lady's English Tudor mansion to address invitations. Her tree was still up! That tree ended up being more of the conversation than the rare Juan Miro painting on the wall.

Outside I decorate entirely different each year. This year I have been buying small chandeliers at yard sales to hang up along my steeply peaked roof line.
I make over sized wreaths to hang, always different.

I love driving by homes that have gone corny mad with exterior decorations. We've got a family close by that has a moving merry go round, music, characters in orchestrated movement and more in a wooded setting; it is amazing!

 

[Dace]

Good morning Drake, that is a nice tradition.

I'm a bit bummed about my daughter never really getting into decorating the tree. As a kid I loved to unwrap all the beautiful ornaments some dating back to the turn of the century. My mom finally gave them to me when I had my daughter. (She moved on to just putting dried flowers and moss in her artificial tree.) Each ornament has a story, you guys know what I mean.

For the last 12 years I've been putting up and taking down a beautiful tree full of one of a kind ornaments, ribbons, glass icicles, that beautiful wax angel from Germany and tiny white lights. I moved the furniture all around to get the tree just right...

Oh, HECK!!!! I'm getting soft now, I do want a tree! FarmerChick you are right, I need to just get over myself and put one up JUST FOR ME! I love lights on the front porch too.

BBH, I did the tree trimming every Christmas like you are talking about. When my kids grew up,moved out,married-they
came home for Christmas.I got divorced,split all the family stuff up between them except the Christmas stuff. Well, the first holiday that rolled around I was not up for it emotionally and I was always the one that took care of Christmas. Well, imagine my suprise when my daughter took over.She had always had the Christmas spirit-and had listened to all the stories about every ornament and had a memory about every holiday! We have had Thanksgiving (the tree goes up after dinner) and Christmas every year at her house ever since-and thats been the last 5 years! I never would have thought that-she kept her Christmas spirit pretty hidden when she was young! So don't give up hope! And she inherited all the Christmas ornaments....

I have to chime in about tree decorating.....First we get the tree inside and set in it spots, DH & I put the lights on and once that work is done we make an evening out of it, fire going, hot chocolate, a bunch of different appetizers for dinner, bottle of champagne for mom & dad, Christmas music on....I sit with the boxes of ornaments and sort them. Everyone gets a new ornament each every year. If there is an flat spot on it I write something, at the very least I put the year on it. As I unwrap I give it to which ever child it belongs to, we reminisce about that particular year and they get to put their ornament on the tree....then it starts. The bickering....that one is not hers! How come she has more than me? He won't let me put mine where I want it to go! blah blah blah blah blah.

Part of me dreads tree decorating for this reason, but I know that even though there is bickering and it is annoying as heck....once the tree is up we all do take our time to enjoy it and remember all of the ornaments on it which all have some meaning to each of us.

 

[delia_peterson]

Dace, is that not the truth about the bickering? lol! Believe me, my kids are 34 and 30 now and it makes for some awesome memories! We spend more time laughing when we are decorating the tree as the good natured "bickering" goes on...

 

[delia_peterson]

We go out to the edge of the property to cut and drag a Christmas tree back about the 15th of December. This has ended up being at dusk after work and usually in snow, which helps slide the 12 footer along. I plant assorted pine, fir and spruce seedlings each year to assure we have stock.
I celebrate the Solstice so that date allows us both to enjoy it on our respective holidays.
The tree comes down after January 6th.

One mid March I was on a art auction committee where we met at a lady's English Tudor mansion to address invitations. Her tree was still up! That tree ended up being more of the conversation than the rare Juan Miro painting on the wall.

Outside I decorate entirely different each year. This year I have been buying small chandeliers at yard sales to hang up along my steeply peaked roof line.
I make over sized wreaths to hang, always different.

I love driving by homes that have gone corny mad with exterior decorations. We've got a family close by that has a moving merry go round, music, characters in orchestrated movement and more in a wooded setting; it is amazing!

