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!
NHH says
My mother collected ornaments and beautiful items for the tree. It wasn’t formal, she just began keeping eye out. Personally, I do not like over planned and matched trees in a home. It looks to formal and like a department store. I like the good, bad, and the ugly on the tree. Family histories.
No matter how you decorate it, I suggest securing the tree at or near the top, especially since you have animals. Trees in the house can make a cat revert to its wild self and the bigger the tree the wilder the reversion. it would be easy to just put a small rope or tough string on the tree that is tied discreetly to the railings near the top. Could save a lot of grief.
kitkat9000 says
My first tree after moving out, I was adamant would be color coordinated and have no figurine-shaped bulbs. Couple of cats so no tinsel, but garland was acceptable.
Clear blown glass ornaments, large & small blue and some silver bulbs, silver garland, 650 white lights and a silver & white angel all on a 6′ tree. It was gorgeous.
And all season long I lusted after other ornaments because the colors were sooo pretty. Gave in to temptation 2 years later and bought bulbs in other colors, and though all were lush, they were also matte. Sapphire, emerald, ruby, topaz, amethyst, cocoa and creamy white. That year I had bulbs both large and small in the most beautiful shades, and all imported from West Germany and Czechoslovakia (by this alone you’ll know it was decades ago), even more white lights, different but similar angel and plastic (but beautiful!) silver & gold beaded garland. Used very few silver bulbs and none of the original blue. Also gorgeous and about 6.5′ tall.
Over the years the bulbs I originally catalog purchased became more readily available (and much! less expensive) and were also available in high-gloss in addition to the matte. Added another size to my collection- there were now small, medium and large bulbs in both matte and gloss shades along with more blown glass and crystal ornaments. Looking back I feel bad now that my German Shepherd was banished to the yard for three weeks every December but I still don’t really regret it, not after he accidentally knocked it over one year and I thought my heart would stop. Oddly, the cats couldn’t have cared less about either the tree or dog. Weird.
The last year I had a tree, there’d been a horrific cold front that froze everything. Almost. Picture bringing home a magnificently proportioned 7′ Fraser fir and setting it up in the living room. Plan on waiting a week so the branches would drop and then decorating it. Sounds good so far, right? Then get up in the middle of the night 3 days later because you’re thirsty and seeing the stuff to fuel your nightmares for years to come.
Because there were spiders, people. Dozens of them. Large, very large, black bristly spiders merrily climbing all over my white ceiling and walls. I screamed. Oh my God, did I scream. So much, so loudly and so hard my ears rang and my voice was hoarse the next day. *I did not sleep.* The fact that the house smelled like Raid and every single light was on wasn’t what kept me awake, either. No. Knowing the house temperature had warmed the beasties back into animation and I had no idea how long they’d been active was what kept me awake. Where were they now? Did I get them all? <<>>
I was the only person in the store at 2 am buying CANS of Raid.
Can’t control the involuntary shiver I get every time I look at a real tree indoors even now.
Sharon says
Hey kitkat9000
I am scared of spiders too and despite being so much bigger (but also much slower) they win every time.
I hate to kill them and where there’s just one I chase it outside when I can. With a scenario like yours I would have screamed right alongside you.
We have spiders here called a Huntsman in Australia (some can be about half a hand sized incl leg span) and over the years the occasional Mama Spider has left me the gift of all her babies.
It’s very freaky to go into a room where you didn’t notice them to suddenly see around a hundred tiny baby spiders abseiling on their new webs from your ceiling. If I was watching it on TV I would have said “too cute”.
I can’t chase them all out and so the Raid makes an appearance then as much as I don’t like it. I try to chase them out before they leave me their children.
Emily says
There is nothing like a Huntsman crawling across you windscreen as your driving alongside! I feel your pain Sharon.
Ista in Sydney says
Nothing like realising a huntsman is inside your skirt. I’m not phobic, but I took my skirt off on the street to shake it out. Grateful the sun had just set and it was a side street. Would still have done it anywhere.
kitkat9000 says
See, you’re nicer than I am- you admit to not wanting to kill them. I’m of the mindset that if it comes in the house, it dies. Unless they’re little (itty-bitty) spiders which I’ll leave alone as long as they stick to the ceiling. However, all bets are off once they venture 1′ down.
