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Christmas Tree

JillW

JillW

I love lavend ... zzzzzz ...
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I used to enjoy putting up the Christmas tree, but over the past 4 or 5 years it seems like it is a huge chore and when I'm done with it, I'm not really pleased with the outcome. So last year I didn't even put a tree up. I don't think I will this year either ...

I do put out a lot of Christmas decorations ... and lights outside (even though not many people see them since we live in the country ...)

How about you? Do you go all out with holiday decorations?
 
We put up a tree...which is artificial so it is a lot of work...and I never feel it looks right. I hate "fluffing" that thing.

We also put up lights outside. We also have a little village that we add to every year. That is getting much larger. My hubby puts that up though since a lot of the items light up so he has to connect them to surge protector thingies.
 
the tree and decorating is my fave part of xmas! i like to keep it confined to one room mostly though and am over vaccuuming tinsel bits after about a week and love getting the room back to normal in Jan but by about Apr/ May i miss the tree again...and that's when i start scrapping xmas pics again!
 
carrie1977 said:
We put up a tree...which is artificial so it is a lot of work...and I never feel it looks right. I hate "fluffing" that thing.

We also put up lights outside. We also have a little village that we add to every year. That is getting much larger. My hubby puts that up though since a lot of the items light up so he has to connect them to surge protector thingies.
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yep positioning the artificial branches feels like it takes forever most years but i think that's becos the kids just want to jump straight into the decorating... unraveling the lights and checking those is always painful
 
I always put our artificial tree up. I do a white/gold/silver tree and then switch out a color some years. I stopped putting up the Xmas village a few yrs ago and contain the decorations to a few in the LR plus garland and lights around the fireplace. We always have clear lights outside. I now have a computer and desk in the LR corner which is where the tree usually goes so it's going to be a bit tricky figuring out where the tree can go this year. Our LR/DR isn't overly large so space is an issue. I'll figure it out though b/c I love seeing the tree throughout December and couldn't imagine not having it. But....January 1st it comes down.
 
teee heee we just put up our artificial tree last night. Ours is super easy as we never take ours apart. We put it in the storage room in the basement with an really really large bag that we just put over the top so no dust gets on it, pull off the bag and carry up BANG good to go! It is one of those pre-light trees so I will keep it like that and then after our Thanksgiving dinner when all my children are home for that day we will take out the ornaments for them to help decorate. I have a lot of signs and a couple of santa's I will put here and there around the house.
 
I absolutely love Christmas. We usually put up our decorations right after Thanksgiving. We have outdoor Christmas lights and I usually do something special on the front porch. We have two artificial trees - the fun tree that has flocked snow on it and a fancy tree. I decorate the mantels and put lighted, embellished garland on our main staircase. I adore how festive the house looks, but admittedly it is a ton of work. Last year, Kevin and I both took the day off work and spent the entire day on it. Hopefully, we can manage that again this year unless some elves magically appear.
 
Oh goodness~ I am a Christmas tree person, but it drives me bonkers getting the ornaments out and actually putting them on the tree (and I dread taking them off and packing them away)!

We get a real one, get it in, and then give it a day or so before we actually decorate it. It lasts and smells wonderful! There are loads of places to get them, and oodles of tree farms!

I have enough decorations from my mom giving me some every year for the last 15 years - I've finally said that she has to start getting other holidays as I can't use all of the christmas ones cause my house isn't that big! :giggle
 
You guys are making me feel like Scrooge! LOL!

I used to put the tree up the day after T-giving and take it down the day after Christmas.
 
JillW said:
You guys are making me feel like Scrooge! LOL!

I used to put the tree up the day after T-giving and take it down the day after Christmas.
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Not Scrooge at all - you decorate other ways. My mom stopped putting up big trees! She has two little trees (little christmas tree like shaped plants) she gets and decorates those with mini ornaments!
 
I love our trees. Although, all I really need is the lights. I love sitting in a dark room with just the tree lit up. I do enjoy putting up our tree, but our lives are so hectic at the holidays that it become a bit of a chore. We have a tree up at our place in Michigan, we put it up the day after Thanksgiving. That one is fun to put up as it's small, we're all relaxed and don't have other activities to distract us. The one at home just seems to get squeezed in and the kids have lost interest in helping since we've put up a tree already.

I do dream of having a theme tree in my family room next to my kitchen. I saw a display last year of all food related ornaments. Wouldn't that be fun? Someday.

