A friend of mine mentioned that she got one of her five trees up on Saturday. WOW! Five trees! I used to work with a lady who always put up a tree in every room. They all had different themes. She had a cowboy tree in her grandson's nursery, which was also cowboy themed. She had a monkey themed three in her jungle theme bathroom. I believe the one in her guest room was Wizard of Oz or something like that. Her house was decorated to the hilt and it was gorgeous and creative.
I have a big tree in my living room and my mom bought my oldest daughter a pink tree for her room several years ago. A few weeks ago I bought a little bitty tree for my kitchen. It was on sale at Hobby Lobby for 50% off, so it cost me $2.50. It's one of those little ones with burlap around the bottom. It's so cute! I want to decorate it in black and white for the kitchen, I think. I'll have to come up with some cheap, cute ornament I can make. Because I put my tree up so early, I use artificial trees.
When I was younger, I always wanted a perfectly decorated color coordinated tree, but I think over the years I've changed my mind. Our tree is 7 1/2 feet. Our ornaments are a mix of everything. We have lots of Hallmark ornaments we've collected over the years. We have several Hallmark "frame" ornaments from a particular year that you are supposed to put a family picture in for that year. MOST of them still have the family that came with the frame in them. Isn't that awful? By the time I finally get pictures from Christmas printed off, I've already put the ornaments back int the attic and by the time I get them down again the next year, I can't find the pictures again. It's terrible and embarassing. Oh well! Some of the other ornaments are things the kids made at school: beaded pipe cleaner candy canes, puzzle frames with the kids school pictures in them, snowflakes cut out of paper, etc. I even have a little bell made from a tiny terra cotta pot that my husband made when he was little. My mom got me some mesh and pretty stuff for the top of my tree, but I need to work on it a little more.
We watch Chrismtas movies while we decorate the tree and usually end with hot chocolate. We love hot chocolate.
This got me wondering about how others decorate their trees. Do y'all use real trees or artificial? Do you decorate by themes or is it a modge podge? Do you have a tree in every room or just one tree? Do you watch Christmas movies or listen to Christmas music? What are your decorating the tree traditions?
Being Jewish, I never had a tree growing up and I always wanted to decorate one. So when I moved in with my husband, I went crazy decorating with all these tacky ornaments. Over the years, I've thrown some of those out and I'm now trying to collect things that are a little nicer. I also put Hanukkah-related ornaments up! We have an artificial tree, but we're getting our first real one this year. I'm a little nervous with how the kitty is going to react, so we'll see!
ReplyDeleteYou sound like me Tanya. Those ornaments I've had for years, bring back such memories when I put them on the tree. I think of each person or my children who made them, what a wonderful time to pray for them. Thanks for sharing your wonderful thoughts. Happy Thanksgiving.
ReplyDeleteI've always wanted to do a tree in every room, but besides all the work and expense, my husband is a close relative of Ebeneezer Scrooge. Ha! I have an artificial tree, because I too usually put it up the day after Thanksgiving. Over the years my "themes" have changed. Early it was to please my children with all the things they made. Then it turned into a nature inspired theme. Last year it was gold and red. Period. This year, I'm really digging the peppermint ornaments and ribbon I saw in the local Christmas shop. So, I'm making some ornaments out of salt dough. Got to take a little trip to Hobby Lobby for some ribbon.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing your thoughts and your tree with us. Happy Thanksgiving!!
I put up 5 trees at my house. Two are large and the other three are smaller. For some reason I like to decorate with color themes. My family room tree is decorated with red, green and gold. (My daughters, now 25 and 22, made me take all of their homemade things off a few years ago but I usually slip many back on the back of the tree).
ReplyDeleteMy living room tree is burgandy and gold. Each of my girls have a tree in their rooms. One is pink, green and silver. The other is purple, blue, green and pink. The only themed tree I have is a Santa tree in my sun room. My older daughter got married last year at Thanksgiving and I was too tired to put them all up last year. I can't wait to get them up this year.
Hi Tanya! How are you woman? I'm ok. Been a bit busy lately with holidays coming and school and now christmas card making. But I love being busy. I get bored when I'm not lol. I love the fact that your tree is from everyone in you household. Bits and pieces of your lives. We have an artifical tree. We used to do real and someday I would like to go back to that maybe. But we had a disaster tree one year and bought the fake tree on sale. We have one big tree in the living room and a small alpine style tree with lights by the front door outside and two small trees in the kitchen. I love to play christmas music, but (Mr. Scrooge) I mean DH isn't big on decorating tree so it's my domaine. lol.
ReplyDeleteI think your tree is beautiful, Tanya!
ReplyDeleteI just put up one tree. I should be ashamed to admit that since "Miss 5 Trees" up there about two comments is my sister. And then, there's the Duchess with her 15 trees...
Sigh.
I tried to do a snowman themed tree, but I'm so cheap that it doesn't have enough ornaments so I've stopped putting it out.
Our actual tree is a real one. The husband will NOT hear of artificial. I want an artificial one because they decorate so beautifully. You can bend the boughs at your whim. Try that one with a Frazier Fur.
It is sort of themey. It has gold and red and white.
Ahhh! You got your tree up! We did get our outside lights up last weekend...getting there. It looks beautiful. We love a red, white, green and silver color scheme. I love stars and snowflakes. We love just the classic bulb ornaments. I think we go for a pretty classic Christmas look.
ReplyDeleteI always thought that I'd do several trees with themes, but the reality is that I simply don't have time to do that. We have a prelit artificial tree that we enjoy in our family room. We both collected ornaments long before we were married and we've been collecting them together since 1993. We buy ornaments when we go on trips. We also give each other ornaments every Christmas and my mom gives us ornmaments every Christmas, too. At the rate that we are going, I'm going to have to have a second tree so that I can display them all!
ReplyDeletebeautiful tree
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