Christmas is a vital thing for me. In USSR all of the Christmas traditions were shifted to New Year, including the tree and the gifts, and for me it was also close to my birthday. Life in Russia at that time was pretty bleak, but New Year with the tree and the shining ornaments and tinsel and gifts and a big dinner, well, it was magic.
Last year we didn’t get to have a live Christmas tree. We moved the day before Christmas, and there was no live tree to be had. We bought a plastic tree so we would have something up on Christmas.
It about killed me. First, it’s not real. Second, plastic trees are harmful to the environment. While I don’t judge anyone for their choice of tree, real trees grow for several years on a farm, providing all of the benefits to the world that a tree does and at the end they are biodegradable and return back to nature. Plastic, not so much. But anyway, long story short, plastic tree.
This year I got terribly excited about the tree buying. Like really excited. And then Kid 2 came by and said, “You know, we have tall ceilings now and space. We can get a large tree.”
So I called down to New Braunfels Christmas tree lot and talked to a lovely lady named Carol, who told me that they would deliver our tree if we picked one out but larger trees were going fast. I made shiny eyes at Gordon, who dropped what he was doing, and we went to New Braunfels.
Yeah. So this happened.
I may have shot us in the foot here, because despite the fresh cut, commercial mount, and being stored in water at the lot, this noble fur isn’t taking in water. I hope it doesn’t dry out, because everything I’ve read says that drilling holes in the trunk won’t help and making another fresh cut won’t is out of the question. It took four of us to out it up. It still looks pretty fresh, so we’ll see.
Now we have to decorate it and I am reasonably sure that we do not have enough of anything. I will need to buy light and decorations, and that brings about all sorts of questions. Do we do a hodgepodge of multicolored decorations or do we pick a few colors and have some sort of scheme going? Traditional or weird?
Do we buy large ornaments or lots of small ones? Where is a good place for buying large ornaments? Shatterproof of glass? Opinions wanted!
I have the trunk full of ornaments that my husband and I have collected since we were kids and the ones we’ve collected since we’ve been together. Then each of my kids has a tub of ornaments that they’ve gotten since they were born.
Our tree is always a base of lights and beaded Garland, then the collection of ornaments.
I also buy at least one box of shatterproof balls that only go on the bottom of the tree for the cats to play with.
I figure they deserve some fun too.
I read this to my mom because it made me laugh, especially the “shiny eyes”! She wanted me to tell you to pour boiling hot water in the tree well to melt the sap and it will start drinking the water. She apparently does this every year and I never noticed!
Your tree is so beautiful and Merry Christmas!
Good info was meant about the hot water.
I’ve heard the boiling water hack, but haven’t tried it. I understand it is only necessary once, then warm tap water will do for subsequent drinks. Let us know how it works.
We started with balls and shiny beads, but over the years we added some fun ones. The kiddos pick an ornament every year and we get one on our vacations. We have Transformers, Star Trek, Star Wars, Doctor Who, Firefly, Aliens, the Predator, Rainbow Brite, Goonies, snowflakes and stars for family members we’ve lost, marvel characters, LOTR, Disney villains, Wonder Woman, ones the kiddos have made and many others. It’s a hodgepodge, but full of memories. We have such a good time putting it up together each year. Good luck in your search. I hope you find the perfect one for you guys!!
Good info!
Dear Mr. and Mrs. Andrews,
I agree with Racheal. When I was growing up, all we had were our baby ornaments and boxes of glass balls. When I set up my first tree as an adult, it was tiny with only a few ornaments, but they were all different because I chose them for each individual. Now, some 16 years later, we have tonnes of ornaments and each one is different, and every year setting up the tree, we go through little snippets of memories to go with each ornament we hang up. We have Disney, Dr. Who, Star Wars, My Little Pony, Humane Society ornaments, etc. The only thing I will say about buying individual ornaments is I lean more towards ones that do have an Xmas look about them. For example, we have a Mr. Stay-Puft (who plays the Ghostbusters theme.) He is cute, but I would have preferred if he was wearing an elf hat or something similar.
I am happy you have a tree, and your home is lovely. Thank you, as always, for your books. Especially during finals, I am excited to escape into the world of magic.
Cordialement,
Cynara
I decorate with birds and bows… From a style standpoint I say stick with a two color design (like gold and red or silver and blue) for the ball ornaments and ribbon/bows. Then fill the rest of the tree with all the important ornaments from times gone past.
