I didn't use garland this year and big bulbs as I lurve twinkle lights.  Glad it's all up and done!

:)

---

Mine looks the same as last year except in a different location . . . .

I'm Scrooging it this year

Mosaicwench wrote on Dec 6^th, 2009 at 7:45pm:

Mine looks the same as last year except in a different location . . . .

You mean like still in the furnace room? ;D ;D ;D

When will you take it out of the box Pat? LOL

aww that tree's lovely!  I want a tree!  Can't have one in our crappy student house thou. lol

lhiannanshee wrote on Dec 7^th, 2009 at 6:46am:

aww that tree's lovely!  I want a tree!  Can't have one in our crappy student house thou. lol

That is sad!  Not even a little tabletop tree?

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LOL Linda!  I LOVE that picture! ;D

That was from last year.  I'd just got a new camera and was fooling around with the functions.  I put it on a 2 or 3 second timer and backed away.

Marc tried for hours to duplicate that effect with his camera and became frustrated.   I jest love frustrating Marc.  ;)

Linda - Maybe a little something to settle the nerves before you click that shutter....

Brew wrote on Dec 7^th, 2009 at 11:02am:

Linda - Maybe a little something to settle the nerves before you click that shutter....

LOL!  That's what I was thinking.... Photography after too much Red Bull!   

And I'm with Pat.  The tree is still in the box!   There is a short in a wire and half the damn lights are out.  Either we buy a new one or get a real one this year.     Just call me Scrooge....

Jeannie wrote on Dec 7^th, 2009 at 1:04pm:

And I'm with Pat.  The tree is still in the box!   There is a short in a wire and half the damn lights are out.  Either we buy a new one or get a real one this year.     Just call me Scrooge....

Get a REAL ONE!  Keep us little Christmas Tree farms in business! :)

This is just after we finished decorating our tree that we cut down up in the Santa Cruz mountains on Saturday.

---

Mine is still in the box too.  I'm waiting for hubby to get home to drag it upstairs.

1/2 the lights went out on my tree last year, so I just abandoned all those lights and strung more on.  No one can tell the difference.

Beautiful trees Melissa and Matt.  Your is kinda cool too, Linda.  :P

Just put ours up today.

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Paul

[IMG]http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v711/JacksWar/CHRISTMAS/DSC_0011-1-1.jpg[/img]

Same theme every year....gold, white and green.
Blake put it up today while I was at work.  Good Job, Honey!!! :-*

This is it Mel, our indoor tree, this one Buck (cat) hasn't touched, yet! :o
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Angie enjoying a break while setting up the outside decorations in heavy snow. [smiley=me&mb.gif]
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How's it going eh? LOL
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Rudolf had an electrical problem but we fixed him. [smiley=thumb.gif] He seems to like me. [smiley=laugh.gif]
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You all misunderstood.  My tree's been up and decorated since the Sunday after Thanksgiving. 

I just stuck it in a different corner this year and used the same decorations I always use plus a few more I bought in St. Louis while at the convention.

I'm just not in the spirit of things and don't feel festive.  So while the house and yard are decorated, the spirit is not here.

Well, Pat,  I hope that the Christmas spirit finds you soon. [smiley=hug.gif]

Jeannie

Pat, a couple of Canadian hugs
B&A  [smiley=hug.gif] [smiley=hug.gif]

Maybe this snowmageddon they are forecasting will get me closer to the spirit of Christmas.

Trees from a box? Is that like Jack in the box?

Joe and Patty said they'd get a tree for our house while I'm gone this week. Looking forward to the smell of Christmas when I get home.  The other decorations are up, just need the tree.

Mosaicwench wrote on Dec 7^th, 2009 at 8:01pm:

I'm just not in the spirit of things and don't feel festive.  So while the house and yard are decorated, the spirit is not here.

If I told you I was going to burn olive oil in my Menorah this year instead of candles, would that make you feel any more festive?

It's lovely to see pics of your trees. :)

I'm still hoping that I could talk mom into getting a Christmas tree this year. We didn't have one last year and frankly something important WAS missing.

No real tree, no plastic tree... apparently we have too many quests and too little space. It's funny, because there will be 8 of us at the most (I don't know if Esa can make it, he might spend Christmas Eve with his mother and his brother's family) and in the past I recall that there were 13 of us AND a Christmas tree, so I have no idea where this mom's change of heart comes.

But looking at those threes is the next best thing. :)

Sanna

This is going to be the first Christmas in my entire life when I haven't had a tree. I feel kind of funny about that but since I'm going to Paul's next Tuesday and we'll be at his parents for Christmas there isn't much point in putting up one at either house. We just won't have time to get one and we won't be there to enjoy it either.
I'll just take a lot of pleasure out of sharing all of yours and seeing Paul's parent's tree.