For outside spiders I get wolf, yellow & black garden, funnel web (according to the enature site & others, funnel webs aren’t even native to my area), black widow, and some others. All of them large. Had one years ago my 115 lb. Shepherd would not get near. Sucker spun a web between 2 trees more than ten feet across & high and cast a shadow on the hill when backlit. I’ve never been able to identify most of them but avoided them all. Never ran out of Raid, though.
Emily says
I did a semester abroad in Australia when I was in college, and my introduction to one of my roommates (the other American in the apartment) was a bloodcurdling scream. I ran over, thinking she might have somehow gotten hurt – maybe fallen while trying to unpack things on the top shelf of the closet? But instead, as soon as she spotted me, she shrieked, “GET IT! KILL IT!” I looked around and spotted: one of those massive wood roach things that were literally everywhere. And it was on the ceiling.
My reaction was basically to give her a look conveying, “I’m five-four and you’re at least five-eight. If you can’t reach it, what do you expect me to do about it.”
Apparently, she assumed that any chick whose reaction to a bloodcurdling scream from another adult, was to run TOWARDS the scary thing, must be pretty resourceful and also tough. She repeated her request in a higher pitch and a higher decibel. “KILL IT!”
I did manage to rescue her from the terrifying roach. But the day she discovered a gecko in the bedroom, our Australian roommate and I were laughing too hard to help her, and the German had to do the extraction (the gecko was safely relocated outside).
You can imagine her reaction the first time a classmate’s shiny new Australian boyfriend brought over a Huntsman he liked to carry in a jar (specifically so he could terrorize Americans with it)
I’m not afraid of spiders, but I like to know where they are (ie, I still scream if they startle me) and I like them to not be in my house. I probably wouldn’t have another real tree after the spider incident either.
Alex says
The spiders are your Karma for putting your poor dog outside in the cold for three weeks just to have a Christmas tree. You could put a little tree on a table or something. The meaning is not in how you decorate your tree.
cheryl z says
I love my Christmas Tree, but I have to protect it from the doggies, so if I leave the house I put up an elaborate barrier made up of x-pens. Learned the lesson the hard way – One year when I came home from work at 3:30 in the morning, I decided it would be a great time to wrap the doggies Christmas presents. So while consuming a martini, I lovingly placed the be-ribboned presents under the tree and went to bed. The next morning, my husband found one of our dogs Gable under the tree, squeaking a new toy. Every packaged had been ripped open and Gable was hopelessly entangled in then lights. One wrong move and the whole thing would have come tumbling down. Fortunately he had a really good stay. Years later, I came home one Christmas Eve night to find to find my two girls snoozing on the couch, the Christmas tree and xpens smashed to the floor and Cooper was hiding downstairs under the couch. Now he does not go near the tree, lost some precious ornaments though.
kitkat9000 says
Well then, not sure what I did to deserve that particular Karma because I had issues with spiders long before he was ever on scene. And fyi, my dog loved being outside and treated being indoors like punishment – he loved colder temperatures than the cats or I could handle.
Speaking of Karma, however, you might want to refrain from being judgey, but hey, you do you.
Judy B says
I think I’ll have nightmares tonight,,,, I hate bugs.
I like to keep a tree up till Old Christmas Day, because that’s what I grew up with, and as I’m over 70, it’s a bit late to change now.
Even if I cut a tree from my own yard, it will be unlikely to survive over a month in my cozy warm house. Some of the new trees look amazingly lifelike so very likely this year I’ll buy an artificial tree, and after reading about your spider invasion,,, I can pretty much guarantee there won’t be a real tree ever again. 🙂
Natasha Johnson says
Nope that would be one of my worst nightmares the house would have been burned down or there would have been a massive raid bomb that made the house unlivable for a month!