But that tree is big enough that you could split the tree in thirds and decorate each side different colors.
My mother always insisted on lots of lights, and I’ve kept up that tradition. Some prefer multicolored lights, but I like white in the background to showcase the ornaments – that’s where the memories and traditions shine. I put my topper on next – I alternate between an angel or snowflake. If you try to put it on last, you take the risk of knocking off ornaments. Along with the two complementary colors, I prefer European painted glass ornaments as a starting point. There’s also specific themed ornaments like snowflakes, santas, and angels which can be handmade, handcrafted, or Hallmark. Softer, less breakable ornaments on the bottom; or larger ones that are out of paw or tail range. The most important layer – the real keepers – are the special ornaments we collect each year that have special memories – each year we’ve been married; each family member also got an ornament each year; 2 pieces my son made 20 years ago in grade school; from places or events, etc. If I have energy left, maybe a layer of tinsel or garland. This is assembled while playing Christmas music, nibbling on tasty finger foods, with periodic adult beverages or hot chocolate, as desired. This has been known to take 1-5 days, depending on how busy we are. Be kind to yourself and your family and don’t let this create unneeded pressure. If you’re “down to the wire” ask family and friends over to help finish and you can share the stories that come with the ornaments.
Blessings and Merry Christmas to the AuthorLords and Book Devouring Horde!
I am totally team “random collection of cool ornaments” and definitely coloured lights vs single-colour or white lights.
I am in AWE of your tree – that is amazing!
The rule of thumb is apparently 100 lights per foot of tree – but if you like lights, they recommend doubling that! I can’t even imagine putting that many lights on a tree – but I bet it would be awe-inspiring!
I tend to skip breakable ornaments because of pets and now my nephew and niece. Last year my cats were introduced to their first live tree. Unlike every other cat we’ve had they were afraid of the tree. I saw one actually jump and run when he realized he’d gotten close to it. All ornaments were untouched. It will be interesting to see if that changes this year. This year my sister and I decorated her tree for my nephew and niece (almost 3 and 1). Everything was chosen for it’s softness and ability to withstand toddler handling with heavier or wooden ornaments on top.
I say go for the hodgepodge! Your current decorations are attached to your memories of previous Christmas trees. Have everyone pick out something new to add to the memories.
Exception: low branches should have non-breakable ornaments. Because cats, kids, vacuum cleaners, and life.
+ Im totally down with this. Me and my husband love hodgepodge of everything on our free. Except in our family jesus brings US the tree so we are up until 3 or 4am every year…. We do like big trees. But the eyes of our little one in the morning make it all worth it. This year we have a toddler so on the bottom we will put things I wont cry over when they go booom? there is a manufacture of beautiful handcrafted painted glass decorations in the North of Slovakia… We spent tons of money there already.
My family loves Christmas. We always do our tree on Decmeber 2nd, my mom’s birthday.
Decorations! My grandma always did 2 trees. One was the “Fancy Tree” which had all the pretty decorations with ribbon and balls and beads and it was beautiful. Her other tree was the “Kids Tree” because her grandkids were enamored with it. It had a hodgepodge of fun decorations that didn’t go together, but did.
However, MY PERSONAL Family tree has always held memories as far as I can remember. My parents first ornament from when they married 29 years ago. Ornaments from when they went to Italy, ornaments with school pictures of us kids inside, handmade ornaments we kids made in school, snowmen from when we built our first snowman (we lived in AZ and went to Colorado for a wedding. We had never seen that much snow). Different times in our lives or favorite memories or something we love, we get an ornament (not every little thing, but the big ones). In fact my little sister recently got married. My mom got her a wedding ornament. She gets it when we put up the tree this weekend.
Beautiful tree.
We’ve done two primary colors for years. Ours are red and gold, with white lights, but this would work with anything. We started with a bunch of different cheap shatterproof red and gold ornaments, red and gold bows, and gold ribbon for garland. This is kind of the “filler.” They are various sizes, mostly medium, and they aren’t the same brand, but there’s a bunch of them and a lot are identical or at least very similar. Then, each year we pick out a few new, fancy (glass or other material), interesting red and/or gold ornaments to thread into it all. I only buy new ones if I find some I really like, that are beautiful or unique. Sometimes it’s just one, because one strikes my fancy and they only have one (usually collectible). Sometimes I’ll pick up four, or six in a set. The color keeps it looking like there’s a theme, but there is all kinds of unique stuff in there. It gets more interesting every year, you get to keep a lookout for a few beautiful ornaments every year (which I like) and you don’t break the bank buying the fancy stuff all at once. Win win win.
