June 29-July 5 Trees, Treasures and Traditions

[Gingerbug]

Week One is almost here!

In this thread we will discuss our trees, our treasures, and our traditions. To get started let's start with a few questions....answer one, two, or all of them! You can answer them all at once or come back through out the week and answer different ones.

1. Tree: Is your tree the same every year or do you "mix it up" with different themes? Describe your tree or link to a picture of it. Do you use a real or artificial tree? What kinds of ornaments do you like best? How many trees do you put up.

2. Treasures: Describe or link to some pictures of your Christmas "treasures." Do you have ornaments or items that have been handed down through the years. What special meaning is behind some of these treasures.

3. Traditions: What are some of your favorite traditions? Are there some that you have changed or eliminated? Why? How do you decide what to keep and what to prune? Are there any7 new traditions you would like to start? If so, what are they?

This will be an ongoing thread for Week One...so please post in it as man times as you would like....you may also add some of your own questions that you might be interested in knowing about.

:tree:

 

[SparkleNana]

HURRAY! It is Week One of our first week's thread for Christmas In July. Gingerbug -- I like the questions that you suggested… to help us get going!!!

One of the suggestions.. was to talk about your Christmas tree(s). For many years… dh and I had a live tree. Now…. because I like to keep my tree up from Thanksgiving night… to New Year's Day (or longer)…. now…. an artificial tree works better. I have had several artificial trees… each one getting a little smaller than the one before. Now… I have a 4-foot tree…. that sits on top of a long buffet…. in the living room. The rest of the buffet is reserved for Christmas gifts. In this place… all sides of the tree… can be enjoyed.

Outside…. I have lots and lots of Christmas lights!!!! In front of the house… I have colored lights. Along the side… with is along a path by a creek (with a walkway)…. I have white lights. I turn the outside lights on…. on Thanksgiving night!

 

[SparkleNana]

I'm back again…. to talk some more about Christmas trees. I use lots of lights…. lots of multi-colored lights…. and some strings of white lights. For ornaments… I use lots of red and gold (which are warm colors). But I mix in ornaments with different colors, too.

As I mentioned, the tree sits on a buffet. The surface of the buffet, under the tee, is reserved for brightly wrapped packages. The wrappings add lots of different colors.

The house is small and the rooms are small. So… it is more peaceful… to just have the tree and gifts… provide the decorations. (Oh… and a manger, too. Some of the figures were from dh's family… when he was a little boy.)

 

[Minta]

We have all artificial trees! 5 to be exact ... some years we put all 5 up .. some years only 3 or 4. THe 3 that go up every year are:

The main tree is 7 1/2 ft with multi colored lights that goes into the living room. There is no theme for this tree. We cover it all kinds of ornaments ... ornaments DH and I had as kids, ornaments we bought over the past 15 years, ornaments the kids have gotten and ones they have made with the home made ornaments in spots they can be seen.

The dinning room tree is a 4 ft pencil tree with lights that is decorated with primative country type ornaments.

A 2 1/2 ft pencil tree with white lights that goes in the kids room. They decorate that with small disney and loney tune character ornaments and small colored ornaments.

If we have the time a 4 ft full tree with multicolored lights will go up in the family room and is decorated with DH's sport themed ornaments. the final tree is a small 2 ft pencil tree with white lights that goes in our bed room.

I will try to post pictures of the living room and dinning room trees later.

Some of our traditions are driving around looking at Christmas lights with the kids .. we do this a few times during the season. During the 5 days before Christmas we bake all kinds of cookies and breads while listening to Christmas music. We also enjoy spending a few evenings together with a big bowl of popcorn and watch some Christmas shows/movies. Another tradition is on Christmas Eve our kids will exchange their gift with each other ... this allows their gift exchange to be more special as its not lost in the sea of gifts Christmas morning and it will give them something else to do to help pass the day by espeically for the younger one.

 

[Lana]

Our main tree sits in front of the front room windows. It is decorated in 98% (or more) homemade ornaments. From my grandma, myself, kids when in school, and several swaps I join in.

 

[ejagno]

Week One is almost here!

In this thread we will discuss our trees, our treasures, and our traditions. To get started let's start with a few questions....answer one, two, or all of them! You can answer them all at once or come back through out the week and answer different ones.

