Christmas Decorations

[cultcross]

[yt]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rmgf60CI_ks[/yt]

cultcross, just out of shot.



Seriously, though, will be doing the tree at the weekend probably, want to get in there early this year as there will be a shortage of real trees this year - apparently they usually ship in a million from denmark, but only 300,000 this year because the growers want to flog to Europe for the better exchange rate.

 

[Me-Ike]

I've been looking forward to decorating for weeks! Since my days currently mainly consist of working, eating, sleeping, repeat (and working being what I will get back to after this post), the thought of using one of my very few days off for decorating the place and listening to Christmas songs really cheers me up.

I won't do much, I only have a small apartment. Mainly just an Advent wreath, a little bowl with Christmas candy and, my favorite, ye old Christmas pyramid (This is not mine, mine is a little smaller. But my family used to put up one of those ever since I was a kid.)

No tree, where I'm from we put the tree up on Christmas eve. Am looking forward to that, too.

Edit:

I love Christmas; I'm just nuts about it. I inherited that from my Mom. But it's odd that my family is so fanatical about it, since we're all atheists. But we definitely do it up right. We'll head up to my Mom's place for Christmas, but I want my house to have that Christmas feel until we leave.

Pretty much ditto on all accounts. We're equally nuts about it without being Christians and I enjoy every aspect of it, no matter what its roots are. The Advent wreath has quite a religious background but for me it's just pretty. And well, it's a fun family thing to do!

 

[Holdfast]

How far do you go?

All the way, but I wait until at least the second date. Not that I see what's that got to do with Christmas decorations.

Xmas decorations go up any time between the first week of December and a few days before Xmas itself, depending on how Christmassy I'm feeling that year.

 

[Captain Ice]

I've done both artificial and real trees, depending on the city I've lived in (Real trees don't work well in Phoenix or Tucson unless you get them fresh out of a refrigerated trailer from Oregon for some reason).

When they go up is also a function that depends on where I'm living that year. Outside decorations go up the last week or two in October when I'm living in a cold climate, though I wait until late November to switch them on.

 

[thestrangequark]

On a related quesion....

For the Christmas Tree... Real or artificial?

We've done living trees most years since I was a kid, and then plant them afterward -- the best way, I think!

 

[Crusher Disciple]

On a related quesion....

For the Christmas Tree... Real or artificial?

I have to go artificial, thanks to my dammed allergies.

I'm going to be out of town during the week of Christmas, and I was thinking about skipping the tree this year. But then I noticed that Love Actually was on Lifetime tonight, and....well before I knew it I'd thrown the tree up. I'm decorating the tree tomorrow instead of dodging all the crazy people out at the stores.

 

[Thespeckledkiwi]

My parents will celebrate Christmas by putting up lights.

I shall not as I am not Christian nor pagan and thus do not celebrate this holiday. I will, though pray as I usually do and meditate.

 

[Zulu Romeo]

On a related quesion....

For the Christmas Tree... Real or artificial?

They've always been FAAAAAKE.... apart from one year when we decided to get a real tree. I still don't know if we ever got rid of all the needles from the carpet that january.

We've had two fake plastic trees in our family, one of which was used every single year and now has worn away, given way to the current one with the flashing white lights. The tree in my house is also fake.

 

[May 20]

I usually pull out the tree and decorations the day after Thanksgiving (or the day our company leaves if we have company for Thanksgiving). I'm waiting this year for some other things to resolve before I decide if and/or when to decorate.

We usually have an artificial tree decorated with dated ornaments all chosen for important reasons from that year. So we tell our family history as we decorate the tree. We hang stockings. We make construction paper garland every year and string it from the banisters. Then we set up the Nativity scene. That's about it. I don't decorate outside at all. I never have and don't really think that will change.

 

[Trekker4747]

I'm going to be out of town during the week of Christmas, and I was thinking about skipping the tree this year. But then I noticed that Love Actually was on Lifetime tonight, and....well before I knew it I'd thrown the tree up. I'm decorating the tree tomorrow instead of dodging all the crazy people out at the stores.

You are such a woman.

Damn, and I thought I had code-locked the Lifetime channel on our TV.

