Another year has passed and the holidays are upon us again! A late Thanksgiving has put me a bit behind AGAIN, but I vow to catch up this week
I have to admit I’m one of those people who can’t wait to decorate and leave it up for longer than most. We do have a couple neighbors who fortunately feel the same way we do and the Friday after Thanksgiving had them out taking down the turkey blow-ups and decorating for Christmas. We also wait until the day after Thanksgiving to begin outside decorating.
We were again at our favorite local Christmas tree farm when they opened the day after Thanksgiving to pick out wreaths for the front porch. We also found these cool new lights this year that change from red to white to green and then back to red every 6 seconds 🙂
- Are you a traditional or trendy decorator? I’m a traditional, sentimental decorator. I still have ornaments from when I was a kid and some of my grandparent’s things. We tend to have the same decorations year in and year out, but they may be in different places each year because I add a piece here or there and some even get donated or die by attrition.
- Are you white lights or multi-colored? This category depends for me. Definitely multi-colored on the tree, but I have white on my sleigh and entry way trees. Last year I added some jingle bell garland to the white lights around the sleigh.
- When do you decorate inside? PLEASE don’t laugh, but since COVID my tree has gone up at Halloween and stays up through AT LEAST King’s Day.
- Outside? We wait until after Thanksgiving
- To Blow or NOT Blow? We’re yes on this category MOST of the time. Years with early snows or stormier than normal windy days we stray away from them. This year I just don’t want to “listen” to the constant hum so we’re building a different set-up with nativities.
Here are a couple of future ideas I’d like to try for outside and an appropriate funny.
In reality how I decorate each year changes based on my mood, weather, where we are living, etc… so it will never be the same twice! But, it will at least be the same components usually.
This is my Snowman Family arranged from 2 different years. They were so much fun to make out of second hand store finds. They were also a lot of work. I ended up only making two snowmen families, shipping one to a friend who lives in Florida and never sees snow
We made candle yule logs for Advent craft night at church one year and they were a HUGE success and soooooooo easy to do. The decorations below are a few of my all time favorites, several of which I’ve made over the years.
The ornaments below are some of our homemade bulbs. Several years ago I made quite a few and then did them with my girl scout troop also. Hubby liked them so well that we have now donated all our store bought bulbs and made enough of these for the entire tree.
My cousin that passed away in 2014 made the ornament below for me. It’s usually hung by my shooting stars in her honor even though I’m still mad at her for leaving the mess called A HOUSE FROM HELL for me to deal with.
And our favorite handmade ornament by Design Chick Creations.
I know I’ve said it before, but just let me just say it again! THESE TREES ARE JUST WRONG!!!! I can’t remember the name of the store, but it was in Texas the first time we were there taking care of my aunt.
When I was quite young my folks had a hand me down tree from my grandparents that was silver tinsel and had an electric color wheel beneath it. Even as a young child I HATED that tree! These trees are in that category!
This is one of those categories that should be easy, but it’s a bit complicated for us. We USUALLY had a REAL tree… until we didn’t.
Several years back hubby’s National Guard unit was put on alert one September and by Thanksgiving they were shipping out to IRAQ. They left sunny southern California and headed to Washington to be integrated into the Army, which for hubby was easy because he had already served in the Army and then joined the National Guard so it was like going home for him.
I was lucky because in the end he was eventually named the Rear Detachment Commander and sent back home (mostly) to man the Armory and guys that remained behind for one reason or another.
But, I digress. While he was gone I needed to put up the tree and just couldn’t talk myself into doing a real tree by myself. So, I purchased a really nice artificial one. I put it up and decorated it that year and the next while he was still deployed. The following year we went back to a real tree. The year after that we moved to the north woods and REALLY enjoyed live trees again for several years.
During that time the artificial tree stayed boxed up in the barn. When we were in Texas after that, live trees were exorbitantly priced so we used the artificial tree again for a couple years. When we came back to the Pacific North West we went back to live trees until the year of the COVID pandemic and the local tree farm closed early leaving us live treeLESS so we pulled out the artificial tree once again.
LOL this is my long winded way of asking you if you can tell the difference between a few of the trees from the past few years? Which ones are real and which ones are artificial?
How I decorate our tree each year changes based on my mood, weather, where we are living, etc… so it will never be the same twice!
Live or artificial doesn’t matter to us as much anymore – being decorated with all the sentimental ornaments is what makes either tree special. A LIVE tree smells good, but honestly a nice artificial tree is easier and a whole lot less mess in the long run. We do buy LIVE wreaths for the porch!
Sadly, our local tree farm is up for sale, every year as it is again this year! Last year they had a devastating fire last year in the wreath and flocking barn the day after we bought our wreaths, but they recovered and came back just as wonderful as ever. While whoever buys it will probably keep it as a tree farm, there’s no guarantee it will remain the same as we know it year after year.
Hubby says I never met a Christmas decoration or ornament I didn’t like. He’s NOT wrong, but I am discerning in my tastes. He would also tell you that our tree is going to collapse under the weight of all of the sentimental and treasured ornaments. What he forgets is that MOST of our family has made me the “safety deposit box” for all things nostalgic not to mention all of our own treasures from over the years. This year again I have really cut back though and gone for super simple. My ex-sister-in-law contacted me about returning some ornaments that my grandmother made that my brother didn’t want back which I thought was so sweet of her! I love having the ornaments back in the family. Those ornaments prompted me to seek an even simpler tree again this year with mainly felted and handcrafted ornaments.
One of my favorite shows was THE BIG BANG THEORY which always makes me laugh as I picture Penny asking about Sheldon’s Ornament Placement Template. LOL There is no such thing as a proper way to place an ornament in our house We believe in the more the merrier theory.
I absolutely adore is my Scentsy nativities.
I do have MANY favorite indoor decorations. Hubby and I agree on outdoor decorations and that he’s MOSTLY in charge of outside ornament location. Outdoor decorations are mostly generic and none that are very sentimental, but indoor decorations are mainly hand me downs and super sentimental so I am more particular about them AND their placement.
I am seriously paring down my decorations and ornaments each year. Maybe it’s because I’m getting older, but a few things no longer hold an appeal for me. LOL For example, hubby and I decided that the “blow ups” that we bought for the munchkins next door are going to go away after this year for a couple of reasons.
- Here in the Pacific North West we get a lot of rain and snow during the holidays making them a pain in the neck.
- We also get a lot of wind during December making them a pain in the neck requiring extra securing to keep them from taking flight.
- After they go down at night they sometimes end up in strange positions so they don’t always want to return to their upright positions readily without going out to help them the next day, and often that is in the rain or snow.
- The extension cords are all over the yard and have to be moved to do yard work.
- PLUS I am so tired of listening to them hum all the time.
So, outside decorations are being streamlined big time! That said, I did buy a new set of adorable wooden trees that a friend’s SIL made a few years ago. I string them with lights each year and they are in my entry way.
What about you? Do you have favorite decorations and ornaments? Are they hand me downs from family?