1. Tree: Is your tree the same every year or do you "mix it up" with different themes? Describe your tree or link to a picture of it. Do you use a real or artificial tree? What kinds of ornaments do you like best? How many trees do you put up.
1. I’ve posted pictures here in years past of the multiple trees I decorate each year along with a two story restaurant. I use the artificial trees. I favorite ornaments are those that have meaning such as a gift or a story to tell. It’s hard to say how many because that varies from year to year and location. LOL

2. Treasures: Describe or link to some pictures of your Christmas "treasures." Do you have ornaments or items that have been handed down through the years. What special meaning is behind some of these treasures.
2. I have a white dove that symbolizes peace. My mother always had us put a white dove front and center on the tree every year and when I bought my first ornament this is what it had to be.

3. Traditions: What are some of your favorite traditions? Are there some that you have changed or eliminated? Why? How do you decide what to keep and what to prune? Are there any7 new traditions you would like to start? If so, what are they?
3. My favorite is the whole family here to decorate. We’ve done away with Christmas morning here since my children now have children of their own and it needs to be a special morning for each of their little families. It gives their children time to open gifts and enjoy them before being hauled off to grandparents. DH and I love spending Thanksgiving night & black Friday with the little ones (grandchildren) while the parents enjoy the hustle and bustle of chasing sales.
This will be an ongoing thread for Week One...so please post in it as man times as you would like....you may also add some of your own questions that you might be interested in knowing about.

 

[missjane]

Our main tree is always live. It's a tradition to go on the day the tree farm opens to tag it, but we usually don't pick it up until the first Friday or weekend in December. It usually has a color theme with keep sake ornaments mixed in.

In the sitting area, which is open to the kitchen, there is a slim 5 foot tree that has MHH ornaments from ornament swaps on it. I love the size of this tree and wish I had bought at least 2 more of them.

We have several small trees that are decorated scattered around, but none in the bedrooms.

I bought a lot of new ornaments that are vintage looking after Christmas last year, and I am so excited about using them this year!

 

[snowlvr]

We have to have an artificial tree because DH is allergic to pine-but is not allergic to my pine Yankee candles-whew! Our tree is a mish mash of all kinds of ornaments-DH is a teacher so gets some from his students, we have the ones my DD is collecting every year to take with her when she leaves home, and many from when we go places-we always try to get an ornament when we go somewhere new. Think we might have to get a small trees just for those.

Best ornament story-on the present my dad gave my mom for their first Christmas he attached a small china Christmas bell. My dad died from brain cancer in 1965 when he was 42 leaving my mom with 4 children under 18. He passed in Oct, and when my mom put up the tree that Christmas, it fell over breaking that ornament into 2 pieces. I was only 5 but I can remember her sitting on the floor just crying and crying. After awhile though she got up, got rope, hammer and nails, put the tree back up wrapping the rope around it and pounding it to the floor!! She then took the ornament and using pink nail polish she fixed that (she fixed EVERYTHING with nail polish). She has also passed now but my sister still has that ornament and has put it in a little bell jar to have out all year-all us kids have to see it when we visit-a reminder of how our mom taught us to "get back up" and even though our family was a little broken-love and pink nail polish fixed everything!

 

[MinnieCo]

Connie, that is a super special memory. Makes me teary just reading it. What a special way to remember her. It's often the little things that mean the most.

 

[luludou]

Connie - what a wonderful memory you have of your parents.

 

[Cathymac2]

1. Tree: Is your tree the same every year or do you "mix it up" with different themes? Describe your tree or link to a picture of it. Do you use a real or artificial tree? What kinds of ornaments do you like best? How many trees do you put up.

I love this question. I usually do a similar but different tree each year. For the past several years we have had a fresh tree. My little boys are still young enough-13 and 14 this year-to want multi colored lights on the tree. Last year was probably my favorite one ever-multi lights with burlap webbing-the kind with the red "stitched" edges-as a garland and dozens of different sized glass balls in red, green and gold. We added in a few special ornaments, such as a glass poinsettia I received as a Bunco gift and several other special ones. It was a beautiful Frasier Fir tree and it looked so pretty. The boys did it all, except for the lights. I always do the lights.

I used to do a tree in every room. I've gotten away from that the past few years but I plan to do it again this year.

