#1
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Curious minds want to know: Tree Decorating
Are you OCD when it comes to decorating the tree? Does it have to have a certain color scheme etc? Or are you more of a go with the flow and get it done however?
This year I just let the kids go at it.. the tree doesn't look very nice but it makes me smile because I see all these little clusters of various ornaments and candy canes that lucas put on the tree <3 |
#2
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I'm not super OCD about the tree. Some day I'd like to have a "formal" tree with a specific color scheme in the living room and then we'd put another tree in the basement with all the family ornaments and stuff the kids made. I usually just let the girls do their thing and then I'll rearrange a little if need be. Mine are a bit older so they're getting pretty good at spacing out the ornaments.
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#3
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How sweet! We did it as a team DH, DD (3 years old) and me. It may not look like something from Martha Stuart but it is perfect to me. I have to get some photos and scrap them soon!!
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#5
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We now have two trees (the second came as of last year). The first tree is our memory tree and has all sorts of things on it, no rhyme or reason, just whatever anyone wants to put on it - it's full of the handmade ornaments the kids have made over the years, ornaments they bought me as gifts, etc. This one is my very favorite tree!
The second tree goes in the family room and it has nothing but beautiful ribbon and glass ornaments. It happened as a complete accident really, but we loved it so we are doing the same this year. I suppose this one is kind of a memory tree as well - we shall call it the 'fragile memory tree', LOL! It's all porcelin and glass ornaments given to me by my children and husband over the years. I am not OCD at all about how things 'land' on either tree. We all pitch in and get it done, we have fun while doing it and thats all that matters in the end to me :-) I hate taking down two trees though! Ugh!
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#6
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Our tree does not have a theme. I have a set of colored balls, a set of crocheted snowflakes, a few other sets of random things, and then things that the kids have made over the years. I'm a bit OCD as far as ornament placement and not having too much of the same color in the same area of the tree. But, I try to restrain myself and let the kids put things where they want them.
Of course, this year, I may not put any ornaments on the tree at all. I'm pretty sure my one year old would wreak havoc with them. Our tree is up with the lights on it. I'm still deciding about whether or not to put on a few ornaments high enough up that the baby can't reach them. But, having a tree that's only decorated from the middle up is hard for my OCD to handle as well. When I was growing up, my mom always hated putting up a tree and left it completely to us kids. I remember we used to sit across the room on the couch and throw ornaments at the tree. Wherever they landed is where they stayed. I don't know how she put up with us. Lol.
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#7
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Mine is mostly purple and silver but only so it matches my room decor lol. I do have lots of random ornaments on it as well, I like a good random tree in this house but I do like looking at photos of people's OCD trees lol.
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#8
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Our tree is a mishmash of Hallmark ornaments, but I am OCD enough that I am moving them around as the kids put them on. A "cluster" of ornaments together hurts my brain.
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#9
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oh man. I have what my husband calls a 'martha stewart tree". Everything is color coordinated, I am picky about how things go on there. Eventually when we have kids we will have a separate tree for the family and fun and I'll have my formal tree with the Christmas village under it
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#10
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Our tree is pretty random. We have bows and a big set of balls (lol) that all match which kind of unifies it, but it's very random. I kind of like a tacky, memoryiddled, kitschy tree. I'm even thinking of busting out the tinsel this year. As far as letting the kids decorate... I do it with them, so I try to decorate fast and get the top half covered before they put everything on the bottom. They have their favorite ornaments and I kind of like seeing which ones they choose to put on the tree. I let them keep them there so they can easily see them & admire them. It's really for them (the tree), not me. I don't move things around too much... only if I notice a completely empty spot.
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#11
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I guess you could say I'm OCD about my tree...
I have two sets of ornaments and they get switched off. Last year we went back to the "old" set... it's more country christmas like... crotchet snowflakes, red gingham ribbon, rusted ornaments, wood snowman... etc. Then Jake had his own 4ft tree, with neon colored, no breakable ornaments and he was able to play with that to his heart content. Then the other set is purple/copper/platinum color... lots of "bling", big poofy flowers... that set is fairly new... probably only 3 years old or so... I got sick of the country look one year and decided to shake things up.