Kelly M says
OMG. OMG. No. Noooooooo. I’ve always opted for fake trees because I live in a big Christmas tree-producing area and know how many chemicals they apply and how bad all the chemicals are for the environment, people, and pets, but this story… This ensures I will never, ever, ever have a real tree! ???
Nica says
Oh Man this right here!!! I am arachnophobic and yeah I don’t even know what I would do, it never occurred to me that this would happen when getting a live tree, because it’s winter and I choose (however wrongly) to believe that the little arachnids are gone for the winter. It’s what helps me sleep at night. 😛
Le Ann says
While I love looking at trees that have the planned, designed theme thing going on, I like my personal tree to be full of character. Reflecting traditions and the memories I value. I collect things year round to go on my tree. I buy inexpensive “filler” ornaments in interesting shapes. I finish the tree off with candy canes hanging every where. I have clip on birds, butter flies, dragon flies, mermaids (I sort of collect them), a starship enterprise shuttle (diversity right?). I have ornaments I have made over the years, gifted to me by students and collected as travel momentos. I guess my tree reflects what I am grateful for. I always look at the holiday season as a time of reflection. So maybe my tree is a little bit about that. A reflection and celebration of my year and how far I have come. I think your tree should be whatever you want it to be!
Sharon says
Now THAT is a tree.
I can’t help in the not taking in water department though. Maybe spray it for a few days before you decorate so it can soak in some water that way?
I am a bit of a traditionalist in that I like the decoration stuff to match across a theme but when you have heirlooms, gifts from friends for your tree and Christmas baubles decorated by your kids over the years at school, that all adds dimension.
Please post a photo once you have decorated.
Lisa says
I’ve had both types: color themed & “everything but the kitchen sink” themed.
I love both. I really like the comment that a hodge podge tree can be used to illustrate all the things you’re thankful for.
I live in New Braunfels so I’d recommend At Home for shopping. They have decorations set up by color. So you can wander in that direction but I’d bet when you see all the cool stuff the color theme goes out the window.
Happy hunting.?
Ariel says
We used to have huge Christmas trees growing up and large shatterproof ornaments mixed with smaller ones worked great since we had animals and small children. But the more important thing to ask yourself is, what makes me happy on this tree? Even a weird mix of random colours and ornaments can look breathtaking when only lit with Christmas lights. Happy hunting!
Emily says
We have always had a hodgepodge style of decorations and the thing I love most is all the memories that go with each decoration and my mum , sister and I reminising as we decorate together. Best part of Christmas for me
Jennifer says
l am amazed and totally intimidated by the size of that tree!! I also love hearing about all the different styles of trees and traditions from the BDH.? But as to your question of where to buy ornaments you might check out Bronner’s CHRISTmas Wonderland (https://www.Bronners.com). It is billed as the world’s largest Christmas store, which I totally believe. Located in Frankenmuth, MI it is about the size of 5 Home Depots and has anything and everything related to Christmas. Their ornament collection is mindblowing!!
Katie F says
Since I live near Bronner’s I can also tell you that they have a TON of stuff in stock that doesn’t make it to their website. And I am in love with Egyptian glass ornaments that I find there.
Karen the Griffmom says
I go there with my granddaughter and my co-mother-in-law every year. It’s glorious place to find clip-on blown-glass birds and Mt. Saint Helen volcanic ash balls.
Erin K Beutel says
Since you can have a big tree every year now, it might be fun to use cheap filler bulbs from the dollar store or Walgreens and mix in new cool ones, old memories etc. That way you can enjoy getting ornaments and slowly building new memories for the new period in your life. I would guess with this post you will be getting all sorts of ornaments on your next tour
Lynda MS says
I like the idea of interspersing beautiful glass ornaments with homemade or kitschy items. Every year as children, we made some keepsakes. We put cheaper/hardy items down below (we have cats). Ours always had a “beautiful angel” on top, because when I was about five, I told my mother that that was how it should be.
Hobby Lobby has Christmas stuff on sale. Other places to look are Michael’s, Tuesday Morning, Five Below, and Lowes or Home Depot. Many of these places have online sales.
Merry Christmas and thanks for SotB!
Susan Jay says
Hodgepodge = character = can’t be anyone else’s tree but hours.
