MrsMe Posted December 12, 2010 Share Posted December 12, 2010 Honestly I loathe this time of year. The buying, the shopping, the spending and it seems to come around faster and faster. It seems like it's one more thing to get dusty, more junk to dust and more vacuuming. And I always have to find a place for a chair or a table or whatever. Sorry to be a downer, but really. That's how it is. It's such an intrusion! I don't know what happened to the fun of Christmas decorating? "I" drag all the junk out and usually decorate and this year will be no different. DH only has one foot to use as he had ankle surgery. We have a 10 yr old dd so we have to do this. She loves it. I'd hate for her to think we always had a lousy Christmas because her parents didn't want to do it. So how do you make a simple tree or even a simple Christmas without hauling out all the junk? I have a red and white tree trim box and a box of glass balls trim box. I usually do one or the other. We also have a new puppy. So I'm not real excited about putting either one of those up. The red and white is a bit more elegant and the balls, well, they are breakable. Honestly if I could have someone decorate my tree every year I would have it delivered...then toss it when the season was over.:tongue_smilie: In actuality, we had a fake prelit and I got tired of storing it, so we got rid of it. I really like to be able to just buy it all and toss it all, so last year we pretty much did, except for a few things and the rest was decorated by poinsetta's, boughs or anything throw away! Every year I get rid of more and more. I'm not putting up my Christmas village either. My dh was like, "I love that". Good, then you put it up. (evil grin). Anyway, my question...does anyone put simple, hand made ornaments up? I need ideas for that. Can't be food. Every year I get rid of more and more. I'm not putting up my Christmas village either. I need a simple, puppy friendly tree.:bigear::bigear: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melinda in VT Posted December 12, 2010 Share Posted December 12, 2010 When my twins were little, I got a small, live Christmas tree and put it on top of our entertainment center. I knew I didn't want to spend the entire holiday season snapping at them to stay away from the tree. A wonderful side effect was that it was so easy to put up I could do it myself. No need for a second person to help. I was surprised at how much I liked having a little tree. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sherry in OH Posted December 12, 2010 Share Posted December 12, 2010 You could buy a small tree or a rosemary shaped like a tree. Some come pre-decorated. Put it on a table. Have your daughter make ornaments. Origami cranes look nice on a tree. So do paper snowflakes and simple paper chains. If you don't like paper chains, use ribbon as garland. Make candy canes out of tri-corner or pony beads and pipe cleaners. One year we decorated our tree with little people/animals. They looked cute and since they were unbreakable it did not matter how often they were rearranged. When we took the tree down, the figures went back into the toy bin. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Anne Posted December 12, 2010 Share Posted December 12, 2010 Maybe you could put your dd in charge of decorating? My dds started doing all the decorating when they were about 10. They loved it. All I had to do was give them some parameters. Your dd could invite a friend if she wanted. She could make ornaments... I bet she'd love it. Anne P.S. - I like the idea of a small, table-top type tree since you have a new puppy. We had a new kitten and a new puppy one year... we wound up having to anchor the tree to the wall so it wouldn't tip over AND we had to clear the tree of breakables on the first three feet of tree... :D Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMe Posted December 13, 2010 Author Share Posted December 13, 2010 We had a new kitten and a new puppy one year... we wound up having to anchor the tree to the wall so it wouldn't tip over AND we had to clear the tree of breakables on the first three feet of tree... :D We clear the first 3 feet for our cat, but anchoring it to the wall is a crack-up!:rofl: I like the idea of dd decorating the tree. But from annual experience, the tree would fall over as all the ornaments would be in the back or on top of each other. Not real detail oriented for an anal mom like me.:tongue_smilie: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garga Posted December 13, 2010 Share Posted December 13, 2010 The minimum you need: Lights (and maybe not even these...but they are nice.) Candy canes as ornaments. (Traditional, or colorful ones.) Ribbon: Instead of garland winding around the tree, tie thick ribbon to the top of the tree and let it cascade down the sides, vertically. Tie bows of ribbon on the branches. (You can pick whatever colors you want.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annlaura Posted December 13, 2010 Share Posted December 13, 2010 This is the first year in about 15 that I haven't anchored the tree to the wall, and it's only because we have a stand for a huge tree but bought a very small one this year. :D I can tell you how not to decorate a tree when you have a puppy. The first year I had my Newf/Saint pup, I thought it would be cute to tie ribbons on little milkbones and hang them on the lower 3rd of the tree for her to enjoy. :blush5: Was not my best thought out plan. :lol: I like the candy cane idea, but all of my dogs have been candy cane lovers. Maybe have your daughter make paper chains and little snowflakes, or cut out shapes from felt to hang with ribbon. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Erica in OR Posted December 13, 2010 Share Posted December 13, 2010 We have the most wonderful set of LED lights that we put on our tree, and honestly, I would be perfectly content if that was all we had on it. It has several different light patterns that you can set on it, such as ones that start to glow very slowly, then the glow goes away again very slowly. I like other ideas about the paper chains and snowflakes - whatever is simple, yet satisfies the one putting in the work. If you'd like something simple to make (more for adults than kids), yet looks fancy, you might like these snowflake patterns: http://www.daves-snowflakes.com/samples.pdf. I've made several of these to put on our window and save them in a manila folder for next year. Erica in OR Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tap Posted December 13, 2010 Share Posted December 13, 2010 You have a 10yo, just add construction paper, glue, ornament hangers/string/paperclips......There are tons of coloring pictures online that they can cut out, color and use to decorate it with. Paper chains and snowflakes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
MrsMe Posted December 13, 2010 Author Share Posted December 13, 2010 Thanks. We did the lights, ribbon and it's not that bad. We'll add candy canes, and some snowflakes (thanks for the link) and I think it'll be okay! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jayne J Posted December 13, 2010 Share Posted December 13, 2010 If your ten year old is crafty, give her paper and scissors and have her make paper snow flakes to decorate the tree. We did this one year when our oldest was eating everything (he was 2) and it was beautiful. We put just lights and the snowflakes on the tree. If they get eaten, no biggie and at the end of the season, toss them--no storage. What about having dd "in charge" this year? Would she get excited about the responsibility of decorating? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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