It's still kind of.. I don't know. I'm okay about it, I'm not upset, I just realised, I've never had a Christmas without a tree before.

I know some have the same decor as last year, but so what?  There are some people here who've never seen your tree before and like decorated trees as much as I do! ;)

Paul- Beautiful!  Your tree and Nutcracker remind me of a couple Christmas movies. :)

Jackie- Now Blake can say he made a Macy's tree too! ;D  Gorgeous!

Barry- even though it's little, it's still just as wonderful!!

Pat- I hope the snowmaggendon puts you in the mood!  The last little snowfall we had helped me after I lost it after Thanksgiving. :)

B$- You have a picture of your Menorah?  I'd love to see it!

Helen- find yourself a Christmas tree pin, or little figurine you can take with you!  You can set it up on the nightstand next to you. :)

Lets see if this works.....


ETA: WOW!!  It worked!!  That's my Menorah.  I put a few candles from last year next to it so you can see them.  They are really beautiful, colorful, hand-made candles.
But this year, it's traditional oil with a wick.....

---

Wow B$, your Menorah is gorgeous!!

Hey...could ya move that shiny thing...I wish to stare longingly at that Makers Mark bottle.......

I had no tree last year, after getting a divorce and losing my step-kids that I loved dearly I just did not want a tree and tried really hard to forget it was Christmas at all. No worries though, this year I am in full Christmas spirit and really looking forward to celebrating Christmas with my lady so it is all good this year. I hope that all of you are able to find your Christmas spirit if you have not already.
My girl and I are volunteering at the second harvest food bank next week to help sort food for the needy, if you are not in the spirit you may try volunteering to help the less fortunate and maybe that will get you in the spirit. Try to remember no matter how bad life seems there are always people out there who have less and are in worse shape than you, at least that is what I tell myself when I am down.
8-)

Here's mine!

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Matt- sounds like you're going to have a lovely Christmas this year. :)

Helen- Now that's what I'm talkin about!!

Helen, I hope that tree of yours NEVER has to get 'lit up'

B- WHY IS YOUR MENORAH IN YOUR BAR?

Meh! bachelors!

Happy Hannukah(or however we are spelling it this year!)

Stay warm

Cathi

Helen...that is the BEST Christmas tree I have EVER seen!!!!! And better yet the name: FREEDOM (YOW!!!!!!)

Best,

jb

Makes me want to decorate my three tanks up...
I will have to clear it with Buck (Cat) first though. LOL ;D

Joe and Patty put our tree up today too!

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Umm, Christy - Does your tree always go in the middle of the room?

It's actually against the wall Bill, in between the living and dining room. Picture does make it look centered in the room though now that I look at it. HOw funny.

But yes, if Joe had his way, it would probably be in the center of the room!

My wife tends to like Christmas trees, so we have 3. The main one is 12' high, there is a little 4' tree in the media room and a 5' tall tree in our bedroom.

(yes, the doorway in the background looks tiny because of high ceilings. yes, it looks stupid but  I didn't design it!)

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Marc

Here you are Mel.  I told you I shoved it in a corner and slapped some decorations on it. I also have lights and garland on the mantle, the hutch in the dining room, on the bookcases in our bedroom and around the windows in the den.  Everyday I turn them on and wonder why - they give me no joy this year and no one else even sees them.
So to answer your question, I'm still Scrooging it.

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My camera is shot, so I can't take a photo of it this year.  Guess what is on MY list?

Well, wS GONNA TAKE SOME PICS OF THE BIG TREE THIS AFTERNOON  damn, how'd the caps lock get on?...
but it seems in the night, we had  a bit of a  conflagration, Tweety Bird confronted Uncle Sam>  Looks like there was quite a tussle, but, when all was said and done, Tweety prevailed, and Sam was headless on the floor.
Sam must have put up a valiant fight, as I just finished vacuuming all the shards up off the carpet....

Sorry, Sam, you'll be missed.......
Tweety, I had NO idea you were so self-sufficient.......
never once did I hear you plaintive cries of HEWWP! HEWWPPP!

Cathi

Beautiful Christmas trees everyone, thank you for posting them!

My Paradeisbaum or Paradise Tree  :D

---

If all goes according to plan.....yeah right.....our tree will go up today.  The problem is finding a long needle Scotch or White pine - all I've seen so far in this are are short needle trees :(  Must be a Scots Pine....it's a tradition my Dad and I did for many many years....and no matter how hard we tried, we would swear it was straight when we got it, then got it home and Mom would have a fit because the trunk was bent or there were bare spots etc. and she would have to do creative tree surgery hehe.