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#12
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Our trees are eclectic. I have tons and tons of Hallmark ornaments, ornaments that the boys have made over the years, some from my childhood and from DH's childhood, sport team ornaments, plus other just random ones. But all of them are meaningful. For years I put every Hallmark ornament back in it's original box (and I have hundreds). It made me despise putting up the tree. Last year I decided to leave all of them out of their boxes and flatten the boxes and store them. It remains to be seen if that helps me like decorating the tree more since we haven't put it up yet.
We usually put up 2 trees - a huge one in the living room and a smaller one in the family room. The smaller tree has more kiddie-ish ornaments on it. We are not putting that one up this year because of the puppy (which makes me sad because I LOVE that tree ). But we'll probably put the ornaments on the main tree, or at least some of them. Oh, and when the boys were younger and put their favorite ornaments on the bottom, I left them. I even did a layout about that years ago. |
#13
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I don't know! My little family has never had our own tree. Growing up though, we had a random collection of ornaments, but they were all placed evenly spread out. I think I'd be the same way. Hopefully this Christmas will be our first with a tree!
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#14
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I used to be more OCD about it. When we have a bigger house, I want two trees... one being the super fancy decorative one and one being a memory tree. Right now we have mostly silver and red and then a bunch of random ornaments all around, which I actually like.
Anyway, I used to move all the ornaments around but this year I didn't. I let the kids do 75% of it and haven't moved any (except for a few clusters really low that Elijah has messed with). And it really doesn't bother me at all. I'd actually like to add a few other colors (turquoise and maybe green) and just have it full of ornaments... then you don't notice the clusters as much anyway. |
#15
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Quote:
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#16
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All our ornaments have a memory - I have some that are almost 100 years old and came to this country with my grandparents when they emigrated from Germany. Cheyanne has 13 Hallmark ornaments that she has from my parents and they make a big thing of taking her out every year to pick the one she wants. The rest are all handmade ornaments - there are even some that I made as a kid 40+ years ago. I have ones that DS made and ones that Cheyanne made too. Our angel is an antique that was my grandmother's. We can't use tinsel or garland though because of our kitties, so we string beads of pearls on the tree instead. Placement really doesn't matter to me - except unbreakable things go on the bottom because the kitties like to play with them. Cheyanne is old enough now that she knows not to clump them all in one area. Last edited by mariewilcox; 11-27-2012 at 12:32 PM. |
#17
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we threw away our tree last year cause the bulbs blew out on it so I am off to buy a new one this year and I am planning on getting 2...one to put in the loft and decorate and 1 for the living room...but the last 2 years, my kids decorate and my oldest DD (19) puts up the high ornaments and the other kids put the rest up and we leave it but I do have a preference for white lights!
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#18
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There was a point when we had a color-coordinated tree...everything on the tree (and the wrapping paper on the gifts) went together. But after a year of that, I found it incredibly boring...I definitely prefer our eclectic tree True, Frodo might look a bit odd next to an angel, next to Bugs Bunny, next to Marilyn Monroe, next to a talking Lincoln Memorial...but it works for us
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#19
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It's mostly the same color. There are a few ornaments that hold memories. Like our angel in memory of the baby we lost and our mouse ears from our vacation this year. But most of the ornaments are various red and/or white balls with poinsettias and snowflakes.
When we first got married, I wanted it uniform, like when I grew up. Joel wanted every single ornament from his childhood on the tree, like when he grew up. I couldn't handle the hodge podge. LOL And, we can see who won out. Ha! Luke has his own tree in his room that he decorates all his own. That takes care of his decorating/helping needs and my OCD. Someday when we're in a bigger house, I want to have a memory tree... but where I can't see it all the time b/c it'd drive me crazy! Ha ha!
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Kristin
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#20
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Ours is an eclectic mix of ornaments too. When we got married, my mom gave us a box of ornaments she'd been collecting that included all my personal childhood ones as well as some new ones. Then I bought some random ones from Target to fill out the tree.
I try not to be too OCD about where ornaments are placed because my DH claims my MIL traumatized him with her Christmas tree decorating demands, haha, so unless I have an ornament that won't fit anywhere else, I try not to move things too much. |
#21
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We're a put them wherever kind of family. I don't overthink it. I let the kids put them wherever they want and that's where they stay, unless one's about to fall off, then I fix it. Other than that, it's a big hodge-podge of whatever's in the Christmas boxes.
