Christmas Trees

[Sneezyone]

Just for fun, and ‘cause I’m a shameless thief where Décor is concerned, can I see your Christmas trees (bonus points for unusual styles/colors)? I’ve been using this artificial one for 10+ years but feel like the dark green is starting to cramp my style. I’d like to really change things up for next year. Flocking maybe? Minimalist/Charlie Brown-style?? We had a ‘Cat in the Hat’ tree last year but I wish I’d had a white tree instead of green to make it pop.

Edited December 4, 2019 by Sneezyone

[PeterPan]

Wow, you're the woman! Please come do my tree!!

I know the flocking is beautiful, but doesn't it come off? I think at 10 years you could change just for the fun of it. Have to trees and put this one on a porch or entry playroom or something.

[Sneezyone]

1 minute ago, PeterPan said:

Wow, you're the woman! Please come do my tree!!

I know the flocking is beautiful, but doesn't it come off? I think at 10 years you could change just for the fun of it. Have to trees and put this one on a porch or entry playroom or something.

Aww, thanks. When I was little my mom never let us touch the big tree (we had little ones in our rooms) but I let my kids help this year so I only had to supervise/work for a day or two. I also ended up with 1/2 as many lights tho. 🤣 

I think the flocked trees used to shed. I’ve never had one before so maybe they’ve gotten better? Industrial strength adhesives or something?

[Sneezyone]

Still cute. ☺️ One year we were living in a townhouse and our stuff was in storage so I got a tabletop white artificial tree and some construction paper and let the kids make a paper chain garland. The lights on our current tree finally gave out three years ago so we painstakingly removed every. Last. One.

Edited December 4, 2019 by Sneezyone

[PeterPan]

7 minutes ago, Sneezyone said:

The lights on our current tree finally gave out three years ago so we painstakingly relived every. Last. One.

You can buy an unlit tree and string your own lights. I guess it's a pain in its own way, just a different pain.

[Sneezyone]

9 minutes ago, Fifiruth said:

This vlogger on youtube did an easy treatment that made it look like frost or snow on the tree. Here's a link in case you want to have a look:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QazwzR6BhtM

 

I might try this on a little entry tree. I think I have everything but the mints!

[PeterPan]

1 minute ago, Arctic Mama said:

I wish we had!  It was such a nice fake tree and prelit. But while the tree is in perfect condition after three years the lights have given us trouble for two of those three.  Sigh.  Never again.

And you know, conversely I spent a ton of money and bought one of those Balsam Hill fake trees, unlit, very big. Actually two. Now I don't get sick with the trees, but I'm so wanting some VARIETY, lol. 

It did seem like the reviews were pretty consistent that by 3 years the lights were toast. 

[Garga]

A bunch of years ago, I started going to Walmart early on the 26th and buying ornaments half off: enough for an entire tree—ornaments, garland, lights, everything.

The first year, I got everything brown and cream, including ribbons to cascade down the tree instead of garland around it.  I had to wait until the next December to use them and then I had a beautiful brown and cream with ribbon tree.  It was nice and classy.

The next time, I got pink and blue balls and blue garland.  That tree was also gorgeous.  Though the boys were skeptical of the pink and blue color scheme.  🙂

Then after that was red and green and gold.  

Then I got a bunch of cloth ornaments. 

Then all glitter.

And after that I stopped, because I had 5 trees worth or ornaments to rotate through. 

This year’s tree is a compromise.  I’d like it to be all white lights with only cloth ornaments, but the kids insisted on a few colored balls and garland for some sparkle and dh wanted some colored lights. And instead of a star topper, they wanted to put up the santa hat and beard and sunglasses.  Sigh.  It’s not quite the tree I’d envisioned, but I’m not the only person living here, so c’est la vie.

Note:  about the lights:  We put up the full amount of colored lights.  But then we also put up the full amount of white lights. We plug them each into different outlets.  So...I can plug in either the colored lights OR the white lights.  Or both.  That was a game changer around here to end the white-light vs colored-lights battles.  

Anyway...  To answer your question about different types of trees, I’ve written above what I’ve done.  The years I started getting glittery ornaments, I’d matched them with colored balls and stuff, but next year, I’m going to have just a glitter tree.  This year was cloth and next year is ALL GLITTER.  

 

Here’s my compromised tree from this year with the cloth and the balls and both sets of lights on:  

Edited December 4, 2019 by Garga

[Hadley]

I love seeing everyone’s trees!  I’m so excited to finally participate this year!  I love the variety of decorating styles.  I must say, I miss the years when I had little kids and had truck and dinosaur themed trees.

[Sneezyone]

57 minutes ago, Garga said:

A bunch of years ago, I started going to Walmart early on the 26th and buying ornaments half off: enough for an entire tree—ornaments, garland, lights, everything.

