What Does Your Tree Say About You?

[Irishlass]

I'm not sure if we've done this before or not. It might be interesting to see how we decorate our Christmas trees............does it have a theme, is it all one color, do you use white lights or colored lights, is it collection of family ornaments, are the ornaments all homemade..............what makes your tree unique? Oh, I almost forgot, the most important question of all...............real tree or artificial tree?

I'll start. We have two trees. The "family" tree is in (where else) the family room. It is an artificial tree because it is up so long (usually the day after Thanksgiving until the weekend after New Years). I fear a real tree, no matter how well taken care of and watered, might not fair too well for that length of time. It has clear lights and lots of them. There is no real theme, although I do have a growing collection of Hallmark "Frosty Friends" ornaments on it. Beginning with the year 1975, I have two dated ornaments for each year. The only rhyme or reason for these are things that were of interest to the family in that particiular year. We have a cheerleader from the time my oldest lived and breathed cheerleading. We have a couple of musical ornaments from the time our youngest discovered she loved music (still does, has taught elementary music for the past 11 years). We have fire trucks.....those would be mine, I love antique fire trucks, no special reason other than the flashing lights and noise, I guess. We have ornaments from almost every trip we've taken. We have a couple of things that were made by the girls when they were little. There are some that I have made over the years, my favorites are a couple of counted cross stitch teddy bears. We also seem to have lots of kitty ornaments (made me miss my precious Snickers when I unpacked them). It seems almost every ornament evokes a memory of some sort, each year it takes a little longer to decorate the tree as I spend more time reminiscing. It isn't just a Christmas tree, it is a family history.

Our other tree is also an artificial tree, it stands in the living room. In order for an ornament to claim a branch on this tree it has to meet the following requirements...........it must be red or white, quite simple really. It also has clear lights and is tall and skinny. It is a handsome tree, but it just doesn't have the personality the "family tree" has. It serves its purpose, it bids a Merry Christmas to all who pass by on the road outside.

I can't wait to hear about your trees. May you all have a great holiday season and a happy new year. :cheers:

[Gabby]

I also have an artificial tree. A tradition laid down by my father who after the one-and-only real tree I ever had in my life fell on me and he thought it had broken my back. It goes up on "tree day" (the Wedneday before Thanksgiving). When the boys were babies, I would set up the tree, lights and garland and then go pick them up from their sitter and we'd do the ornaments. Now, they help with the whole production.

I think I have a picture of the tree taken many years ago that I posted at SA.

I use white lights and big red ball light covers that "make" the whole thing. I won't go to a 12-foot tree because I can't find more of those stupid red ball light covers (I've even tried e-bay) It has a fire-and-ice theme going, but it's being taken over by family ornaments. My SIL's all make cross-stiched ornaments for one another at Christmas and I now have 42 of them to display! :eek: Thank goodness they're beautiful!

One big tradition in the Matthews family (my side) is that all of the college ornaments must be hung in order of the football team's performance. That means Ohio State has been near the top of the tree for a while now. The schools represented are OSU, Michigan, Michigan State, Pittsburgh, Oakland University, Colorado Mines, and Amherst. The last three are doomed to go near the bottom. ;)

Let's see if I can find that picture...

[Slitter]

I hate to sound a Scrooge but I don't do a tree. None of the family Christmas festivities are at my house and it doesn't make sense to me to do it just for me.

I can tell you about the evolution of the family tree. When I was a kid, we mostly just used the glass balls. Dad would do the lights on (multi-colored). My oldest brother was a major fan of bubble lights. I think they were recognized as a fire hazard at one time and we didn't have them after that though he always has them on his tree. Mom would manage the production line. She'd put the hooks on the balls and us kids would hang them. It was probably all lopsided but it always looked beautiful to me! We eventually persuaded them to let us add tinsel as well - though now I can appreciate why they didn't want it, lol. I think we usually decorated it about 2 weeks before Christmas. The trees were real at first and then they finally got an artificial one.

Over the years they accumulated more and more of the homemade ornaments - you know, bread dough ones and stuff like that. Several years ago when all us kids had moved out, they decided to go with a table top tree. I remember the first time they did it, my younger brother was in charge of the lights. I think he used every strand they ever used on the big ones. Or, in his words, "I'm going to light this thing up like a Christmas tree!" lol

The bread dough, needlepoint and other gift ornaments have taken complete control. There's not a ball in sight anymore.