Christmas trees are about family and memories. Each year, when you put up each ornament, it brings back the person who gave it to you, or an event in a child’s life, or a place you visited. When you take them down, it’s a little nostalgic as you wrap each memory for the next year. It doesn’t really matter if you have “enough” ornaments; lights and tinsel fill in while you add to your trove. Make it personal to your family, and special.
You said it perfectly!?
I’m going to second Jen’s advice about using hot water. After the initial filling, I then let the water (which cools off, of course) get really low before refilling with hot water. If you gently squeeze a branch and pull and a lot of needles come off, they need to bring you another tree at no cost because it’s a lost cause and will drop its needles before Xmas. We had to return a tree once. Thankfully, we had only gotten as far as the lights when we realized it wasn’t drinking and wasn’t going to last.
Speaking of light, we use strands of white non-blinking lights and strands of blinking multicolored lights, alternating them up around the tree. We have the multi lights that blink in patterns and we use a pattern that makes the tree gently sparkle, enough movement to make the tree seem even more alive.
Home Depot has some great “starter kits” w coordinated colors, I breakable, for pets…my husband would tell you it’s all about the LIGHTS. There can never be enough. I tried the bow topper this year with long trailing spiral ribbons… It’s really beautiful! We live in an old house with low ceilings so shorter trees for us.., I have a tradition of buying o e ornament each year, last year it was the 2018 Guinness collectible…this year, for my daughter I got 3… A unicorn, a sloth and a narwhal bc she couldn’t pick one. I’m actually also on the hunt for a set of Russian nesting dolls.. My mom had a set she always had out at Christmas… Enjoy decorating!! That is beauty and your home looks so amazing.
We did a traditional red and gold design, similar to the first picture you posted. We used nearly 100 large shatterproof ornaments, flowers, pine cones, snowflakes and four rolls of 4-inch ribbons on our 9 foot tree. I tried to include a picture but I couldn’t figure out how to paste it on this comment box. Glass is beautiful but incredibly expensive for the amount you’ll need to decorate that tree, which I’m guessing might be upwards of 150 pieces. I’ve seen pretty glass ornaments run anywhere from $30/dozen to $150/dozen. Maybe a mix of both? Definitely get large ornaments, the 2.5 inch ones were too small for our tree. The Texas State Capitol, as well as the White House, releases an annual ornament, which we started collecting once our son was born. 🙂 I’ve seen other trees where the Texas state capitol ornaments go back to 2004 I think and they’re all gorgeous, golden, and intricate. I skew more traditional because I get tired easily of trendy/unusual themes. If you like colorful though, then definitely go for it. The Austin Public Library has a wonderfully colorful tree without going overboard.
I don’t celebrate Christmas really – my siblings and I mutually cancelled the vestigial celebration that had persisted up until then about fifteen years ago because of reasons. A lot of winterberries and evergreen foliage tends to make its way indoors around this time of year though. And it would be kind of fun in an absurd way to decorate the pomegranate tree.
I do have fond memories of some of the decoration bits. Especially if you have a large tree – well, how many precious ornaments of great significance are you going to have, anyway? Garlands and lights and glass balls can set up a theme, and the precious ornaments can save it from looking like a department store display. (I still miss lighting the candles on the tree at my foster brother’s house… but that is such an outdoor activity.)
I’m also a big fan of wrapping and hanging gifts on the tree, or otherwise making them part of the decor. At the first of the solstice parties back when I was a teen, we decorated a hatrack, and all the presents had to be hung from it (it was the house rule – this lead to some pretty amusing wrapping and a very unsteady hatrack.)