The first year, I got everything brown and cream, including ribbons to cascade down the tree instead of garland around it.  I had to wait until the next December to use them and then I had a beautiful brown and cream with ribbon tree.  It was nice and classy.

The next time, I got pink and blue balls and blue garland.  That tree was also gorgeous.  Though the boys were skeptical of the pink and blue color scheme.  🙂

Then after that was red and green and gold.  

Then I got a bunch of cloth ornaments. 

Then all glitter.

And after that I stopped, because I had 5 trees worth or ornaments to rotate through. 

This year’s tree is a compromise.  I’d like it to be all white lights with only cloth ornaments, but the kids insisted on a few colored balls and garland for some sparkle and dh wanted some colored lights. And instead of a star topper, they wanted to put up the santa hat and beard and sunglasses.  Sigh.  It’s not quite the tree I’d envisioned, but I’m not the only person living here, so c’est la vie.

Note:  about the lights:  We put up the full amount of colored lights.  But then we also put up the full amount of white lights. We plug them each into different outlets.  So...I can plug in either the colored lights OR the white lights.  Or both.  That was a game changer around here to end the white-light vs colored-lights battles.  

This is pretty much how I do it. I shop after Christmas sales and even Dollar tree (good stuff there!!) and store my goodies by color, in bins, so I can mix/match each year. I add a few new things if each color every year.  I’m just trying to get some ideas so I know what to shop for, lol.  We’ve never done colored lights  on the big tree but I like your idea!!

[Sneezyone]

40 minutes ago, Hadley said:

I love seeing everyone’s trees!  I’m so excited to finally participate this year!  I love the variety of decorating styles.  I must say, I miss the years when I had little kids and had truck and dinosaur themed trees.

Oooh, I like this. Is it gold, teal and green?

I also miss the kiddie days. I would take something like this and run with it!
 

 

Edited December 4, 2019 by Sneezyone

[Hadley]

Thanks!  Yours is beautiful, too.

It is gold, teal, and lime green with peacock  feather ornaments and a bird on top...the feathers just don’t show up well in the pic😉.

I love the LEGO tree!  Christmas morning just isn’t the same without the littles...

[gardenmom5]

I have an acquaintance who left her tree out on her deck all summer.   after all the needles had dropped, she sprayed the tree gold with gold glitter.  I don't remember everything she'd put on it, but with only the tree lights one, it was effective.  I remember bows, and ribbon garlands.  solid glass balls.

my tree isn't up yet . . . .

[Sneezyone]

3 minutes ago, Thatboyofmine said:

Mine is a “pencil” shaped tree because our house is so small.  I got this tree from Michaels about 5-6 years ago.  It is flocked and prelit.   It lives in our closet and stays decorated all year.  We just slide it out and plug it in every year.   We get an ornament on every vacation so we add to it during the year and whenever I see something cute.  
*the blacks marks are from me attempting to cross out names and pics.  

This is so cute! I love the eclectic vibe.

[PeterPan]

We used to have cute ornaments, things I bought for my dd each year... Then the tree fell. Kersplat. It was a bad year and that was just kinda the capstone, the final straw. 

We got the tree back up, but now I have unbreakable ornaments (which do still break) and maybe a little less personalized joy. Haven't figured it all out. My kids break ornaments too, just trying to pull them out of the boxes. 

Whatever, whine whine. I need to drink some Red Bull and get a tree up. (I don't drink Red Bull.)

[alisoncooks]

Love all the trees!  We just downsized our main tree to a skinnier diameter to make life easier (not quite a pencil tree). It's all white/silver/gold/glass. 

The "kid tree" is the colorful one, with all the homemade ornaments. Yes, that's a tub of cheese balls underneath, lol. 

[Sneezyone]

Thanks for sharing the trees!! I kinda like the idea of sparkly silver and glass. I might need to experiment with that idea. My extra garland arrived today so I put that up on the mantle and decorated it...and then realized I forgot to add lights. 🤷🏽‍♀️ I just need to hang the stockings, add the keepsake ornaments, and pull out our annual lineup of Santa pics. I believe this will be our 17th photo. 🤦🏽‍♀️ I am running out of room.

Edited December 5, 2019 by Sneezyone

[alisoncooks]

25 minutes ago, Sneezyone said:

....and pull out our annual lineup of Santa pics. I believe this will be our 17th photo. 🤦🏽‍♀️ I am running out of room.

We have a Santa photo lineup, too. It's my favorite Christmas tradition! (We outgrew our previous display -- the below is new this year.)

[Guest]

Here's our cat friendly Pokemon tree. DD might have a few too many stuffed Pokemon....

[hjffkj]

3 minutes ago, dmmetler said:

Here's our cat friendly Pokemon tree. DD might have a few too many stuffed Pokemon....