 

[ladyheather69]

Already have the tree up, decorated and the inside of the house done. Just a couple small things left to do, which I will finish up this week.

Have had lights out in the back yard garden area for a couple weeks now. Lighted candy canes, and lighted flamingos and a lighted spiral tree.

Haven't decided what to do out front if anything other than my animated flamingo(I see a theme)

 

[C. Cole-Chakotay]

I just finished putting my tree up. I have a few things sitting around - the nativity scene, some other figurines, and several Holiday Barbie dolls. I'll put a wreath on my door and maybe hang a bow from my guinea pig's cage and tape one or two on the gerbil's tank.

 

[Kira's Mom]

The decorations get hauled out tomorrow, the trees (yes, trees) will go up Sunday (first Sunday of Advent- that's when I always do decorating), hopefully I'll be done before the end of the week.

My trees are always artificial.

 

[Sakrysta]

I've had real trees ever since I moved out on my own. I keep contemplating an artificial that's pre-lit, because I know it'll save money in the long run, but I'm talking myself out of it this year I think. The only place I have to store it is the attic, which would be really hard to get it in and out of. Maybe some day.

I'm excited because I'm planning to decorate my front porch for the first time this year - garlands around the two center posts and lights wherever I can manage. Gonna try to do something with the back deck as well. I live on a corner, so both sides of the house face the street. I have lots of random Christmas stuff that gets distributed around the house as well. I love shiny things.

 

[Capn Flukie]

On a related quesion....

For the Christmas Tree... Real or artificial?

They've always been FAAAAAKE....

 

[Kira's Mom]

On a related quesion....

For the Christmas Tree... Real or artificial?

They've always been FAAAAAKE....

WIN.

 

[Mallory]

I've done both artificial and real trees, depending on the city I've lived in (Real trees don't work well in Phoenix or Tucson unless you get them fresh out of a refrigerated trailer from Oregon for some reason).

Thanks for the plug! Oregon is the nation's #1 producer of Christmas trees although, strangely enough, most of them end up going to Mexico. As a result they're pretty cheap here too, generally around a dollar a foot. Or, if you're really industrious, you can buy a permit from the US Forest Service for five bucks and go cut your own tree down in any National Forest around here.

As for you fake tree lovers...

 

[Major Chord]

We always decorate. An artificial tree (we have one now that has lights pre-installed), normally a train set I got as a kid to go around the tree, a few wreaths, various wall hangings, and a shit load of chotchkies that my mom has accumulated over the years. Then, there's the candles on the mantle that no one can ever burn. We've had them forever, and they're currently held together with scotch tape. Yet, mom won't let us burn them. Or toss them. Also, one of my favorite decorations, a set of little plastic houses with a Disney character in each. When plugged in, music will play, and the characters (Mickey, Minnie, Donald, etc) come out and sing. It's pretty din to hear "Santa Claus is Comin' to Town" in quacks and barks.

Outside, we have an inflatable snowglobe, that plays music, light up candy canes to line the drive way, Christmas lights for the outside of the house, a bunch of wire framed presents and trees that we throw in the front yard, and a christmas themed flag we put in the flag holder on the front porch.

Funny thing is, before we moved here, no house on the street decorated (my dad grew up in this house, and many of the same families still live here), and after we moved in and began decorating, one by one houses started putting things up. Now, almost every house on the street has some sort of lit decoration out this time of year. We're hoping to put the majority of the stuff up this weekend, as we have yet to get any snow...

 

[the 4th hanson bro]

We'll put ours up the first weekend in December. Since we're here this year for the holidays and not traveling, we'll put the lights on the roof.

Now that the kids are old enough to not knock it over, we'll probably put the LGB train around the tree along with all the other stuff that seems to fill every nook and cranny. We've got at least 5 large boxes of ornaments, including the whole series of Star Trek beginning with the Enterprise.

Every year it amazes me how much stuff gets put up for the holidays.

 

[Miss Chicken]

We have only had a real Christmas tree once and I had to remove it from the house after a couple of days because my son had a serious allergic reaction.

A few years later the same son was forced to make Christmas decoration out of pine cones at school. His teacher didn't believe him when he told her of his allergy. About an hour later he was sent home from school in taxi because of his reaction to the cones.