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#22
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Same here! When we go on vacation or somewhere special we try to get an ornament as a keepsake.
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#23
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I have to admit that I am OCD! My tree is now red and white. There are a few photo ornaments of my kids, but they match. My kids really enjoy decorating the tree, and have never known any different than decorations I choose. They decorate my Mom's tree every year, which is a total chaos of ornaments, so that satisfies them, which works out AWESOME for me, since I am OCD about mine.
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#24
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I'm kinda OCD about it, and in my adulthood it's been always me who has been the "main decorator", so we had red/gold decorations for about 15 years and then I decided for a change and we have white/red/silver now. And white lights, I prefer them all the way.
HOWEVER, if I had kiddos, I think I might opt for the eclectic variant, because it's kinda endearing when they do it their way. I also think kids might prefer multicolour lights - I know I did when little. I'm not as OCD to as to force my vision, LOL.
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#25
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My kids had the tree decorated in about 2.7 seconds. They love it, so I love it too. I figure I can do matchy matchy pretty trees when they are all grown up :-(
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#26
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I'd love to have a color coordinated, themed tree every year...but no one else in my family likes that. So we have our big tree in the family room, with colored lights (that I have to put on so it's evenly lit) that we all decorate together. It's fun to hear the discussion about the ornaments and which ones the girls gravitate to each year. Hubs likes to read the newspaper I layer in between the ornaments to see what was going on the previous January when I packed it all up.
This year I'm back to having my own smaller tree in the dining room, which points out the front of the house so people can see it from the street. I do it all in white, red, silver and gold which matches the red walled dining room nicely. Oh and get my white lights on my tree since everyone else likes colored lights.
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#27
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Ours is all brown ornaments, tinsel and garland...even the topper. I do have a set of reindeer ornaments that get mixed in, but the reindeer is brown with just a bit or red, white and green so it's matches well enough. I have another set of little cream colored box ornaments with brown jewels on them, so yeah, they match too. Placement is definitely important. Nothing the same too close together and no clusters. The only bad thing is that we have to leave the very bottom empty because of the cats.
We've done it this way for the past 11 years...not sure if it will ever change. |
#28
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My trees a very eclectic and, I guess, kitschy, one. It's got ornaments from when I was a kid as well as the ornaments my sister and I have collected on our various vacation, and some Hallmark ornaments that reflect our interests (Barbie, M & M's, Star Trek, etc.). We both prefer colored lights on the tree and gold tinsel garland. I like to also have strands of silver tinsel icicles...I think it reflects the light and makes the tree twinkle. My sister's not so keen on that. We've made a compromise, as long as we still have boxes of tinsel, I get to put it on the tree. Somehow there's a Christmas miracle ever year and those boxes of tinsel just keep multiplying so there's enough for the next year and the year after and the year after...*LOL*
We're going to be moving in March and the house we'll be in has a largish enclosed back porch. I want to get a second tree to put out there to put the rest of the old ornaments on that no longer fit on the tree in the living room. So, hopefully, next year I'll two trees. The first year after my dad remarried, my step-mom did the tree very "Martha Stewart" like with white lights. That was the year I found out that that kind of tree might look beautiful in a department store, bank lobby, or the like but I absolutely hated it in the house I lived in (I was still living at home at the time). It all just seemed way to perfect and sterile to me...and I missed my tinsel and garland. Last edited by JuliaM; 11-27-2012 at 01:21 PM. |
#29
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For years, we had a HUGE tree that was decorated with memory stuff, macaroni ornaments, ones the kids made, baby's first Christmas, etc. I collect ornaments and everyone buys them for me so we needed a big tree for that. The color scheme was traditional red, green, gold primarily. Then, I got an idea for a smaller, color coordinated tree in purple, silver and white for another part of the house. So I started getting MORE ornaments for that.
Fast forward, divorce, moving to a smaller house, where there are no real walls between the main rooms (only part walls and columns) so you would have been able to see both from anywhere. The kids said one tree so now we alternate which stuff to put on it. That big tree made me so angry every year trying to put lights on it so I bought a slim line 3 years ago that only holds 3 strands of lights and is a BREEZE to put up and take down. I'll never look back. We are going purple and silver this year. Tree is up with lights, no ornaments till I get them out this week. Some of the memory items still go up even if they don't match the color scheme. |
#30
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Ours is definitely a mish mash. It does have white lights. But I have my ornaments from growing up ( we got Hallmark ornaments every year) and I do the same with my girls. My tree makes me happy. This year I am going to have the girls make some garland. It is usually me and the girls decorating with us begging Daddy to join in.