My children will be jealous of this tree when I show it to them tomorrow.  hmm, maybe dh and I will make them pokemon ornaments this year.  We always enjoy making them ornaments.  And they'll go great with my tardis ornaments and weeping angel topper

[matrips]

Ours is kind of a mosh-mosh tree.  We pick up ornaments from all our travels.  Plus it has ornaments that were gifts or made.  Actually, I guess I could call it a memory-filled tree.  Yeah, that sounds better! 😂

 

[Sneezyone]

2 hours ago, alisoncooks said:

We have a Santa photo lineup, too. It's my favorite Christmas tradition! (We outgrew our previous display -- the below is new this year.)

oooh, I like this!! I need something because it’s hard to display them in one place now. Is it just stained boards with rope and clothespins?? I think I could make that work in a corner of my room!

Edited December 5, 2019 by Sneezyone

[alisoncooks]

23 minutes ago, Sneezyone said:

oooh, I like this!! I need something because it’s hard to display them in one place now. Is it just stained boards with rope and clothespins?? I think I could make that work in a corner of my room!

Basically, yes. I bought it on Amazon for $10 because I figured it was worth it to just have it done. There were tons of similar display items (most marketed for dorm rooms and called "boho" but whatever, lol). 

[Sneezyone]

20 minutes ago, alisoncooks said:

Basically, yes. I bought it on Amazon for $10 because I figured it was worth it to just have it done. There were tons of similar display items (most marketed for dorm rooms and called "boho" but whatever, lol). 

Amazon is even better than DIY, lol. I will check this out, thanks!!

[MercyA]

@Sneezyone, I love this thread! Wow! Your tree puts me to shame. 🙂

@Thatboyofmine, I adore your house. Sleeping dog. Cowboy cat pillow. Crosses on the wall. Tree that reminds me of my beloved (and stylish) grandma's pencil tree. Lovely. ❤️

[madteaparty]

np

Edited December 5, 2019 by madteaparty

[Hadley]

This thread is really getting me in the Christmas mood!  I love the Santa pictures, and the special collections of memory ornaments.  I love the shot of the family dog snuggled up under the light of the tree.  This thread is better than the Hallmark Chanel at Christmas😀

[Pam in CT]

I    this thread and we don't even have a tree.

 

re upright/narrow conifers

15 hours ago, CuriousMomof3 said:

I had no idea that was a thing!  I think I need to look for a pencil tree.

Are there any live trees that grow pencil style?  I've always had a live tree, and I like the smell, but that's exactly the shape we need in our current space.  

The classic narrow evergreen (used for tight patio spaces) is Ilex Pencil Sky, a tree of Many Virtues; but it's a holly and doesn't have that marvelous smell.

Cypress, some junipers and thuja occidentalis (arborvitae) are all narrow conifers.  The first are slow-growing and relatively expensive, but arborvitae is quite fast-growing and therefore inexpensive; I've seen it in my nursery over the last few weeks marketed as living Christmas tree.  (If you want to put it out and winter it over for spring planting you have to be careful about easing it out on a warm day and protecting it; or the shock will kill it.)

Edited December 5, 2019 by Pam in CT
typo

[Guest]

11 hours ago, hjffkj said:

My children will be jealous of this tree when I show it to them tomorrow.  hmm, maybe dh and I will make them pokemon ornaments this year.  We always enjoy making them ornaments.  And they'll go great with my tardis ornaments and weeping angel topper

Our Animal club has made habitat "Pokeballs" the last few years using 2 piece snap together ornaments, displaying a habitat and a characteristic animal (the "Good Luck Minis" are about the right size for a typical ball) and then filling the other side with cotton fiber, and adding an electrical tape band.  (You can find examples of Pokeball dioramas on Etsy).  The kids really enjoyed it, and it was easy enough for even the younger kids to manage with a little help from adults with hot glue guns. If you have small Pokemon figures, you can also make Pokeballs with actual Pokemon inside. 

[Sneezyone]

20 hours ago, Arctic Mama said:

I wish we had!  It was such a nice fake tree and prelit. But while the tree is in perfect condition after three years the lights have given us trouble for two of those three.  Sigh.  Never again.

You can remove the lights. It was a total pain b/c of the clips but we got at least 5 more good years out of it as a result. After we took the old lights off, I bought super long strands that we store on spools, in tubs, with the extension cords and timers. I may be a bit obsessive about the organization of it but it makes clean up a cinch and there are no tangles to worry about.

Edited December 5, 2019 by Sneezyone

[alisoncooks]

We removed the lights on our previous tree, as well. It was a pain in the tail, for real. Sharp scissors were handy to bypass the clips -- just snipped those wires right off. 