Claire says
Really? You had to ask traditional or weird? NOTHING about your writing is traditional. If it was traditional, I probably wouldn’t buy your books. I don’t think you really get a vote 🙂 Weird it is.
Tylikcat says
So, I’ve been listening to Emily Wilson’s new translation of The Odyssey*. And it’s made me chuckle more than once that I’ve found myself thinking how nicely the world of Roland and Erra fit around it… and in someways, make a little more sense considering the cultural narratives of different times and places. (Odysseus is such an asshole! …but an interesting asshole. And he’s late period, but the audiobook version just came out.)
How much history and mythology and background culture from many times and places is woven into the Kate books, especially? I suppose it depends on what you mean by traditional!
* Which I love, love, love both for her use of language, and for many of the more abstract choices she made in how to translate it. Really, I thought that I’d be listening to this more out of academic interest, but it’s just been pleasure.
BelleBok says
I miss living in Colorado Springs, Colorado. The best Christmas times were cosying around a warm fire while the snow was falling outdoors; and the traditional Christmas feast. And oh… the decorations all around the neighbourhood, both indoors and out.
Somehow, it’s not the same in sunny, hot and wet Singapore!
…and Fir trees are NOT grown in the tropics!
Send us a picture of your tree please, so those of us without, can enjoy yours vicariously.
Ms. Kim says
I like the theme of a cold Victorian Christmas (even though I live in Tampa). The colors and fabrics are lush.
But then the kids (even in their 20s) want to see the old familiar ornaments on the tree (even tho to me they are all hodge-podge). Since Christmas is for family so I put up all the ornaments they remember but then I put deep red felt bows and an old fashioned angel with cream satin garb on top.
g027 says
OMG huge tree. :O Love it! This year we also have our first big tree, and we kind of went crazy and went overboard with every colour lol. It’s a hot mess, but it’s our hot mess, and it was a super fun one. Good luck in finding the right style though!
suzanne says
I love Christmas too and am in love with your tree. I am ridiculously jealous. I am a bit anal retentive and would need to color coordinate my wrapping paper to the tree. I have problems.
Sharon H Barrett says
My tree is a hodgepodge of ornaments gifted, bought, and handed-down, and I love knowing that everything I hang has a special memory for me. A Hallmark ‘cell phone’ ornament that my dad gave me about 20 years ago has a holiday greeting in his voice – a true treasure now that he’s gone. I think you should decorate in a way that appeals to your soul – the heck with what anyone else thinks!! Merry Christmas, Ilona and Gordon!
Ronette says
I love the cellphone ornament idea – I wonder if they still make them.
I’ll see if Google knows. 🙂 Hearing a loved ones voice after they are gone is a real treasure!
Alison says
We do multi-colored balls and I try to go in layers of color. Starting from the top it goes purple, blue, green, yellow/gold, pink, red. And I try to match the ornaments to the ball color which doesn’t always work as we buy the kids a new ornament every year. So some color bands are filled with a lot of ornaments and others not so much. But it’s cute and I love it so it works out.
Kathy says
I get around this by doing 2 trees. The first is traditional, meaning hodgepodge of ornaments – new, old, stuff made in first grade – and multi- color lights. The second tree is formal. Only white and gold ornaments (ok a bit of silver), ribbon, and all the other stuff decorators used (found primarily at Michael’s- silk flowers, branches with glitter and pearls). This way I get best of both!!
Kathy says
Oh I forgot…only white lights on the formal tree. If you do LED lights do the soft white. The pure white look almost blue.
Jenn D says
I love love love real trees. We have the same cathedral ceilings, and we get at minimum an 8′ tree every year (I push for 9-10 ft, lol). My absolute favorite tree of all time, back a few years ago, was closer to 12. In the end, it had 25 strands of colored lights, and it had every ornament we owned plus all the ones I early-inherited from my mom when I called her in a panic because we didn’t have enough. It was gorgeous. A ton of work, but 100% worth it.
We’re getting our tree this Saturday and I can’t wait!