I’m more of a traditionalist but I am not adverse to doing a color scheme. If I could afford to do it then I’d probably do that. We’ve just always had those old ornaments we’ve made in school or just ones we picked up and thought were cool to hang on the tree. You can go either way. Shatterproof is the way to go! We have a year old pup and he knocks stuff off all the time. He’s already torn up the tree skirt…so we cant have one of those anymore lol. He’s like a tornado…eats everything…reminds me of Kate’s poodle haha. Hobby Lobby has a vast array of ornaments. Even big ones. They always have sales so I’d go there if you have one near. We had a real tree once. It was such a mess and keeping it watered was difficult because we are busy people. It became a fire hazard so no thanks. I’m allergic to pine too so we had to go the artificial route. We’ve had our tree for years so I am only destroying the environment a tad. 🙂 You can totally do small ornaments or big or a mixture of the 2. Just remember you gotta take it down. Its funner putting it up than taking it down. Enjoy decorating and making that tree your own! Either way it will be a beautiful tree! XO
We always get a freshly cut huge tree and last year I went and bought the large Christmas tree lights instead of the tiny ones that go on a regular tree and I love it so much better. And we have tons of random ornaments plus I usually try to get a few matching bulbs scattered around the tree as well. But I totally hear you on not having enough of everything last year we got the Griswold tree and I had to go shopping and buy way more lights and ribbon and all kinds of stuff but I’m set this year! I can’t wait to see pictures of your tree after it’s decorated!
I’d say hodge podge of ornaments and then use garlands and new ornaments
to add an element of symmetry.
I’m a fan of colored lights and I’ve been collecting ornaments for 40 years so
I’ve got them in every material, size, and shape. They all bring back memories of where I was when I bought them. Use your family ornaments and then fill in with
new ornaments that share a color and add garland to tie it all together.
I’ll also second, third, and fourth putting non-breakables around the bottom of the tree
to keep your pets safe.
We also recently bought a new (to us) home with cathedral ceilings, and had our first 12’ tree last year — I am not going to let me husband see your picture, because he would immediately want your noble fir! We get a Christmas ornament from everywhere we travel or vacation, so that at Christmas time, the tree also becomes a memory tree of good times. As for ornaments, light colors, etc., Christmas is meant to be a magic time, when the world transforms – get whatever makes you happy and I wouldn’t worry too much about being consistent or a designer beautiful. Personally, we are colored light people, but white lights are beautiful as well. You picked a perfect tree – enjoy it!
Now that is A Tree! I’d go with all the people who recommend an Everything tree: the accumulation of memories, from tacky to fabulous. I miss the smell of a real tree. When I was little, one year my mother wouldn’t take the tree down until Easter. It was pretty tired by then but brings a smile when I think of it. Whatever you do, just enjoy it.
Don’t forget the yodeling pickle, origami animals and Hershey’s Kisses!
The last couple of years I have gone totally whovian on my tree. Blue and white decorations, Tardis lights as well as white and lots of adorable daleks. My husband was concerned when I got a weeping angel tree topper. They freak him out so we compromised and I found a spacey looking thing for the top of the tree.
That tree is AWESOME.
I too love natural trees. I am just 1 person though. I plan to get a live potted tree this year.
I saw a story on FB a few days ago about a Christmas tree farm, in the UK I think, that rents out trees in large pots multiple years. After Christmas, return the tree, it goes back out in the field, and grows in nature until next winter.
I love that idea.
Well, what makes you and your family happy? I admire the coordinated trees trimmed with a colour scheme and themed ornaments, but that just isn’t Christmas for me. I grew up with a hodge podge tree where every ornament had a family story. Then it all got wiped out when we lost our house in a huge wildfire. So I started again. I have new ornaments and stories from when I still traveled all over the world. I will always use these ornaments.
I have gotten cheap filler boxes of used ornaments from church sales and plastic ornaments from the Dollar Store, for the bottom reach of my cat and some outdoor trees.
I tend to not use lots of lights because that dries the tree out faster. Lately I start with white ones at the top (like stars) and coloured ones at the bottom – because we like them both.
If you really want to grow your tree trimming collection, run a giveaway for all your fans who send you a christmas ornament 😉
Happy decorating, and congrats on that gorgeous tree!
