A bit early I know but...

[CyclChyk]

Ok so am I the only weird one who doesn't put up a tree???

And on a side note, my neighbors have already slathered their house with christmas decorations. I have to say, it looks great but holy toledo its not even Thanksgiving yet!

[suzieqtwa]

I used to cut down a tree every year ,but I got sick of the needles falling all over the house ,and finding them for months after ,so I got a 8 ft tall fake tree with lights on it ,and I love it. Its so easy to put up ,and we have tons of decorations. I use glade plug in ,pine scent to make it smell good. I usually put it up after Thanksgiving.

[kiwi girl]

I haven't had a tree since I left home, but after 13 years of renting BF and I now have our own home - so I think I'll get a tree this year - probably just a small artificial one though

[emily_in_nc]

We put up Christmas trees early in our marriage but have kinda gotten away from it in the past few years. I grew up in a family where we always got real trees (but never until about a week or two before Christmas, much later than most people seem to these days), so I always disdained artificial trees. Love the smell of real pine! However, they are messy, and if you travel during the holidays as we often do, very hard to deal with the watering situation. So, we finally broke down about 8 years ago and bought a very nice artificial tree. I really didn't want to, but DH talked me into it. We used it once, then we moved into a house where there's just not a good place for it.

Since moving into our new house, the fancy artificial tree is in the attic. I've taken to decorating the house with rustic Christmas decor like wooden and iron figurines (reindeer, angels), baskets of pinecones, garlands tied with raffia, just simple stuff but definitely "holiday". I try to put a little something in every one of the downstairs rooms to make it festive, but no big tree.

We just added a sunporch, though the floor is not in yet (we'll be tiling, right now it's just raw plywood). Since we haven't furnished it yet, we actually have room for a tree out there. I didn't think of it until reading this thread. Maybe I'll get the big artificial tree out of the attic this year and go for it. I do have a lot of lovely ornaments, many handed down or handmade by my mother, and I miss not getting to use them. But I'm kinda lazy about the whole putting the tree up, the lights, decorating, and (even worse) undecorating the tree. We'll see how inspired I get!

Emily

[nancielle]

I love "real" Christmas trees but I live in an apartment and after a few years of hauling them up (and down) a couple of flights of stairs, I finally switched to an artificial tree. One of my local grocery stores gets pine scented candles in every year that really smells like pine trees so I burn those. I love lots of lights on the tree. One year though I had bought a set of lights from BJ's and they were much brighter than I expected. I could have landed a plane with that string of lights. I ended up giving them away to one of my sisters who decorates much more than I do (her kids thought the lights were cool.)

Christmas is the only holiday I decorate for. Love putting everything up, hate taking it all down in January though.

[short cut sally]

When we were first married, we decorated anything and everything, real trees and green artificial were used. All decorated with ornaments from both grandparents and my parents, all the old shiney brites. However,the artificial tree spent more and more time in the closet as xmas rolled around. The 6 foot artificial tree was given away and a few years ago was replaced with a 3 foot silver aluminum tree from the 50's. The tree is decorated with plastic strings of garland,shades of blue ornaments, and the cheesiest of lighting system is used. The color wheel. (Also from same era.) Yes, lucy from charlie brown would be happy. It is tacky but fits in my decor well. I do love decorating the house, i have vintage decorations, and love to get them all out and enjoy, but taking care of everything is such a pain. I think the older I get, the more a chore decorating seems to get. Now I know why my parents and grandparents decorated very little while I was growing up. I vowed I would'nt be like that when it came to the holidays, but the apple doesn't fall far from the tree now. I have good intentions but we'll see how far they get.

[Brandi]

All these stories are great! I love to hear what other people do or don't do. keep the stories going. Post pic's if you have any. Maybe some of us will be inspired. I would like to find a christmas bike ornament. Does anyone know where I can find one?

[makbike]

No tree this year for I don't feel it would survive my two kittens! I really haven't put up a true Christmas tree for the past 10 years. My living room is tiny and with a Great Dane it has always seemed like a bad mix. One swipe of his tail and the tree would be on the floor. I have, however, decorated the cat tree my brother-in-law made me several years ago. He literally cut down a small tree, removed the bark and put perches at the end of each branch (the cats love it). I have in the past put lights on it and hung my ornaments (gifts from students and an ornament for each past and current pet). I have found myself tearing up when I put past pet ornaments on the tree for it makes me realize I how much I miss them and more importantly how much they shared with me the years they were with me. I need to find some ornaments for my three new additions - I think I'll shop tomorrow while I look for my final gift for my SS. I do love the holidays!

[caligurl]

Ok so am I the only weird one who doesn't put up a tree???

i didn't last year.... and i'm leaning toward not doing so again this year..... we'll see....

[nancielle]

The tree is decorated with plastic strings of garland,shades of blue ornaments, and the cheesiest of lighting system is used. The color wheel. (Also from same era.)

shellyj, my grandmother had one of those trees with the color wheel. When I was very young I thought that wheel was the greatest thing ever! Drove my mother to distraction every time we visited there during the holidays (she lived next street over so visiting was very easy) because I'd constantly stick different objects (including hands/feet) to watch them turn different colors.

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

shellyj, my grandmother had one of those trees with the color wheel. When I was very young I thought that wheel was the greatest thing ever! Drove my mother to distraction every time we visited there during the holidays (she lived next street over so visiting was very easy) because I'd constantly stick different objects (including hands/feet) to watch them turn different colors.

There was something magical about those color wheels....especially when the shone on silver foil trees. And the little liquid bubble lights...
Anyone remember when tinsel was made from REAL LEAD strips? I do!
OUr cats used to eat it, it weighed a ton and tore very easily, and we kids loved to roll it into lead marbles to play with. I'm not dead yet.

I just read this:
"In the 1950s and 60s, metallic trees with all the same shape and color ornaments became the rage. The trees were made of aluminum-coated paper, which posed a fire hazard when Christmas lights were placed directly on them, so they were instead lit by a spotlight with a motorized color wheel in front of it."