Susan Boyiddle says
https://youtu.be/igDEF5Uxelc We are making ornaments this year. We have somewhat domesticated a cat who was sort of feral but she came to us pregnant. So her babies will be a month old on Dec 20 and kittens and cats love trees. We wanted a safe christmas and it will be fun decorating our ornaments. We found christmas cookie cutters at a thrift store for a dime each. We overloaded on them.
Amber says
I do the same but use oven bake clay instead of the corn starch. I can never get the dough right and clay is just so much easier as it is already done 🙂
Vicki says
I like a mix with balls and figures etc. I also prefer colored lights rather than white because they feel warmer and more cozy. Since we put a hodgepodge of ornaments up we pull the tree together by hanging pretty icicles upon the branches. We also use different size ornaments but use a gradient method for placing them in the tree. We put the smaller ones at the top and largest at the bottom. I need an artificial tree however because I am very allergic to line and fi r trees. Even their scent in sprays etc makes me sneeze!
Wendyk says
My mother used to make ornaments for us all every year. She’s still with us although unable to carry on that tradition, but I put those ornaments up every year. Nothing matches but that doesn’t matter. Every ornament is full of love and a reminder of all of the wonderful Christmases past.
CarlaG says
I love it! I read somewhere that the first Celtic Christmas tree was red apples hung as an offering to the gods. So that is where the green/red Christmas theme comes from. So I have all red bulbs (limited silver mixed in).
Love hand carved wooden ornaments as well. I collected a bunch of tiny angels that are hand made from Germany, got them in Estes Park, CO years ago.
So it is a Hodge podge of fun ornaments, Little Presents to discover! but only one color of bulbs….
Happy Christmas and have fun decorating!
WS says
I’m allergic to certain pine trees. (Possibly due to crashing into a pine tree when I was learning to ride a bicycle and getting some pine needles embedded in my arm.) Also, I’m sensitive to odors; many leave me with a blinding headache. That means, generally, that I’m not willing to experiment with real trees. I have an artificial tree.
We have mostly animal ornaments and a bear tree topper. (I’m an atheist; I don’t really want stars and angels on my tree.) They come in all sorts– glass, carved wood, stamped brass, ceramic– just “buy the cutest animal each year.” Do the ornaments you have already generally go with a theme? You can fairly easily add silver or gold balls to fill space with an existing theme.
nrml says
Thank you for introducing the incredible allergic reactions killing a tree for Christmas and bringing it into the house can bring. My sister had a “real” (dead) tree the last time I went there at Christmas time, and my son (at that time 4 years old) collapsed on the floor and I had immediately take him out of the house after 5 minutes there. No time to get back to where his meds were, I had to stop at the pharmacy and get him something to keep him breathing for the 10 minute drive to real meds. My plastic tree went up every year until my husband refused to do it again because our children are grown and it’s “just us” to see it. But I bought annual Hallmark ornaments and still collect one type every year in anticipation of when I’m old and can harass someone into putting that tree up with me. They are not alike, for the most part, but the whole point in the tree is memories, and from the “baby’s first” ornaments to the current year’s addition of that single style, they blend. I also kept and used the ones my children made in school when they were very young.
The whole question about going with one color or a “hodgepodge” is ultimately answered by whether you are doing it for others to see or for your family. There simply IS no “correct” way to decorate your family’s tree to honor the holiday. It’s all about family, all about what memories you want to hang on your tree or build for your family. Keep in mind that when it’s done, no matter what hangs on the branches, it’s your tree and you’ll love it.
Interestingly, we have had dogs and we have had cats. I have so many photos of cats climbing my plastic tree and so many memories of waking up to it on the floor sideways because a cat climbed it and was too heavy on a branch that it’s not even funny anymore. I wouldn’t trade the memories of it all for anything. All the dogs ever did was curl up to sleep under the tree.
The tree not taking up water is dangerous. Be very careful of it, because it’s not only a fire hazard, but the needles falling will stab those bare feet. The people who delivered it should have cut the bottom before you stood it in the stand. Shame on them. I hope it all works for you, but frankly, a tree growing for a few years and being cut to stand up under decorations is ridiculous to me. I like my trees alive and well and living outside.