We use to caretake an11 acre lakefront estate in the forest. Every year we would walk the property looking for our Christmas tree-how I miss that. My experience with commercial Christmas trees versus fresh cut, is that the commercial ones never drink. A fresh cut tree will suck up fresh water given twice a day for a couple of weeks, Ironically, I would go for a fakie because the fresh ones make me sneeze for the first few days, but my husband is emphatically a fresh tree guy. I love a variety of decorations, some go back to my college days working at pottery barn, my Mother-in-Law who died last year right after Christmas sent us ornaments every year, that’s 25 years of other memories. My husband buys new ones from the local hardware store which are things like paint brushes, work boots etc. My favorite was a snowplow (he has a snow removal business) which I broke last year. sigh. Christmas for me is the tree, Christmas music, Christmas dinner with friends and remembering to value those whom I love. OK and It’s a Wonderful Life, the Bishops Wife and Mr. Magoo’s a Christmas Carol. Cheers everyone.
If you do bead roping, put that on before putting on the ornaments.
What a beautiful tree! I’m a lots of white lights kind of giirl. We string them back in the branches as well as out on the tips which makes for amazing depth and beauty. We’ve never had anything larger than an 8ft tree but have both a theme, silver and gold, with all the family ornaments, which are fewer now our daughter’s have their own families, worked in. No matter what you do, it will be beautiful because it will be yours and the first in your new home. Merry Christmas.
I’m with you on white lights which I wrap around the branch from tip to trunk. This creates a tree-Shaped field of white dots, like looking out into the universe. But we’ve never had taller than 6ft.
With the size of their tree, I’m thinking the ALs should go for the larger bulbs; for sanity’s sake.
Well, We have the plastic one, due to allergies. I am not sure where the allergies to pine comes from, but have not been able to do one for several years now. My daughter and I stick to just a few coordinating colors with white lights. The past couple of years we have picked a theme and put on certain decorations and then the rest are plastic balls. (We have pretty clumsy pets and small children. Found out the hard way.) One year we did mardi gras with green, purple and gold, and we had masks and fans. The next we did peacock with green, teal, gold and peacock feathers and some of the birds. But everyone has their own style, just depends if you like classic (multicolored) or more modern (just one color or couple of colors). Get with your family and decide what everone wants. What ever yall decide will be beautiful, Happy holidays.
We decorated our tree in gold and white the majority of it came from dollar tree. We also buy our new ornaments and decorations after Christmas to get the biggest discounts and store it until the next year. We hardly paid anything for our wrapping paper.
Pretty!
What a lovely tree!
Wide ribbon and large clip on poinsettias could really work for the scale of the ALs super sized tree.
Can you tip it using a rope pulley system, make another fresh cut with a handsaw, and then cleanup the handsaw mess after the fact?
It is gorgeous. Absolutely gorgeous!
Wowee!!! I’m so envious. We have low ceilings. I like white lights for the background pushed into the branches for depth. But everything else is well beloved history. Someone mentioned Home Depot for a nice selection of “unbreakable” balls etc. I would check out Target too. Most of mine are after Christmas sales or old Hallmark. I’ve been wanting to try those lovely lengths of ribbon cascading from the top and Golly that tree would really let you cascade and make a big impact hopefully without breaking the bank. Have Fun. Now you have the house and the floor and the tree and TIME. Merry Christmas!
I’ve tried being fancy and making my tree “designerly” but I like it better and especially my husband likes it better over the top cheerful – colored lights, mismatched ornaments, etc. If you need to buy ornaments get big ones for sure… that tree is huge.
Team eclectic here. Agnostic on multicolor vs single color lights, but I have strong opinions on the type of light: incandescent only. None of this LED business. They’re cold and lifeless in comparison to incandescent bulbs. Very one-note, somehow.
That is one splendid looking tree! I see you got the hot water guidance, I suggest wa watering regimen that includes brown sugar as well. Being the daughter of Christmas Tree growers I will remind you, your green baby is in a dry hot environment. Daily watering will have a good impact..as for decorating I urge you to go with what makes you feel shiny and bright. If you’re not into the decorating thing, consider asking the local Garden Club to do it for you with an agreed upon donation set up in advance. I’m glad you’re feeling better..
I recommend that you get a nice stash of either gold or silver or both ornaments. Then you could mix an accent collection like red or blue each year for a different look depending on your mood. Normally I hit the after Christmas sale for the next years color if I can.
If you have a Hobby Lobby or Michaels craft store near you they usually have a good selection and tend to group the colors together.
Also, get shatter proof ornaments. You have pets and probably don’t want to do the herd them out of the room to sweep up if one breaks. It’s a pain.