There was this one ornament though that was just horrid. When my oldest brother (now over 50) was in first grade, they made ornaments at school. It was an orange with cloves stuck in it until you pretty much couldn't see the orange. A loop of yarn was the hanger. I don't know how or why but apparently the cloves made the orange mummify instead of rot. Year after year that nasty thing was on the tree! It was all shrunken and misshapen but it was always there. I would always find it and move it to some invisible location because it was just so nasty. It must have finally just fallen apart or something because it disappeared a few years ago. YAY!

[An-g_BB]

:roflmao: Slitter!! the orange clove ball kills me!! - i can totally see you hiding that dern thing!!! hahahahah

Well-- This is our 1st year for an artificial tree in probably all our kids lives-- (12 yrs) partaly due to lack of space...the fact our tree base is *somewhere* in a box in storage...and the UGLY tree INCIDENT of 2005.

Our 2007 tree is a prelit 7' ponderosa Pine it has white mini bulbs-- but i had to put on my multi colored globe lites too.

Ornaments- theme = mishmash of Hallmarks(Peanuts, Marilyn Monroe), kids school made ones. I have so many sentimental ornaments made by My Grandmothers. Those yarn plastic grid types. :) Also...My DH's grandma always gives us all an ornament...but i uh...never display them but Gabby...i know how it is! -one year it was these bells... omg. a whole house full of kids...all clanging away!!! :crazy: i have them hidden...they're too heavy anyway for a real or FAKE tree.

IF i had room i would have another tree- i have so many hallmark ornaments that i seem to be collecting but never take out. :huh: i have a small fortune in Hallmarks... what was i thinking??? lol I only display about 20 hallmarks-- then all the sentimental & handmade ones. lol

[pocket]

Like Irish, it seems a waste of time to decorate a lot for just the two of us. If we have family coming, we'll put up more decorations, stockings, wreaths and mantel decorations, and a whole ceramic village. For "just us" it's a pre-lit 4 foot table tree in the den and a grapevine tree with lights and deep red silk poinsettias in the living room. This year, I didn't even put up the 4 footer because it's stuck in a corner in the shed with the big pool box in front of it. When we used to put up the big 7 foot tree, we had a lot of memory type ornaments and a collection of ceramic mice ornaments (made by my DIL in the 90's) with family names that went up first. Each family member seems to have a favorite ornament. I love a collection of ornaments that accumulate over the years. It's much more personal. This year, also because of the pool, I hung a metal Welcome gizmo on the front door, instead of a wreath. It has snowmen mounted on a sled. In other words, I put out whatever I could reach without getting a hernia. We used to buy real trees until the year we were stationed in Hawaii and the price of a real tree was exhorbitant, plus they were too dry and a fire hazard. The best invention ever was the pre-lighted trees. I do worry about what happens when the lights stop working, though.

Oh yes, the clove studded orange. We did that one year, and we studded oranges until our fingers bled. Never again.

[Tiberius]

I gave up on the tree and the decorations a few years ago. I hate to be such a scrooge but I simply hate this time of year…Snow, Ice, Sleet, attempting to get presents without going into debt…I just…mmmph..I will shush up…

[Irishlass]

I'm loving this thread. Gabby, the story of the falling real tree is great, I'm glad you were okay. I love the college ornament tradition, I'm sure that was started by one of the "big school" grads. I'm also glad to hear your SIL's are good with the needle and that you don't have to hide their efforts in the back of the tree.

Slitter, sorry you don't have a tree, but I was LOL at your clove studded orange story.

Ang, it sounds like you and I keep Hallmark happy. I'd hate to say how many of their ornaments I have.

Pocket, I think you might have misread my post. I haven't cut back on my decorating at all, if anything I decorate more since our kids left the nest. There isn't a room in our house that doesn't have some kind of decoration. Like I said, we have two full sized trees. I try to keep it tasteful, but I do have lots of "stuff". My brother once told me I was the only person he knew who decorated the bathroom, lol.

Tiberius, I'm sorry this time of year is bad for you. You know, sometimes when you least expect it something will happen to make you believe in that Christmas spirit again. I hope that happens for you this year.

Keep the stories coming guys, it makes for some good reading.