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#31
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we have white lights (which i'm pretty anal about) but the ornaments are crazy, handmade, memory filled ornaments that i wouldn't change if i had to.
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#32
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We're not particular at all. We usually have an artificial tree, but this year we got a real one. The kids decorated it for the most part, while I took pics of them My daughter keeps pulling all of the ornaments off to play with them, and then puts them all back one on branch. lol. I love to have our tree be sentimental, not all fancy with coordinating stuff and ribbon, etc. That looks too hotel lobby to me.. I really like having decorations that the kids made and have collected over the years. Things that mean something. When we move into our bigger farmhouse, we will probably have more than one tree, I'll make a fancier one then maybe, and keep the sentimental one as the main tree
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#33
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I think it's funny... after reading everyone's posts it seems the tree we want as adults is the tree we wanted as a child. To me, tinsel was something I LOVED seeing on my friend's trees but my parents wouldn't go for it... it was too messy. We also never had a real tree growing up... once again, too messy. So now I have a real tree every year! And now that the kids won't eat it, I'm doing tinsel. One thing I keep in tradition with is the colored lights & mish-mash of ornaments my childhood trees always had.
It's just interesting to think of WHY we want our trees a certain way... and how that specific formula is different for us all, but equally magical. I think I need to do another scrapbook page about the tree... |
#34
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Ours is a hodge podge I'm OCD about plenty of things, but the Christmas tree has never been one of them.
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#35
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For me personally, I don't do themed trees, our theme is Christmas exploded Most of my ornaments are sentimental from tacky to really nice. We all decorate and I go back and fix stuff :P I'm sure a lot of people would think they're overkill and tacky but we just love them.
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#36
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I did that 1/2 way. I put on the garland and distributed the big silk poinsetta blossoms that clip ontp the tree branches. I think having the 'big' blossoms spread over the tree help unify it. Then I let everyone have at it! My 6 year old did a great job this year, even standing on the little step ladder to get up a little higher!
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#37
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Honestly, I am pretty OCD about our tree. In fact, my girls now decorate the tree on their own, but they know all of the "rules" for how ornaments should be placed on the tree and they frequently remind each other or themselves about those rules. The number one rule being that two ornaments that are the same can't be placed next to each other or too close together on the tree LOL.
Right now we're doing a traditional Red/White/Green hand-crafted kind of theme, but I frequently get bored and change it up every few years. The last theme we had was all white and one of these days I'll do a rainbow tree. We just decorated on Sunday night, so here are a couple of shots of our living room all dressed up for the holidays this year. I have to say our house here in North Carolina is my favorite holiday house EVER! Wow! I love, love, love it here... Oh and shopping for new ornaments in our theme is a family affair. There are things on the tree that everyone loves and picked (santa's with beaded dangly legs that Katie picked, Reindeer with little scarves that Emily loved, little red felt aliens with 3 eyes that Andy had to have, etc), so that makes it special to us too!
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Last edited by Robin Carlton; 11-27-2012 at 05:15 PM. |
#38
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we have 2 trees..one in the basement with school ornaments and a mish mash stuff then one in the living room with a theme...We haven't decorated yet so not sure what I'm going to do on that tree...we have a few sets of ornaments with diff themes so we'll just go with one of those. LOTS of clear lights will be involved though!
Robin I LOVE LOVE that mantle and wall..you need a large family portrait in place of that clock
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#39
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I am a theme deorator...red/green/gold/ivory/white & country/rustic/nature type ornaments:
Every year I add more ornaments. |
#40
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Ours is crazy eclectic. I'm good with it though - I mean, I love to look at the fancy trees in magazines and stores, but in reality I love our goofy tree. Mine has flashing colored lights, solid colored lights, white solid lights, and then a whole bunch of meaningful ornaments. Most are made by the kids, but a few were from a handmade ornament swap I participated in a couple years ago. Each year we have a tradition that we make or buy at least 1 special ornament for each kid - usually homemade. It is fun to look back and see what each of them made at different ages, or what each of them picked if it was a year we bought them. Last year was the goofiest - the kids got on a coloring book kick and colored and cut out like a bazillion little things and tied string and hung them on the tree. Lets just say that was far from glamorous. But, they had so much fun with it. Oh, and they also finger knitted garlands for it.