I also would love to be able to store our tree assembled like @Sokee does! My parents store theirs that way!
 
@JillW Don't feel bad! If Daniel wasn't here, Jay and I would not be putting up a full tree, but would be putting up a tabletop one! LOL We'll continue to do the full tree until he leaves home, and maybe for a while after that. I don't know what the next 7 years will bring. I know I can't do the tree by myself, so if Jay isn't helping me, I won't have a tree. I love it when it's out and decorated, but it's such a strain on my back, that I have to take so many breaks and it takes forever to get all the ornaments on. That's not to mention the other decorations that I put out, too.

I do love putting out our nativity and other Christmas decorations . . . so I think I will always do that even if we don't have a large tree or a tabletop tree.
 
I love TREES!!! I have these two corners that butt up against each other...on one side I have my grown up tree, it matches my living room, red, gold and sparkly...then other is EVERY homemade ornament my kids ever made...and then some! Remember I have a whole lotta kids! bhahaha 138.JPG
 
When all the kids were little we always had a real tree, but I never put it up until a couple of weeks before Christmas and it always comes down the day after. I like the inside of my house back to normal. Last year, I bought this pre-lit 7.5ft tree from Hobby Lobby:

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and I love it so much!!! I don't have to move any furniture or anything to put it up like we did with other trees. I store it just like that in our building with a bag over it, no taking apart and putting together. It's just perfect. I put it up the day after Thanksgiving last year. I tell the youngest that I will probably just have a little Charlie Brown tree after he's gone from the house LOL.

I do go all out on the outside with lights and garland and wreaths and porch decorations.
 
We put up a tree and a few other decorations around the house, nothing too crazy and definitely not super nice looking. I let my kids decorate the tree. My hubby does put up a decent amount of lights outside...it's just so fun for our kids!

Last year was our first year with a real tree. The first few years of our marriage we just put up a little tabletop tree. Then when our kids got old enough to really enjoy it we got an artificial tree. We had that thing for about 10 years. When we moved into the new house I practically had to beg my husband and tell him the only thing I wanted was a real tree...I wanted that real tree smell. It was lovely.
 
JillW said:
I used to put the tree up the day after T-giving and take it down the day after Christmas.
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This is generally us. But it is the weekend after since my daughter only gets Sundays and Mondays off. We always go to a tree farm and debate trees. :giggle I can't imagine ever having an artificial one. I just did a page about it this week. :)
 
I have been a crafter most of my life so I have lots of decorations that I have made over the years and it gives me such joy to see the house all decorated for the holidays. Having said that, it is a chore and takes over a day to really get all the items placed around the house. As I get older, I ask myself if I should simplify.

In regards to the tree, we have two-a regular one and a basketball one. A million years ago my husband played, coached and refereed basketball. I got him one basketball ornament 47 years ago. From there, the collection has taken on a life of its own and he now has over 300 ornaments--gifts from my daughters, relatives, friends, students, etc. It is quite fun.
 
Now I'm getting anxious to figure out this year's tree. The boys can't decide if I have to do a superhero tree again this year (yes my adult boys) or do something different. We're still avoiding nostalgia as Will has been having a rough time lately. And my new tradition is a tree in my room. Will is trying to figure out a tree for his house as 2 4month old kitties and a Christmas tree is a dangerous combination. I said we should just decorate it with cat toys because whatever is on the tree with be a cat toy soon.
 
I used to decorate big time. My goal was to someday have enough things to decorate every room in our home. I pretty much reached that goal. My home is small now and not much room for decorating anymore. So I pretty much stick to the living room. I do have a pretty country Christmas spread for our bed though, and matching pillows and tons of snowmen I like to put up in the bedroom. I love doing that. Our tree is artificial and we have gotten to where we sometimes leave it up all year now and just change out the decorations on it for the different seasons. It's decorated for autumn at the moment and I absolutely love how it looks. We leave the lights on 24-7 and it's just beautiful.

We have three different sets of Christmas ornaments to use on the tree now. This year is the newest one we haven't tried yet. Green, blue, silver and a touch of bright pink. Hopefully we can get the lights changed over for that theme and get it decorated this weekend. We need to go find flowers in those colors. I'm finding that I love a "loaded" tree. Tons of flowers to fill in all the empty spots.

We do snowflake lights outside and a wreath on the door. Sometimes garland and lights around the door, too.
 
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