[school17777]

As soon as I saw the tree in the field, I knew it was the one!  My kids make fun of it saying it’s a Charlie Brown tree.  Youngest is the one who decorated.  It has fallen a couple times now because dh broke the tree stand last year and I’m skeptical of his fix.

It has more ornaments than what shows up in the picture.

I don’t smell a tree scent from it, so we burn a Christmas tart for the tree smell.

Edited December 5, 2019 by school17777

[Bensmom2]

My husband’s grandparents bought a Christmas bear for ds on his first Christmas and the next few years until they passed away. After their death, we continued the tradition and bought a bear “from the great-grandparents”. There are now 16 around the tree. (They aren’t in order)

[matrips]

1 hour ago, Bensmom2 said:

My husband’s grandparents bought a Christmas bear for ds on his first Christmas and the next few years until they passed away. After their death, we continued the tradition and bought a bear “from the great-grandparents”. There are now 16 around the tree. (They aren’t in order)

My kids would love those bears!

[MercyA]

Thanks to this thread, we ordered a pencil tree today! I am excited to have our tree in our living room rather than in the playroom in the basement. 

It's white and iridescent, 'cause that's how we roll.

 

[MercyA]

3 hours ago, Thatboyofmine said:

We love ours!   

Yours was my inspiration!!! I am so medicated and so distractible that I often miss obvious solutions. We don't have room in our living room for a large tree, so in this house, it's always been in our (nicely finished) basement. I felt I wasn't able to enjoy it much since I'm not down there as often as my DH and DD. I kept thinking...table top tree? No, all our special ornaments wouldn't fit. Move the furniture? No, we wouldn't all be able to watch tv together comfortably. An ornament display? Nope, my DH and DD are traditionalists. Then I saw your tree and I was like, YES!!! Thank you! 

[Pen]

Our trees stay outdoors and naked 🌲.   Extremely Minimalist!!!!

 

(I enjoy seeing yours!)

Edited December 14, 2019 by Pen

[PrincessMommy]

I'm loving this thread even though I don't have ours up yet.  I'm so uncreative so I don't go with themes.   I am going to try the dead Christmas tree idea that @gardenmom5 mentioned. if I can talk dh to letting me keep a  dead Christmas tree around for the year.  

[gardenmom5]

I got it up.  I'm done.  dh said "find a new tree" (I did look . . . found one I adored, but it only came in 6' . . . .).

2dd is looking forward to the tree - but it's the snowflake tree, not the "eclectic" one.  

[diazsjonathan8]

My Christmas tree.

 

[El...]

I like the little fence around the base!

 

[PrincessMommy]

3 hours ago, elroisees said:

I like the little fence around the base!

 

two posts? And a suspicious looking photo of a tree (lifted off the internet).  I think they're a troll.  

Edited December 14, 2019 by PrincessMommy

[Wheres Toto]

Our tree is going up today.  We have a narrow (not quite pencil) tree since we're dealing with a small space.  We don't do a theme, it's pretty eclectic.  Tons of dance ornaments because oldest dd got a new ornament every year growing up and she doesn't have her own tree yet.  Then we made some ornaments for the younger kids over the years by taking toys from favorite things - Frozen, Minecraft, Pokemon, etc. and gluing ribbons to them to make them ornaments.    Then the usual made ornaments that little kids do in preschool - mostly oldest dd and mine from when I was a kid.   A few from the younger kids that we did at home.

[El...]

2 hours ago, PrincessMommy said:

two posts? And a suspicious looking photo of a tree (lifted off the internet).  I think they're a troll.  

Really? Wow, I missed that. Hmmm. Thanks. 

[Pen]

4 hours ago, PrincessMommy said:

two posts? And a suspicious looking photo of a tree (lifted off the internet).  I think they're a troll.  

 

More than two, but the first had looked like a suspicious product placement for a gutter cleaning tool resurrecting an old thread.  I think some people do that for a living. “Influencers” or something like that. 

[annegables]

@Arctic Mama, I have an absurd amount of bookshelf envy.

[Liz CA]

Put it up today.

Looking at all your trees...we're a bit minimalist.

 

Edited December 14, 2019 by Liz CA

[Liz CA]

1 hour ago, Margaret in CO said:

We won't even GET our tree until the 27th! We're having Christmas late this year, though we will get the new Christmas kittens early! The Navy/AF kids won't be home until then, so we'll get the tree on the 27th (this is actually a bigger deal to my kids than any other part of Christmas), celebrate on the 28th, and then some will head off on the 28th and 29th. It's going to be very hectic. We travel up valley and cut one every year. It will be a "chain up the trucks and then snowshoe in" year. 

 

Margaret, I think it's time to get an artificial tree....😋

[wendyroo]

Finished decorating ours today!