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#41
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I am very OCD about my tree. Last year, after about 15 years of a maroon and gold Christmas theme with ribbons, angels, and beautiful formal ornaments, I decided I was tired of it and wanted something more fun since I have a 6 year old boy. Last year I re-did my tree and mantle and absolutely love it. It's red, green, and white with candy and presents. It's so fun, a bit gaudy, but much more kid friendly and reflects more of who I am now. I let Caleb help me decorate the tree, but I did spread his ornaments around a bit. He also has a tree in his room that's more boyish and he can put anything he wants on that tree.
Here's a pic of my tree, (before I had the tree skirt around it)-it's a phone pic, so it's not that great, but you get the idea, and a pic of the mantle. |
#42
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I can't imagine ever color-coordinating our Christmas tree. Our tree is like a Christmas scrapbook, and all the fun for me is pulling out the decorations, one-by-one, and reliving the memories they hold and how the tree is mish-mashy and colorful.
There are ornaments from my childhood and DH's, the ornaments my grandmother bought me every year until she passed away, and the ornaments I buy every year for the kids. I usually buy one family ornament, too. That fills up most of the tree. There are some red and green balls that go in 'the holes,' but I don't worry abt their placement, either. Miss Monkey is already talking abt 'decrashions' and the 'Chri-muh' tree, so I know she is getting excited, too. I hang up the breakables at the top, and she does the plastics/balls at the bottom. I know she will want to constantly rearrange, though, so I'm going to get her a tabletop tree of her own to play with so that she doesn't accidentally break any of the ornaments on the big tree. |
#43
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I used to be until I realised that I was the one enjoying the experience and not the girls. Now dh and I sit back and watch and take pics while they go at it They do a fab job and enjoy it SO much more! For my OCD part I decorate the little trees I have around myself lol
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#44
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We haven't put up the the tree yet this year but I found a page I did with the tree last year. It also has a shot of the mantle and Christmas village. I'm going to miss that mantle next year.
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#45
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Our tradition is to each buy an ornament and the boys will buy a couple with grandma so it's totally random. Devlin was going through a "diamondy" phase last year so we've got a few tacky ones now lol. I just stear those toward the back. The boys put the ornaments on but I'll go back and retouch!
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#46
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I'm OCD about ours, but only to a certain extent. I start by decorating the tree the way I want it - red bead garland, red glittery leaves, brown glittery poinsettias, gold ornaments, bronze, brown & gold balls - and then the kids help me finish it off by putting all of our Hallmark, homemade, and keepsake ornaments on. Best of both worlds. <3
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#47
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Okay I'm just gonna say it...I'm not into Christmas at all. Never have been. Since I have several small nieces, nephews, and great-nieces that love to come visit, I feel it's necessary to put up a tree. I have a different color coordinated themed tree every year. My 17 and 22 year old sons don't care.
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Donna |
#48
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I've been collecting ornaments since I was a wee one, so I've amassed over 200+ ornaments from family members and places I've visited. They all go on the tree, which takes forever. But this year it's not going up because it takes 2 days to put up and days to take down, and no one wants to help me. (DH says the decorating doesn't matter to him. Bah!) And I'm fine with that. It's a lot of bother to do all by my lonesome anymore.
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#49
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When I was growing up, we always put the tree up as a family. I've continued that with my kids too. I collect hand blown glass ornaments that are santa, reindeer, and snowmen. I also have other ornaments on there as well. The kids first christmas ornaments, Colin's ornament of his footprint with his DOB and DOD, and this year I will be able to put up my awesome ornaments from Disney that we got last year.
We have a small 4 ft tree that the boys are going to put upstairs and decorate how they want with all of their handmade ornaments and stuff like that. They are really excited about it! |
#50
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The tree we have had for the past 2 years... Photos from 2 years ago - in Slovakia you decorate on the 23rd or 24th, so no chance they could be from this year. :-) Most decorations have been bought, but I have made the little "gifts" - I also did them for our previous tree, so I wanted to keep the tradition.
I did these table decorations to match:
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Last edited by adrianka; 11-28-2012 at 02:40 PM. |
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