[pocket]

LOL, Irish. I think I combined posts with conversations with empty nesters and their decorations. Your house sounds lovely. I would have done a little bit more if I'd been able to get to the back corner of the shed. I remember the year I talked to my mom on the phone and she said they weren't putting up the tree. It made me feel badly for her. They were in Wisconsin, and we were in California, and none of the rest of the family were going to be home for Christmas. Now I know how she felt, and I was just projecting my feelings at the time. She wasn't sad. It was just too much trouble, especially if she had to do it all herself. I can relate. Without kiddies around to enjoy everything, there isn't the incentive, at least for me.

[Fuel]

We don't have a tree, but I remember growing up with one. I don't remember the tree per se, but the task of keeping the dogs away from it. "No, don't do that! I'll let you out!"

[mel]

I "graduated" to a fake tree last year.

It was our first Christmas living together and we discussed the fake tree at length. As a native Oregonian, it seemed blasphemous to me to put up an artificial tree when we live in Christmas tree country. You can go 10 blocks from our house and buy a gorgeous Noble for 10 bucks.

But.... I have always felt a smidge guilty knowing that the tree died for my pleasure and that it had to be recycled and the needles... I have always, always, hated the needles. It would take months to fully remove them from the house.

Further... Jeff has allergies, as does his son - so I weighed the options and agreed to a really good quality artificial tree (we got it on sale but it was still crazy expensive) and now... I love it. Really. I got a real wreath this year and it hung inside for a bit before being relegated to the front door. But I'm okay with that. :)

[frawniemae]

Growing up I can't remember if they were real or fake or even when they were put up but we did have a tree every year. Fully lit with dozens of strings of multi-colored lights placed "just so", with glass ornaments and tiny bells. Those plastic "icicles" that glowed in the dark. Tinsel that my dad insisted be put on no more than 3 or 4 strands at a time so it didn't look "clumped". I guess for the most part they were real because I can remember having the job of watering it once a day for the duration. I hated doing it as the tree got deader and deader. Prickly needles that left me with red spots because I was mildly allergic (looking back mama didn't know that so I'm not mad.) Overtime mama went with a fake tree. Got it on the day after Christmas sale, top of the line, but back in the day before they came pre-lit. That darn tree never stood straight. I always had to prop one of its "feet" on a cookbook so it wouldn't lean. I swore I would always have a real tree when I got my own family.

Our first tree was held together with duct tape and bailing wire. (That sucker didn't look that big when hubbie was cutting it.) It was so big we had to cut it into pieces and put it back together to fit in the house! Yikes!! But did we ever have fun! It was our first Christmas together! It was traditon to go the day after Thanksgiving to the tree farm and pick out our tree. We'd go back for it a couple of weeks before Christmas day so that it would be fresher for Santa Claus. Lots of homemade ornaments and a few "special" ones from vacations (like the santa made from a starfish from Florida or the hand woven straw one from Mexico). I still use a tin star that DD made back in '95 for the tree topper. But, ever since Hurricane Rita blew through, it tops a pre-lit fake tree. I just didn't have the heart to cut down a tree that had held up against that monster of a storm while huge oaks and pine trees still lay all around toppled over like a child's forgotten set of blocks and pick up sticks.

I still have homemade ornaments scattered here and there on the tree but every year I buy a set of pretty glass ornaments and at least one Santa and one snowman to put on it.

[UkraineMom]

Hey Mel remember that that tree was grown for you too....
so it was busy putting out oxygen until you brought it home

[Mouse9]

Growing up my parents had one of those aluminum trees with a colorwheel that changed it into four different colors as it turned. I thought that was the prettiest thing I had ever seen. Now that they don't make them anymore, they just might've been IMO. We couldn't afford a real tree when I was growing up. (Or mom didn't want to take care of the watering?) I don't really know. We also had different colors of metallic bulbs - red, blue, gold, green, with the normal homemade things. I remember sitting on a nearby couch and even with the light on to read I could look up and see the tree change colors.

Now, my older sister has the aluminum tree and I have a fake tree. We have had a real tree in long ago years, but when I adopted my two current children :-) I thought it would be better to get a fake tree. I bought it when they were two and three years old. Walmart was having an early bird special on that day after Thanksgiving and I remember getting up super early, getting the kids up and dressed, and going to Walmart to get this $19.95 tree. (I think I got it for at least half price or more.) It is 6' which use to look pretty big to the kids. Now it looks so small my kids think we should get a bigger one. We aren't going to. It's the same size to me.