The kitchen tree is white. I've done a few different themes for it. One year I made paper cones from Gooseberry Patch catalog pages-back when they had catalogs-then coated them with clear glitter. They looked so cute on the white tree, which had multicolored lights and vintage Shiny Brite ornaments. It was one of my favorites. One year the white tree had red lights, red and silver glass balls and black and white checked bows, along with redbirds.

Another tree I usually have, sometimes in the kitchen, sometimes in the living room in a corner, is a jingle bell tree. I have a collection of different size and color jingle bells. When the boys were small, I'd put it in their room because I could hear when they were messing with their tree! LOL. I usually put white lights on it.

In our bathroom I place a 4' tree on the antique dresser I have in there. I put pearl lights on it and gold ball ornaments. I have used silk cream colored and gold poinsettias on it and several different ribbons, but this Year I have an abundance of dried baby's breath left over from some weddings I've decorated for, so I think I'm going to just put lights and baby's breath on it this year.

The boys' rooms get trees with whatever theme they are interested in at the time...they've ranged from Star Wars, Coca Cola, fishing, football, baseball and tractors. Who knows what they'll choose this year.

I also place small trees all around the house in little nooks and crannies...sometimes I do a snowman themed tree with all my many snowmen on it and glittery snowflakes hanging from the ceiling with fishing line. When the boys were really little, I went to the dollar store and bought a dozen or so stuffed snowmen and used them on the tree, so that if they got into it, it was fine.

I love reading about others trees!! Keep those details coming!!

 

[farmerswife]

She has also passed now but my sister still has that ornament and has put it in a little bell jar to have out all year-all us kids have to see it when we visit-a reminder of how our mom taught us to "get back up" and even though our family was a little broken-love and pink nail polish fixed everything!

Connie, that was and is such a beautiful legacy for you to have. Thank you for sharing.

~Farmerswife

 

[Lana]

Connie, a very touching story.

 

[snowlvr]

Cathymac-those trees sound awesome! I really have only ever had one tree, but we are getting so many ornaments, I would like to do another one-seriously thinking about doing that this year-maybe with a theme

Thanks all for the kind words about my mom and dad-:grouphug:

Love this thread!

 

[AuntJamelle]

Connie - Loved that story!!!

1. Tree: Is your tree the same every year or do you "mix it up" with different themes?

Our main tree is the same every year. White and multi-color lights with multi-color ornament balls. Then all the other ornaments go on, so many different ones, some of them were special gifts but many were just purchased because I loved them.

I use garland that looks like thick sprays of shiny red beads and gold "tinsel" garland to finish the tree off. That last is for DH, he doesn't feel a tree is finished unless it has that type of garland - lol

Once we are back in our house - not sure if that will be in time for Christmas this year or not - we will have multiple trees again. I lost so much in the fire that I'll be starting over again as far as themes go. Which will be fun! Trying to stay positive!

2. Treasures:

Almost all of our ornaments started with me, but we do have a few that DH made as a little boy which is nice. Then there are a few ornaments that DS and I have made together, or that he made at daycare. I treasure those! I also have several ornaments from my sisters that I treasure as well! Oh, and the ornaments I've bought while on vacations with DH - and the one I bought on our honeymoon.

I took pictures of most of these ages ago because I intended to make a special scrapbook about them - not sure what happened! I need to do that!

3. Traditions: What are some of your favorite traditions? Are there some that you have changed or eliminated? Why? How do you decide what to keep and what to prune? Are there any7 new traditions you would like to start? If so, what are they?

One tradition we have done for years is pick a December evening to drive around looking at Christmas lights. Usually with some Starbucks in hand - nothing like a late night mocha!

Beyond that we simply have our set schedule for Christmas Eve/Day each year. I've typically had a wrapping party for girlfriends each year - and we also usually host a big Christmas dinner party for a bunch of families. Want to get back to that once we are home again!

Some new traditions I would like to add for our family:

- Decorating the main tree together as a family

- Seeing a holiday play (local community theater does one every year - this year is White Christmas!!!)

- Getting DS a new pair of PJs just for Christmas Eve ...having him open/wear those and read a new Christmas book together as a family

 

[Cathymac2]

My "treasures" are probably another man's junk. I love to collect vintage Christmas items from flea markets and other sources. My favorite treasure is an old stuffed Santa that my mom bought at the dollar store my first Christmas, when I was 2 months old. So that means that Santa is.....really, really old. I didn't put him out when the boys were little because he's not in real good health and they loved to "play" with him. LOL. He is unique in that he has a white belt and boots, rather than black. i love him and he gets a place of honor each year, usually which ever room I've dedicated to Santas.

