Thread: Real Tree or not

Fake.
Each year the poor thing just looks so pathetic. But the girls love it & it is easy to put together.

*** Sorry I missed the voting poll part.
I'm pretty lazy with lights. I have a 'blanket' of lights that are shaped like a tree. So I just lay that down on the tree & then decorate.
My in-laws cut down 2 - 3 cedar trees from their property & tied them together for their Christmas tree. I always get so nervous with that tree catching on fire.

Ours is celebrating it's eleventh year gracing the picture window in the living room. She has also seen better days, but she does clean up nicely. It's a 7 foot with 800 lights on it. I had asked DH to get the lights on so I could decorate it with the son when I got home from work. I failed to give DH instructions for the Martha Stewart method of branch wrapping. I knew something was wrong when there were still 5 new boxes of lights on the dining room table. "Honey, the look I want is a glow..... which blinds the neighbors".

Now she looks great, we have enough ornaments to cover all the spaces which look ratty.

Our artificial tree meant to be replaced this year but we just haven't gotten around to it. We also haven't gotten around to putting any ornaments up, which is probably just as well with a 21-month-old and three very curious cats! We do have lights up and plenty of other festiveness. It just gets so busy with the holidays and tons of birthdays in December & January (my dad's, mine, my mom's, Justin's). If I put ornaments up this late, they won't come down until Valentine's Day.

We have an artificial that we've had 23-24 years. We got it from DW's parents when they decided not to bother with one any more and it was a couple of years old then. It is getting old and shows it a bit but it is beutiful when DW gets done decorating it every year. Have thought about a new one most every year for about the last 5-10 years but have yet to find one the right size and shape so we stick with what works!

Merry Christmas and Happy Camping!

Originally Posted by Troop198

So Shannon how do you put presents under a bare tree? Yikes.

Part of the fun when they are little is for them to help decorate that tree !

She's not two years old until March 15. She doesn't notice anything but the pretty lights and all the presents (98% of which are for her, with more big ones coming from Santa of course.)

Even in a low-res cameraphone pic, it really doesn't look *that* bad undecorated, apart from the entire string of lights somewhere in it that went out this year. She sees (and removes ornaments from) the fully decorated trees at both of her grandparents', both sets of which she sees often--something we are quite blessed and grateful to be the case.


We do have a star with a cowboy hat on top, and a couple of bird ornaments I put up because it was a little sad to have NOTHING on the tree. We also have lights all the way up our banister on the stairway and lights in the bedroom she loves me turning when we read stories, plus a "light tree" I made by stringing lights over a high branch in one of our oaks out front (another handy use for tent stakes!) She supervised the construction of the light tree, BTW, from her jogging stroller (it was a coooold day so I put her in it along with a toasty blanket so she could watch.)

PS: Feel free to get after Justin a bit, since I'm always the one who moves the furniture, unboxes the tree and lights, etc. every year, anyway!

Originally Posted by Shannon

PS: Feel free to get after Justin a bit, since I'm always the one who moves the furniture, unboxes the tree and lights, etc. every year, anyway!

Give Justin a break .......he's tired after riding his bike back and forth to work.

Originally Posted by ploddinTod

Give Justin a break .......he's tired after riding his bike back and forth to work.

Now, now...

Originally Posted by Troop198

That is a nice tree I picture no lights sorry

As for Justin not only is he tired for riding he does a blog too !

Absolutely no need to apologize. I just didn't want anyone thinking we were having a "Bah Humbug" Christmas because I'm too busy/lazy to decorate the tree.

The problems with the tree are: a) it's getting more and more structurally unsound thanks to cats climbing in it and warping where the "limbs" attach to the "trunk"; b) it's crooked (I have to prop its stand to get it remotely level c) it's perpetually shedding fake "needles", and d) it isn't nearly as full as I would like it to be. I want an artificial that's more like my parents' Christmas tree -> The Blackburn Christmas Tree (Before Decorations) on Flickr - Photo Sharing!