We decorate it with flashing lights I have to put on around and around and around, each year. Then we put on all of the bulbs, homemade ornaments, ornaments given to me (as a teacher), crochet (ed) ornaments from my sister, and any other that come around. Some have broken over the years, but our most special ornament is the one we bought that says "First Christmas together - 1981". I guess that is the oldest ornament though I probably bought the colored glass bulbs that same Christmas. I do have a very old manger scene I have put up since before I got married and bought as a teenager (to signify the true meaning of Christmas to my parents.) I think it is amazing it hasn't had any damage all these years. It goes up every year in an area where it can be seen but not really touched. My kids really like it the best. On Christmas' we went away for the holidays, we always put the manger scene up, no matter what. (Kid's idea.)

I've always wondered how a person could actually have a tree that looked like it came out of a magazine, with organized color schemes. If I do buy another tree, I'd like to try one of those ones with the lights in the branches already.

Oh. We almost always put the tree up on the first Saturday in December and we don't take it down until January 1st.

[pocket]

An article in the Sunday paper stated that real trees are "greener" than artificial trees. Duh! I knew that without an article. It's nice that now even in the south you can buy fresh trees at tree farms if you're lucky enough to live close to one. Also, nothing can beat the smell of a real tree. I used to be able to buy boughs cut from the bottoms of trees in tree lots. These days I don't often see tree lots so I guess everyone either has an artificial tree or goes to a tree farm. I can always cut a few sprigs of southern pine for the scent, I guess.

[Slitter]

Growing up my parents had one of those aluminum trees with a colorwheel that changed it into four different colors as it turned. I thought that was the prettiest thing I had ever seen.

Oh, Mouse! My grandparents' had one of those trees and I also remember thinking it was the most beautiful thing on earth! Wow. I hadn't thought about that in years but I knew exactly what you were talking about when I read your post. Thanks for the memory. :)

[An-g_BB]

BAH!! Pocket... lol, get this- ''real trees are greener'' heh heh... right!

our REAL tree last year.... unfortunately despite religiously watering it... it was a crispy critter by xmas day. So...the day after Christmas, I had HAD it with the dry needles that seemed to explode off the tree. This was one of those pines that has the short needles...that are :censor:when you step on them. so out it went... in more revenge... its needles scattered EVERYYYYWHERE.

I unceremoniously deposited it upon our fire pit...
On a very bright day a few days later... as i came home from work... I noticed the tree...seemed a little bit... neon green looking. NOT pine green... or woodsy green... I walked over and look reallly close. Humm... i see a paint spray pattern ...especially on the trunk...which too was an odd green hue. :suspiciou I pull back some branches and it finally dawned on me. that tree had been coated with a green dye!
as i said-- even the trunk was green. not wood colored.
Ive often heard that some of the trees are cut down for shipping in late October....but geesh...to dye them green. whats this world coming too?:flush:

yeah ive been missing the pine smell...but did NOT miss the pain of hanging lights & ornaments among the needled branches. not missing the watering, NOT missing the dropsy of needles... and yeah-- we've had it up since Nov 30! :)

[AvecLion]

Our theme is utter chaos in a trailer trash kind of way.

We have an artificial tree. A new one. J complained the one Id been using was a "Charlie Brown" tree, so we picked one up after Christmas last year. We passed the older one on to my oldest. Personally, I think this tree is more of a Charlie Brown version than the other. Or maybe it's anorexic. Something's off on it, though. Clear lights. We reuse garland, and this silver/blue stuff is now in it's 5th or 6th year - gotta remember to replace that.

The bottom branches of the tree are soft ornaments (cloth and plastic). The next quarter up is unbreakable (wood, metal). The top half are the breakable ones and the ones that are irreplaceable in our hearts. This is done to prevent to prevent any loss from yanking/tugging/pulling by grandchildren and cats. On one of the top branches is a chintzy large blue scratched plastic ball that has "Pam" written on it. Yeah, my first ornament - still (barely) hanging in there after 44 years. Other ornaments are things our parents were getting rid off or things the kids made. There's some dated ones with the kids' names, but they've taken some of those for their own homes.

We have a Santa on the end table and in the center of the coffee table. We have the stockings laid out under the tree - and it's starting to look like a laundry pile. Me, J, the oldest, her husband, Kai (even though she's 1000 miles away and won't be coming home), Swan and Soldier, Bree, DJ, my foster granddaughter, the cat and off course, on the top of the pile are Chase and Anna's. There's also two wooden sleds (middle school shop projects) that go under the tree as well.