Jen says
That is an amazing tree!
I like having a theme to the tree, the other members of the household like hodgepodge. We compromise, the large and small ornaments have a colour story and that lets the special ornaments (everyone has some they’ve picked out over the years) really shine. This is the first year we are using glass ornaments, so far no casualties! We set up the tree pretty early this year, the weekend after Remembrance. I keep waiting for the pupper to knock over the tree but so far no crash 🙂
The lights are white, the theme balls are both shiny and matte in white, silver and clear in a mix of shapes and sizes. The special ornaments are everything from hello kitty to robots and vintage icicles.
strangejoyce says
That tree is superifically fantabulous!! I LOVE it especially so because I live in a small house in NC and you’ve given me tree envy. Decorate it in the theme and style that will make the best memories for you and the family. Weird is my vote since there’s usually a story or many involved.
Also loving your Tshirt, the temps dropped here over the last few days so i agree! Brrrr!
Jean says
I love traditional trees. The huge one you have up should have a variety of sizes – mostly large but some small ones to fill in the gaps. I like both multi color and plain white lights. The plain white looks great reflecting off of silver and gold ornaments with clear crystal icicles. When I use colored lights I usually use a variety of ornaments as well. I collect Christmas ornaments, so I don’t have boxes of one type. I’m a retired English teacher and can’t afford great art, but I can afford beautiful ornaments.
Dorothy says
Gorgeous tree!
Would like: White lights, one-color glass balls in size medium, accent-color garland ribbon and/or fabric flowers. Star on top. Red fabric skirt. Calm, organized.
Will have: olde-tyme fire hazard colored lights and 30 years of random ornaments. Battered, papier-mâché kindergartner’s angel on top. Hectic, chaotic.
Good luck!
d LM a says
The tree is beautiful
The lower left would drive me nuts till i trimmed it
I pick ornaments to scale (tree size)
Smaller ornaments l put bottom fourth of tree, the tree skirt flares & holds them nestled (harder for kids to remove before you notice what they’re doing)
The water thing, Yipes! larger bulbs, higher heat. I would be misting and force myself to turn lights off (put on timer?)
Themed to fill in back and sides, mini soft white lights to light inside of tree, colored lights to show tree shape & light ornaments.
Front & center flaring to sides MEMORIES & gifts & vacation treasures ornaments from then till now!
HORRERS & spiders (super shudders) are the difference of geography and trying to recapture x-mas without planning on new environment. I know step one for me, call the tree people, ASK!
actually step one no matter the time would be meeting my new neighbors banging on the door & the screaming would be let me in, let me in … it’s possible l would have to move
Sarah K says
I love all kinds of styles on trees, but my favorite thing about Christmas decorations are the lights. I love the lights around the trees. We put lights up outside and inside.
Last year was the first year we bought a live tree. It was lovely and smelled great, but was stressful due to worrying about it making a mess. We had used the same plastic tree for 20 years – with a hodgepodge of ornaments (combined with occasional color themes like multi-color with purple).
This year we decided to buy a new plastic tree – a white one this time – and go very froofroo with gold, orange, and red. It looks beautiful and matches the painting in the room. The plan is to alternate between real and this white tree.
Sally says
When I first set up my xmas tree I had a lot of little glass bauble and tinsel. Every day I cam home to broken glass and smug cats. So next year I looked for the cat proof Christmas decoration but they were all plastic and looked shoddy to me.
Okay I said I’m an engineer I can do this I can create the nice looking cat proof decoration. Its been 18 years evolving in different shapes and styles. Many beads and coils of wire plus multiple bead books later and I still have not managed it. I came close, It looked shiny & delicate but bent instead of breaking then bent back. The cats dragged it out the catflap and buried it I could not get all the dirt off.
Still they’re tougher than the average bauble, I give the decorations out instead of cards every year and get requests for particular colours and sizes.
One of my cats passed away a couple of weeks ago, she was twenty one the other who is the same age fell ill with an infection three days latter he’s been on daily vet visits and antibiotics we though we were going to loose him as well but the last few days he has started eating again and the vet thinks he has a good chance of making it through.