Our traditions are pretty simple.
1. We always watch our hometown Christmas parade together. It's the first Monday in December, and it's usually pretty cool by then. We bundle up and join with my brother's family to watch, snacking on bags of popcorn that I've made and brought with us, along with a thermos of hot chocolate or coffee. Then we walk down to the courthouse lawn and look at the pretty decorations, eat free cookies and even more hot chocolate that a local bank hands out. It's my favorite night of the season-up to that point, anyway! LOL

2. The last Sunday or Wednesday before Christmas, whichever is closer, our church has a candlelight service where our youth pastor reads the Christmas story from Luke to the children of the church, then we gather in the fellowship hall for dessert and coffee. Love this.

3. We always drive around looking at lights in our community and adjoining communities, often after the service I just described.

4. Christmas Eve pjs for everyone. And by everyone, I mean everyone who is at our house that night!!

5. A new tradition, born since the kids are "too old" for Santa-as if there really is such a thing-is that we stay up until midnight on Christmas Eve (in our new pjs, of course) and watching movies. Then we open our gifts from each other and Santa. Then the kids can stay up as late as they choose playing with their new stuff and DH and I go to bed and sleep as late as we choose the next morning! Since we don't have to be anywhere until 4 pm Christmas Day, we have all day to relax and enjoy the holiday.

Can't wait to read about what YOU do!!

 

[MinnieCo]

1. Tree: Is your tree the same every year or do you "mix it up" with different themes? Describe your tree or link to a picture of it. Do you use a real or artificial tree? What kinds of ornaments do you like best? How many trees do you put up.

Funny thing..I just wrote a bit about this on my blog tonight. I do have a family ornament tree and a Disney tree that are my main trees. However, I have switched it up on occasion. After 9/11 I had a patriotic tree. One year we did a blue and white tree. At work, I have a full size Red, Green and White tree. As for smaller trees, we have a Pink Barbie tree in my daughters room with all Hallmark Barbie ornaments. I put a small tree up in my dining room and that changes each year with various small ornaments I have. Sometimes, it's hot pink and lime green. Other years it has nativity ornaments on it and sometimes, it's simple with mini traditional colored ornaments.

All my trees are artificial. I don't see with my daughters allergies and asthma, us ever having a real tree. I debated it last year, but changed my mind last minute.

I also put up a small tree for CIJ. It usually goes up after the 4th of July. It's got some super cute, pink and turquoise, kitchen type themed ornaments. I love it!!
Here's a link to that one: http://confessionsofaholidayjunkie.blogspot.com/search/label/Family

I'll try finding photos of the others. I have them, just not sure how to post here in the forum.

 

[Christmaslvr]

Connie, what a wonderful memory and treasured keepsake! Thank you for sharing!

 

[HolidayAngelOz]

Connie I loved your story thanks for sharing!

tree: We always have had a fake tree- I switch the tree up a lot with different ornaments made by me and the ones the kids make at school and church. My grandpa in his late 80's has started wood turning and makes a ornament each year for everyone so now we have those!

treasures: Christmas stockings my 100 year great grandmother made for everyone when we were born. Felt red stockings, each year a jingle bell gets adding to them.My collection of Christmas Angel;s. My name is Angel so for every christmas one of my gift's from my grandmother was a Angel and when I moved out on my own I got that collection.

traditions. We have a lot. When I was a child we would go to Arizona every Christmas and spend the holidays with my grandma's family, and I remember staying up late and playing cards, driving around to see Christmas lights, and swimming. Now that I am married and have kid's of my own we always take them Crown Center to the outdoor playground and to see the Christmas decorations, to the Plaza, and drive around to see lights, we also go to Christmas eve service at church. We have a big family dinner on christmas day/night where we each bring a gift,draw numbers and do a gift game. I think Lotto tickets are the big one that everyone wants.I started the Elf tradition when my kid's were youngins and that is something they ask every year"When do the elfs come mom!"

 

[sweetpumkinpye]

Connie, your story was amazing. I got a little misty eyed reading it. Ah the magic of Christmas.