Amazon has large sets of ornaments. You can get them in one color or multiple colors, as well as different shapes and sizes. Many of them are shatterproof. https://smile.amazon.com/s/ref=nb_sb_ss_c_1_12?url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=christmas+ornaments&sprefix=Christmas+or%2Caps%2C197&crid=37RFZG3Y1N0VT
I want to send you hand made ornament. I’m an artist and I once had an ornament on the white house tree. A contest in college. 200 schools across the nation each sent 12 ornaments.(Bill and Hillary Clinton’s) The blue room. Got a nice Thank you letter and invite to the white house. I didn’t go. Single mom 4 kids.
Any rate of you want one I would be happy to send one. A Thank you for the enjoyment you have given me. Just let me know where you want it sent.
Merry Christmas Carri
Be sure to check Hobby Lobby. They have some good decorations. Please show us the tree wgen you get it dressed. It will be glorious!
I don’t usually comment, but had to say beautiful tree. We used to have a cathedral ceiling and bought large trees. I suggest multi color lights and multi color ornaments. To me Christmas was not a “themed” tree. Try Walmart, Target, Michaels, Hobby Lobby for lights and inexpensive plastic ornaments with sparkle to put deeper in the tree. They reflect the light and make the tree sparkle. Then put your nice ornaments on the outside branches. We have dogs and grand kids. The lower 1/3 of the tree has unbreakable ornaments in plastic, metal, and wood. The rest of the tree has the breakable glass and ceramic ornaments. Whatever you do have fun with it.
Nice tree! When we first moved into our geodesic dome, we got a tall tree. Like 12-15 feet? Decorating it was fun, though.
What’s traditional? What’s weird? My neighbors did trees in red balls or blue balls, all the same size. We did trees with all sorts of things on them including homemade popcorn chains and kid made ornaments.
Now, I collect glass ornaments, especially old or even antique ones. Old colorful ones and clear ones that look like icicles. The topper came from a flea market where an ancient woman was selling ornaments and I argued with her to let me pay more for the topper. She wouldn’t hear of it, and threatened to cry for me. (Dirty pool!) We also have some we got in Hawaii. Australia. Scotland. Some from my folks. We also have always had a cat or two. And the kids were young once. So we still have plastic or homemade/knit/walnut shell and googly eyes/etc. that are “expendable” that hang in the lower parts of Yggdrasil, I mean our tree. Some years we go all white lights, some years vari-colored. Sometimes there are a lot of swags, some years none. For us it is always a mood thing, based on the tree and what it wants, and the mood we are in when we decorate. But when all is said and done? No theme, and fairly eclectic I suppose. Or, the theme is our past as a family, and all the traditions we bring to this time of year.
I find our local Target has good deals on lights and the various extension cords for trees. Home Depot does as well. Our local fabric/arts and crafts store has great ornaments and garnish for the house. Michaels (an art supplies store) has ornaments as well.
Happy Holidays. Please post a snap of your finished tree.
I agree with the hodge-podge folks. Each of my collection of ornaments holds a precious memory. Except, being a bit of a control freak, that’s just too random for me. So I found that if you wrap the tree in a garland or two of some sort, you kind of tie all the hodge-podge together. And suddenly there is a cohesive whole.
(Oh, and for the lovers of cats-who-destroy-Christmas-trees out there – I know it’s plastic, but I highly recommend the Michaels super skinny tree with no branches, only bendy fronds. It looks like a Christmas tree, but kitty cannot climb, which makes me very happy.)
What a beautiful tree! We have been buying a real tree for the past 4 years and now Christmas isn’t the same without it. We have two cats who like to get into trouble so we have a collection of wooden snowflake ornaments and stuffed toy ones. We put on warm clear lights because they remind me of candle lights and stars. We also hang bells on the bottom branches so we can hear if a cat is under the tree. Our tree is a shorter tree since we have to bring it up a flight of stairs, I am very envious of the tree you have this year.