My opinion on xmas decorations they’re attractive and fun but I’d happily trade all of them to have my destructive moggys alive and heathy as in the end decorations are just trimmings and it’s those that we care for animals or humans that are important
kitkat9000 says
So sorry for your loss. Hope your other cat gets better and returns to his old self again.
Anonymous says
I don’t buy a real tree anymore. With 4 cats it is not practical.
Anna says
Is this how a traditional Christmas tree looks like in the US? If so, it’s quite a different look than in Germany. Our Christmas trees look more ‘minimalistic’. Very interesting to see the difference.
Deb says
Wow! I love your tree!!! It is stunning even without decorations.
I see you have had a “few” suggestions and this idea may be a repeat, but craft stores like Michael’s have wide ribbon on sale this time of year. Ribbon on the tree is both decorative and a great filler.
Have a wonderful and safe holiday!!! ?
Catherine Ray says
Hello maypole has felt ball garlands that are cute. The website is http://www.hellomapole.com
Sasikhan says
That’s a beautiful tree!
Our family is terrible with decorating trees. We only get our trees late – hence no selection left and our ornaments even later… There was a year we went to an acquaintance’s house and they decorated their tree with Christmas ornaments that they’ve collected over the years. Think organments instead of magnets when they travel so they were able tell a story about every single piece. It was amazing and I loved the idea. But it never worked out for us.. oh well, guess I’ll stick to my magnets…
Marianne says
What a majestic and beautiful tree!! I am very happy for you that you are able to have such a gorgeous live Christmas tree this year, after what you experienced last year. I hope that it is a sign of good things to come, for you and your family in this new home!
I do not have any suggestions as to how you should decorate. I love a Christmas tree with a theme, but am also a complete sucker for oddball ornaments that just have sentimental meaning and value. Please post a picture of your tree once decorated. I will have to live vicariously through your tree this year. For the past three Christmases I have not been able to have a tree or decorate the house due to health issues. I guess the good part is that I am still around to share Christmas with the family. Just found out I need yet another surgery ASAP, so am hoping I can get it done and over with in time so I am not in the hospital for Christmas, but home. Already spent one Christmas in the hospital in ICU, and I really don’t want to repeat the experience.
As this is really the first Christmas in your new home that you have the time to decorate to your heart’s content, I would recommend a tree decorated with ornaments that have the most meaning to you and your family, and throw in some new ones that embody your hopes for the future, for you and your children (even though they are not little kids anymore they are still your children). Whatever you decide, I wish you and your family a blessed and joyous Christmas and New Years! ?
Crystal Johnson says
I used to have trees that big and they are fun – as long as you have the army to decorate!! Small, Med and Large Bulbs – usually cheapish, in bulk, at Home Depot/Lowes, Walmart, or some such store (can’t remember what’s common in Texas) I go to Pier 1 or a specialty home store and buy a few special ornaments each year – dragonflies, songbirds, etc – clip on or hang.
Around Christmas, we have craft bazaars in the Northeast and you can get the hand-carved or crafted ornaments.
I hope that you enjoy the trimming and thank you again for Kate, Curran and everyone else.
Tresa says
Sams and Cosco sell large plastic or break resistance ornaments.
Liesl says
Hodgepodge! Every year our tree is a mix of antique ornaments my grandmother gave me, things the kids made over the years, those my mother made for me when we were first married, old fashioned looking ones from the store, and modern shiny stuff, including an ornament for one of hubby’s favorite football teams. Perfectly matched color themes are for people who want it to look like they hired an interior decorator! I COULD decorate a tree that big if it would fit in our house… but it wouldn’t. Each year we mix and match and do a variety, never using everything we have. So every year it looks a bit different and we like it like that.
Dee says
I only like co-ordinated trees in shops and stately homes. I enjoy seeing the crazy mishmash of colours and that way I know it’s really Christmas. We generally put ours up 12 days before and take down on the 6th January – when I was a kid it was a special treat to keep the decorations up an extra two days for my birthday on the 8th!