How cool about the chandeliers! How are you going to decorate them? Tell us please!!!!!

 

[Quail_Antwerp]

UGH UGH UGH!!!!

It's not even Thanksgiving, and ya'll are talking about decorating for Christmas!






Truly, I hate it that people jump straight from halloween to Xmas, but that's me.

We put up a tree, that's it, and not until AFTER my birthday, because I'm a December baby.

Then, it's just a christmas tree. nothing else. don't want to mess with anything else. Oh well, except cranberries and popcorn that we hang on the dogwood for the birds. They never eat the cranberries, but they love the popcorn and the kids like making them.

I hate the whole process of putting up the tree and then taking it down. Drives me nuts.

Christmas night, tree is down, ornaments put away, etc.

Ohhh and I hate it when I drive by someone's house at say Valentine's or Easter, and their frickin' Christmas tree is still up and IN the window!

Bah-humbug! And that's Mrs. Scrooge to you!










(I just got hit with some serious deja-vu...didn't we have this convo before and I think I was referred to as Scrooge?! LOLOLOL)

 

[sylvie]

How cool about the chandeliers! How are you going to decorate them? Tell us please!!!!!

They are 7 light chandeliers and have the candle flame bulb in each socket.
Not sure how durable those bulbs will be but will change them out if a problem arises.
I have 5 to hang: one at the top peak and 2 spaced on each side, all beneath the overhang.
I plan to attach the clear plastic icicles in place of crystals which should have the same reflecting effect. Chandeliers put out a lot of light so I'm asking DB, the electrician, if I can put a dimmer switch inline. That's as far as I've gotten. I wonder if greens and ribbons on them would be overkill.

 

[sylvie]

UGH UGH UGH!!!!



Truly, I hate it that people jump straight from halloween to Xmas, but that's me.

Hey, I gave it 2 weeks! Blame the others!

 

[delia_peterson]

How cool about the chandeliers! How are you going to decorate them? Tell us please!!!!!

They are 7 light chandeliers and have the candle flame bulb in each socket.
Not sure how durable those bulbs will be but will change them out if a problem arises.
I have 5 to hang: one at the top peak and 2 spaced on each side, all beneath the overhang.
I plan to attach the clear plastic icicles in place of crystals which should have the same reflecting effect. Chandeliers put out a lot of light so I'm asking DB, the electrician, if I can put a dimmer switch inline. That's as far as I've gotten. I wonder if greens and ribbons on them would be overkill.

Greens and ribbons would not be overkill! They sound so awesome! Pictures are going to be coming, right? No pressure...lol!

 

[Big Daddy]

And the stupid cats climb the inside of the tree. Then they knock ornaments on the floor and play with them. On top of that they don't have the decency to chew through a light cord or something.

We used o have a dog that would sleep under our bed when he was a puppy. He chewed the cord for the light and you could tell when he got zapped because he would yelp. Then he would start chewing again.

 

[Henrietta23]

You can call me Scrooge too. Our tree won't go up until two weekends before Christmas at the earliest. We observe Advent, the quiet period waiting for the birth of Christ. When I tell people that they generally look at me like some sort of nut belonging to weird cult or something Nope, just a plain ole Episcopalian. I don't get nuts over other people decorating earlier than we do though. I end up sounding preachy when I don't mean to be.
This year the tree may not go up until the 19th. I'm dreading it because of the 8 month old Golden Retriever puppy. It's going to be a nightmare. Our house is small. I can't put it anywhere than in the living room. I am hoping to put it in a corner and use baby gates to block him out. He's crated when we're not home but we can't watch him every single second of the day. We'll have to keep the decorations simple to our lives sane! Maybe we'll do more outside than we usually do to make up for it.
I've seen two house decorated already. One was completely outlined in different colored flashing lights and the other had the large inflatables on the front lawn. I tried not to cringe and failed. :/
For the cats I've used both orange and lemon peels or lemon scented air fresheners in the lower branches of the tree. It was recommended to me by the veterinarians I used to work with.