I thought it'd be cool if we had a thread where we could post our Christmas decorating adventures. Christmas is my most favorite season, and the only one I really get into decorating for, so even if no-one wants to contribute their stories and images, I hope you don't mind if I share mine. The start of the decorating evolution. There are more bins, but what's in these form the foundation of my decorating. I start here, and then once the foundation is set, I'll add or adjust as needed. Oh! And none of this is the Christmas tree stuff. That's still upstairs in the bonus room, and comprises the tree.......no, I don't get a fresh one each year. I did for all the years that I had kids at home, but once the last one left (and I was divorced by then) there was really no one to help me do all the choosing and hauling and positioning and sawing and putting on the lights and......well you get the idea. So I opted for a fake, pretty, lighted tree, and I couldn't be happier. Anyway it's still upstairs, along with three additional boxes of ornaments. That will probably happen next weekend.
Jeez Ronni... you could be a professional organizer. Oh wait... you already are! My decorations are pretty simple. I have 3 plastic tubs I keep in the garage with my decorations, but I only use one of them... well maybe 1 and a half. The rest is full of old stuff that I can't bare to part with yet. Then there's the box that holds my nativity scene. A box for my Harley Christmas stuff. And the little 3 foot fake tree. There's still a couple of boxes of my mom's old decorations that I haven't used in a couple of years. But they will remain tucked safely away in case someone wants them. My oldest aunt who is 96 used to start decorating right after Thanksgiving... up until Christmas eve. Every room had a tree. Everything in the house was decorated, including the toilet. And then she had stuff outdoors. She's slowing down now and has really cut back on the decorations. But it's fun to see her get excited and keep busy doing something... as long as she stays off the step ladder!
So far we only have candles in the front windows, but the weather is warming, and I'll likely get the garland and bows on the front fences at our driveway tomorrow. Then we'll get out the Nativity sets (40 and counting) and arrange them around the house. Wednesday we plan to get our tree--a fresh one, since it also serves as shelter for birds after the Christmas season, and then as mulch for a flower bed. We have a wreath for the door, a swag on the barn gate, and a basket of fruit and pinecones for the dining room table. We keep it simple, since we often have windows open during the Christmas season and decorations tend to get blown about!
I wasn't going to, really wasn't, but after Randy got the two Yule logs out of the closet and I got started I figured, oh what the heck, put the CD of wintery tunes in the DVD player and started decorating. We haven't had a big or real tree since the youngest was little, don't know how we managed to fit a 6 foot tall 4 foot diameter tree and all the livingroom furniture into a room that is only 13 feet square . So now we have a 4 foot tall unlit Gatlinburg Pine fake tree, that this year is in the middle of the kitchen table so gifts as they get wrapped will have some place to be. And of course the Charlie Brown tree is in the livingroom too. Need to get more fake garland, when the streets clear out enough to be safe, to use somewhere to hold the strings of old-fashioned looking bubble lights that we have not been able to use in years.
Yeah.....I did my decorating today. I had to take my opportunity when it wasn't snowing, raining or hailing.
I've still to do any decorating but will get around to it about the 17th - after my daughter's birhday.
dr did the outside fence with garland and lights and red bows. I have been putting stuff around. We have a very small tree in the dining area and a four foot artificial tree in the living room. We don't have the space for much else. When we lived in Wisconsin we had a house with 10 foot ceilings and we had real Christmas trees that reached the ceiling with the top ornament on it. We went to artificial trees when the last son left home. It's about done. Now, I just have to get enough cookies made to give cookies to the people on my cookie list. dooley
One of my boys was born on the 10th December, so for many years I didn't do ANY decorating till after we celebrated his birthday, which sometimes was several days later if we waited to do it on the weekend. I didn't want him to feel shortchanged y'know? I didn't want his birthday overshadowed by Christmas. Up until a very few years ago, that was what I always did........until one day when my daughter Paige said "Mom, Devin is 25 now, he's not a little kid any more, so I REALLY don't think he's gonna mind if the decorations are up when we celebrate his birthday." It was a real DOH! moment for me! I'd just gotten so used to that routine, that I was still sticking to that timetable, LONG after it stopped mattering to him at all! Trust my pragmatic, practical daughter to tell it like it was!
My brother's birthday is the 17th, a week before Christmas. My birthday is Jan. 2nd, a week after Christmas. My mom always made a big deal out of our birthdays with cake and ice cream and presents wrapped in birthday paper. We were never short-changed because of Christmas. dooley
Well, weve got our tree, the dining table, the upstairs bathroom and the porch done. Tomorrow Ill be hanging garland from the hall/stair banisters
It's starting to take shape. I still have to decorate the kitchen, office and a little bit in the bathroom. They don't get as much decorating as the living room does. Entryway mirror Living room coffee table Music box collection dating back 40 years. Just for fun Entryway Kitchen table Hearth Buffet Bookshelf Mantel
Very nice Ronni. I lost some of my Christmas spirit yesterday. Found out Gkids have to go to their dad's. Won't see them still after new years. :'( Anyway here are a few of my deco's. . Notice in 2nd pic, picture on right wall. Granddaughter in same basket Easter 17 years ago. The red table covers are napkins from the set my grandmother made me 50 years ago. I have a tablecloth and 12 napkins that only get showcased. There just to old a fragile now. Elf has been in family for 42 years. Basket for 17 years. ( photo / image / picture from Donna S's Garden ) Notice picture on right wall. ( photo / image / picture from Donna S's Garden ) Skinney tree in mirror. ( photo / image / picture from Donna S's Garden ) Center piece. ( photo / image / picture from Donna S's Garden ) Music box I made in 1971. ( photo / image / picture from Donna S's Garden ) Cart changes with the seasons. ( photo / image / picture from Donna S's Garden ) Red table covers are on all my small tables. ( photo / image / picture from Donna S's Garden ) Another center piece. HO HO HO ( photo / image / picture from Donna S's Garden )
Beautiful Christmas Decorations Ronni and Donna,..i do have a box of Christmas Decorations and am thinking i should take them down and start putting them up,..i didn't put up any last year out of habit,..i am seldom home at Christmas,.. but i did miss having them up as i was at home last year,..i take a notion and head off someplace new,..the last few years i was in Belgium then London for Christmas,..then Spain,..Sweden and Indiana USA,..i set off on my own and had a great time,..most people want to be with family at Christmas but i like being on my own,..its the nature of the beast as they say,..with eight cats and a dog am i really going to be on my own lol.
Have you ever thought of visiting Scotland at Christmas Philip? No cats or dogs here but you certainly wouldn't be on your own.