RR says
In Brazil we don´t have real trees to buy, only the plastic ones. I always wanted a real one, even as a kid. This year I moved to Europe, but because I just moved here there is no way that I can have a tree this year, or even small ornaments around the house. Seeing this post I wished that soon (maybe next year?) we can have a tree, time and money to decorate and especially the family around it. Enjoy 🙂
Loganbacon says
Do you have World Market down there? They used to have awesome ornaments, though they are much cheaper after Christmas. That is one big tree! I like variety better than color coordination – the more colors the better.
Tiger Lily says
https://www.msn.com/en-us/lifestyle/home-and-garden/how-to-keep-your-tree-from-dying-before-christmas/ar-BBPpSS2?li=BBnb7Kz
Saw this and thought I would share.
Deneese says
Didn’t read the other comments, so I apologize if it’s slready been said, but definitely shatterproof for pet protection. My dog used to take ornaments off the tree and carry them around. Seeing that with a hand blown glass bulb one year, almost gave me heart palpitations. Sooooo dangerous.
I really have no ornament specific opinions, that’s really personal, but I love tons of white lights. Like can be seen from space lights. All white. The tree practically glows from the middle. I think it kind of reminds me of snow.
sarafina says
I’m glad you are having a nice Christmas this year. I remember your posts last year about moving, always a traumatic experience, missing presents, missing lobsters, general horror. It will make for great stories eventually.
Best wishes for a happy, happy season!!!!
Chris W. says
That is a beautiful tree and it fits the elegance of your home. Do you have size ladder to put the ornaments on it? I’d go with the majority of the ornaments be larger so they don’t get lost in all that green. Gold as the predominant color would be good with the color of your walls for maybe the large ornaments and multiple colors for the smaller ornaments with character. Remember what goes up needs to be first found on the tree, be taken down and then stored.
When we had dog, cat, and toddler, we would attach the tree to a something that anchored it at the top like a ceiling hook or since the tree was usually near a window, the curtain rod. Just enough so it wasn’t too easily tipped over. Still with a tree the size of yours stability might not be a problem.
I wonder if the tree lot might have done a insect preventative while they prepped it.
Barbara Mildenberger says
What a big beautiful tree you’ve chosen! Best of luck with the decorations. Who’s been volunteered to decorate the top part?
One year I purchased a few miniature artificial trees (about 8″ high). They were green and I decorated them with a variety of little feathered birds that I bought at a craft shop and topped each tree with a cardinal. I filled in the barren areas with dark red wooden beads that looked like cranberries , small red apple ornaments and little brown pine cones. They were plain but elegant in an understated way. I gave them to my friends early in the Holiday Season so if they chose, they could add them to their decorations for the holidays (or even re-gift them…). One friend told me it was the best present I’d ever given her. So either she really liked it, or it was a comment on my choice of gifts!
In any event, I hope you and ALL of the BDH have a wonderful holiday season! You’ve given us the gift of your talent and imagination and I can hardly wait for the new adventures awaiting us!
Teej says
Holy smokes, now that is a TREE!!!! (Um, the top is a long way up there–you all gonna need a bosuns seat to decorate waaaaay up there?)
But anyway, yes, I feel both tree envy and tree inadequacy, juuust a little! 🙂
Kick says
Go to oriental trading Company (online) and buy decoration kits. Go to craft store and buy wooden laser cut ornaments and markers. Oh, buy some glue and glitter. Then get your family together for an epic decoration-making evening. Fun and memories together.
Lynn T. says
Ah, Ilona Andrews, I am a cat person. Plus this year I have the puppy from the nether regions aka Titan– a lab rhodesian ridgeback mix–and his companion kitten aka Jupiter.. I used to have real trees until my Maine Coon kitten, shadow, climbed the Christmas tree and after I extracted him, I had to shave him as pine resin does not wash out of cat fur easily. No tinsel as my first cat taught me that. Shadow was my third. So I bought an artificial tree. It survived cat climbing, dog climbing, Mother…. This year, no tree for me as i see enough of vet, but I would love to look at your pictures. Good luck.