Failing the find of a Scot Pine, then it will the be old standby tree in a box.

But in this house the tree is almost a secondary thing, every ornament on my tree has a story, from things made when I was a child, to things my kids have made, to trips around the world - we always buy an ornament wherever our travels take us.  Each and every one has a tale to tell. 

Pat, I know that scrooge feeling all tooooooo well, that was me last year, I didn't even decorate my house because we weren't going to be here and I just wasn't up to it, Christmas was a chore, and for me that's not good, it's my favorite holiday.

What worked to put me in the Christmas spirit, was to gather a group of kids around, and read them Twas the Night Before Christmas right before Santa entered.  There was pure magic in the air during that time, their eyes all alight, their excitement and anticipation palpable....
Now repeat after me, I believe, I believe, I believe.....
There's magic in the air at this time of year, you just have to find the way to gather it to you.  Ignore the commercialism, go back to the basics, remember the twinkle and excitement of Roy in his early years.  Then sew his stocking shut, take a coffee can, put a gift in it, then solder it shut, take - oh I dunno, maybe $20 worth of quarters, stick them in balloons and blow them up, then wrap the balloons in boxes, create a scavenger hunt for a gift with a box wrapped with the first clue...just some ideas that might make things a little more fun for you.

Cat

p.s. anyone know where they sell long needle pine trees here in the south???

Marc, what's that cute  fuzzy lil black thing on the rug? Is there a new addition to the family?

Cathi_Pierce wrote on Dec 13^th, 2009 at 3:46pm:

Marc, what's that cute  fuzzy lil black thing on the rug? Is there a new addition to the family?

Yup. Got too lonely without my old girl of 14 years. We got this little 50 lb fur covered ball of energy at the dog rescue shelter. Looks to be part border collie and flat coated retriever.

He's a funny looking little beast, but a perfect fit for the hole that was in our hearts  :)

Marc

OK heres my fuzzy fone pics of our tree and house.

---

er sorry that didn't go according to plan .... here's the house

---

Headache boy...(could we -please have a first name to call you by?)

Those pics are great!!!!

Stephen and Otis went and got our tree on Friday and put it in the stand to drop. It's a lovely 9ft Nordmann Fir. It's been sat with no decorations since. We're just so tired!!

But tonight we're going to get the decs on because it's so sad having a bare tree in the room. Let's hope I can muster some energy to cook up a Christmas feast next week.  :)

I just want to say Happy Hanukkah to everyone. Tonight will be the 5th night!   :P

Marc wrote on Dec 13^th, 2009 at 10:55pm:

Cathi_Pierce wrote on Dec 13th, 2009 at 3:46pm: Marc, what's that cute  fuzzy lil black thing on the rug? Is there a new addition to the family? Yup. Got too lonely without my old girl of 14 years. We got this little 50 lb fur covered ball of energy at the dog rescue shelter. Looks to be part border collie and flat coated retriever. He's a funny looking little beast, but a perfect fit for the hole that was in our hearts  :) Marc

Ok, so does that fuzzy lil thing have a name? I'm guessing Tex-Adam, perhaps?
Again, great tree, and Merry Christmas!
Cathi

Linda Howell wrote


Quote:

Headache boy...(could we -please have a first name to call you by?) Those pics are great!!!!

er sorry Linda its Nigel
Thanks the pics aren't bad for a camera phone
Kinda between cameras right now , I dropped mine in the sea whilst trying to get an arty shot of the kids playing on the beach . Guess that's why they have a wrist strap.

Nigel

Seems my cat has decided that three base is her new water dish and the tree makes a great place to hide. Thankfully she has not messed with any of the ornaments yet.
;D

---

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The ornaments are a combination of things the kids have made for me in school and ones that were handmade by my great-great grandmother, great grandmother, grandmother, mother or various aunts and great aunts.  Some were passed down through five generations in my family. It is an eclectic collection but I wouldn't have it any other way!  Each year when we decorate the tree we hang the ornaments and I teach the kids the story behind each one, who made it, where it came from and what it means to me.

Here is the house...do you know how hard it is to get a picture at the exact moment all the lights are on!?!

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Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays to everyone.

Donna

Glad it's only once a year. I'm beat.

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Me and the other two mugs in the first picture pulled this off in just 2 weeks. Of coursae all the politicians showed up for the photo op.

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seaworthy wrote on Dec 20^th, 2009 at 1:07pm:

pulled this off in just 2 weeks.

Got out all the holiday blow-up characters from the closet.     Nice job.

I finally got a pic of my tree

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Lovely trees!!  And Don, I really enjoyed the link you posted.  Reminds me of what Christmas is really about.

seaworthy wrote on Dec 20^th, 2009 at 12:56pm:

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Nice  :D