We have a banister with garland, bows and clear lights and ornaments hung from the garland between the rails. And our living room windows are outlined and there's a string of lights running along the deck rail in back and on the railing in front. We have candles in the windows, as always. We were told putting the candles in the window guides your family home for the holidays. So far it's worked. Maybe I should leave those in the box next season.

Now keep in mind, this all looked great Thanksgiving weekend. But Annadot and Chase like to pull the ornaments off the tree and they never get put back in the same place. So there's patches of tree that are now empty and other branches have a dozen ornaments.

And people thought I was joking when I said we should lay the tree down horizontally and just pile the ornaments next to it!


Oh, and our Nativity set is a sight to behold: Mary was abducted by aliens or something a few years ago. The two angels defected, the rest of the shepherds went AWOL, the villagers fled in panic and this year, baby Jesus went on vacation (actually, we think one of the grandkids may have tossed him out in the trash last week). So we're left with Joseph, a shepherd, 2 wise men, a donkey and a headless camel. And they're about to be trampled by gigantor-Eko and MegaSawyer, who are looming in the background. Chase decided to let the Lost figures play with "the little mens".

[mel]

yeah ive been missing the pine smell...but did NOT miss the pain of hanging lights & ornaments among the needled branches. not missing the watering, NOT missing the dropsy of needles... and yeah-- we've had it up since Nov 30! :)

Amen to all of that. I LOVE coming in after work, clicking the button to turn on the tree - and that's it. No watering, no needles, no mess. Just my sparking pretty happiness. :)

Also... Last year, since it was our first official Christmas together, we bought new everything. New lights, ornaments, etc. We chose a purple and silver theme and we bought a ton of balls that are glittery. We need to do something about them, though, because the glitter will get all over when we hang them or take them down. Rowan and I hung them this year and Jeff came downstairs and looked at me and said, "Have you two been out at a strip bar? You have stripper glitter all over your faces."

We need to seal them somehow...

[Gabby]

Glitter is half the fun! I swear it takes a week of showers before it's all gone! :)

[Slitter]

Mel, call a local craft store. They probably have a spray can of something or another that would take care of that. Just try it on a single one at first though in case it does something weird.

[frawniemae]

I remember those, too. If I ever find one I'll have to buy it for my husband. He thinks they're the best. I'm not so sure about that...I do know the ugliest, hmmmph I mean unique, tree I ever saw was when I was about 6. A friend of mom's had taken a dead tree with very few branches (but they were all twisted sort of) and covered it completely in pink cotton balls, wrapping and gluing cotton to cover every bit of tree, then added white twinkly lights. I can still see that thing in my mind...

[mel]

Good idea, Slitter. Someone suggested hair spray - but I don't count on that holding up for years on end when I can't get my hairspray to last for a day on my head.

There has to be some sort of varnish spray or something... Sounds like a summer time project on the back deck, though!

[Mouse9]

Mel, There is a spray I think 3M puts out that sprays a thin layer of clear plastic on whatever you spray.

Frawniemae, I was confused. Did you want to buy a strip bar for your husband for the glitter? Or were you talking about the glitter ornaments? :-)

Just joking.

I was wondering when I first started reading this thread if someone had done a study that shows "What Does Your Tree Say About You?" if you had a certain style of tree.

[frawniemae]

Actually I was referring to the aluminum tree and the colored light changer! Somehow all those other posts got in between
my thoughts and what was being discussed further on!

It's been one of those weeks when its Monday day in and day out...

FWIW I try to avoid glitter at all costs! It's like cat hair...you can never get rid of it!

[Slitter]

Do they still make those aluminum trees? I don't think I have ever seen one since my grandparents' house years and years ago.

[pocket]

Probably only in the resale market, Sli. ebay?

[frawniemae]

Hobby Lobby had some aluminum trees: some pink, some white and a couple that were shiny silver ,alas... no colored light changing thingy.

Hubbie will have to live with a fake, green, prelit tree again...

I think it turned out really pretty this year. I have been so busy with Poject Graduation and my son's Eagle Court of Honor that I just didn't have the time or inclination to get the tree up so Chris and his GF got it up and partially decked out then my daughter took over and finished it plus put out some of my other decoratons that haven't seen the light of day in several years!

That was really sweet of them!