Your tree is gorgeous! The trickiest part is having a good ladder and getting those decorations on the top. As for decorations, you can buy a few sets or matching ornaments. Over time you can add whatever you want. For example, we started with a couple of cheap boxes or uniform-colored ornaments just to get something on the tree. As we traveled we’d pick an ornament that reflected a moment in time (hot air balloon from Albuquerque), something quirky (avocado or favorite cartoon character), a school project (2nd grade foam ornament with child’s picture, and so on. Everyone can add something over time! 🙂
I love Christmas! So much that between the decor, ornaments, china and such it was getting out of hand. I come by it honestly: last year my sister and I went to our Mother’s and purged 11 large Rubbermaid totes of just Christmas linens, ornaments, etc. She still has 7 totes of Christmas paraphernalia so don’t worry about her and we donated the rest. So 10 years ago, since I had noticed I was becoming my mother I purged myself. I separated everything into 2 colour-schemes: blue/white/silver and red/green/gold. I divied up the kids creations according to those schemes. I alternate the colours every year and my kids seem to enjoy rediscovering special ornaments with the switching.
For your big tree I recommend lots of wide ribbon from Michael’s to act as a garland and ornament. It acts as a filler so you don’t have to run out to buy tons of ornaments this year. Shiny eyes lead to impulse purchases that can cost more in the long run. Take your time. That said, for a tree that big plain glass or plastic balls are fine as you can keep the special ornaments you have at eye level without looking skimpy.
Have fun decorating it. Don’t forget a safe sturdy ladder that is easy to move around: that way no one will be tempted to just lean a bit further to place something and have it or them fall.
I suggest a hodgepodge of whatever orrnaments you have now or have each family member pick a certain number of ornaments and mix it all together on the tree so everyone has a part in decorating it 🙂
I alternate my tree’s. One year the tree has multicolored lights and funny Hallmark ornaments, the next year it’s white lights and multicolored ornaments. But my favorite tree is one with white lights and white dove ornaments. My mother’s tree has multicolored lights with big white bows, white snowflakes, and so much tinsel you can barley see the lights and snowflakes.
We also put colorfully wrapped, but empty, boxes under our trees. That way the trees always look ready for Christmas. On Christmas Eve we remove the faux Christmas presents and replace them with the real presents. On Christmas morning we open the real presents amongst ohhhs and ahhhs. Once all the presents are opened, and mess removed, we replace the faux Christmas presents under the trees so the trees don’t look sad and empty. Christmas trees just seem to cry out for presents, real or faux.
Beautiful tree! We have to get tall trees are because of the high ceilings. I have no theme. We just throw on decoations, but first a lot of lights. My husband didn’t want to go out and cut down a tree this year. He wanted a plastic one. I told him I would not decorate or touch a plastic tree. WTF! We love in the country…no fake tree. What do you expect from a nerd from Bezerkley, CA? Sigh.
You are my idol of shiny eyes. I tried them with hubs and still ended up with a shorter tree. Must now go practice shiny eyes. Re decorations. The reality is, in my opinion, that it has to suit you. It’s a holiday decoration that celebrates the awesomeness of the Andrews clan. If monochromatic suits you then it should be monochromatic. You will rock whatever you choose. That being said I can imagine you guys decorating a tasteful but interesting tree. Us? We went for the put every possible Rando ornament on the tree keeping breakable items away from toddler theme. Meaning… glass up high and it progresses to less breakable towards the bottom. It’s all kinds of classy… or looks like a toddler on crack decorated it. Either way the tree is full of love so I declared victory.
What a gorgeous tree, I’m envious, lol. I ❤️ this time of year and decorate in the a-bit-of-everything style. Ornaments are memories to me. This year I will get to teach my 2 year old grand niece how to decorate a tree outside with edible goodies for all the critters, so looking forward to this!
Whatever you decide, it will be fantastically gorgeous, post a pic for the BDH and have a great time with your family.
Why spend on a lot of extra ornaments? Try putting anything that’s funny on it. Socks, scarves, action figures, cookies, jewelry, toys, Starbucks cards. It makes it super interesting and you can laugh quietly to yourselves as you look at the tree.
One of my close friends moved into a new home a couple of years ago and she decided that every year, she would have a different theme for her Christmas decor, based on the usual wedding anniversary themes.
It was their first Christmas in their new home last year, so the theme was paper, meaning all the decorations were paper-based. I know that sounds very limiting, but this House Beautiful article offers some ideas of what’s possible with that theme.
This year, her theme is cotton, and I’m looking forward to seeing the results. ?
Oh in my house we’re always going with everything we have. It is much more colourfull and happy. There are things we did as children ( I’m 28 and, my brother 30, my sister 14) and brand new things that we bought this year.
I love Christmas and our Christmas tree 🙂