Decorating for Christmas
 

When do you do it? Real tree or artificial? Color scheme? Multiple trees/rooms? Outdoor decorating?

I currently live in a studio apartment, so I went out and bought a 4' pre-lit tree. I have a few decorations, but it just a few knick-knacks. I have a strand of lights that I typically wrap around the railing of my balcony, but they decided not to work this year. :( Looks like it's another trip to the store for lights and ornament hooks.

Also, do you have any traditions (i.e. family outing to find a tree, children making decorations, etc)?

I put this little thing on the coffee table about 3 days before Christmas. That's about it.

http://img1.targetimg1.com/wcsstore/...7/11278170.jpg

**** Christmas!

Tree in the front living room & tree in the master bedroom, both artificial. I build a new yard decoration every year to add to the outside display, along with a couple of items (Snoopy & Woodstock) I purchased.

I've run through my cache of left over lumber from our house rebuild so I'll have to buy more for next year. Used an old sheet of underlayment to create Snoopy's dog house this year, see attached.

I put everything up the day before Halloween. This was a special year. A very young cousin died a year ago on Halloween so we collectively skipped it. This very large family goes swimming for Christmas. They usually rent out a meeting room at a hotel and take over. It's very funny.

And not at all what I was expecting when I clicked my slippers and asked for family.

Usually right after 4th of July weekend we put our shit up. Sometimes we wait until Tuesday.

Any ideas on what I can do with an apartment balcony? I have a feeling there will be a contest. My usual single strand of lights doesn't usually help...lol. I don't want to go all Clark Griswold and blind my neighbors, though. I know I can be creative. I just need some ideas to get me started.

Growing up we would not put up our Christmas tree until about 2 weeks before Christmas. And it was always an artificial tree. I think I also had a small artificial tree in my bedroom.

My wife's family was a bit different, though. She likes us to put up the tree on the day after Thanksgiving. We just always go over to Lowes and pick up a real tree. The kids help decorate. She likes the plain white lights. Sort of the "country" look. :rolleyes: I've always preferred the multi colored lights.

We also have a few decorations in the front yard including a Nativity I made for her a couple years ago. That reminds me, I need to make my teenage son get up on the roof this weekend and string some lights. :D

One thing that annoys me nowadays is that you start to see commercials for Christmas and decorations/items in stores in October. Can we at least get through Thanksgiving first? :cuss:

Pre-lit wreaths and use zip ties to attach them to your balcony.

Thanksgiving decorations aren't as pretty. All that orange and brown.

Day after Thanksgiving usually. This year probably not because we'll have company.

Real tree downstairs. Fake tree upstairs. Limited outdoor decorations.

Inflatable nativity scene in front yard.

I like the use of zip ties, but I think I'm going to look for something other than wreaths. That's a lot of plugging in, and I'm not sure I want to go that traditional.

One thing that I have done in the past is use a pre-drilled peg board to create outlines of shapes; XMas trees, stars, etc., by using standard smaller outdoor lights. The bulbs fit perfectly in the predrilled holes and you can switch is up as much as you like.

I told my wife, jokingly, that we should celebrate X'mas about a week or so afterwards; everything is on sale at the stores, its less crowded and much easier to shop, you can get free X'mas trees that people have tossed and many times those trees are already tinseled. She gave me a look that was kind of a cross between 'What the **** is wrong with you' and "Get the **** out of here".

1st weekend after Thanksgiving and 'REAL TREE' !! Love the smell of evergreen in the house.

Chinese food & a movie?

The wife will put up the pre-lit artificial tree either Thanksgiving evening or the day after. I prefer the day after (let's let Thanksgiving get its full run, OK?), but the wife's tradition was always that Thursday evening. And I guess since my family never had that kind of tradition - the tree went up when we got around to it - she wins out.

I'm kind of a bah-humbug type, but Mrs. FMB! gets excited about Christmas, so she'll do some indoorsy decorations. Nothing outside.

probably weekend after tg...fake trees. one in living room, one in my office, one in the basement family room by the bar, and one over at Ernie's apt. the only thing I do is hang the lights on the roof and dormers. grandkids help the wife put up all the shit inside and out in the yard.

when our kids were home, we used to do the live tree thing. would load them and the dog up in the truck and drive over to the Christmas tree farm. turn the dog loose and wherever she stopped and took a shit, we'd cut down the closest tree. not really a popular tradition w/most, but I thought it was kinda neat.

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I try and make my wife hold off as long as possible after Thanksgiving. And then I try like hell to get her to take that shit down as quick as possible after Christmas.

You guys with real trees, how do you keep it green?

green food coloring. spray it on.
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I typically put my stuff Thanksgiving weekend. I have a 7' pre lit tree which is the greatest invention ever. Lights on the mantle of the fireplace upstairs & down. A couple Nativity scenes. Some porcelain Santa stuff that's been in the family for years. It basically barfs Christmas all over the inside of my house. I don't do anything outside really although if I did it'd be the all white lights look as that's what I prefer.

Wouldn't spray paint be easier and longer-lasting?

not sure...I just know the tree farm where we used to get ours used to spray green food coloring on all their trees to make them look greener.

maybe because they were still alive and the customer had to cut their own down? spray paint would probably kill them?

just guessing...
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:eek:

I thought you were joking...

By Christmas ours is on its last legs, really.

I usually start with the Outside Lights this weekend.
However I don't do them technically in my yard. About 50 yards away from the backside of my house is a Bike/Pedestrian Bridge that goes over a channel of the Lake I live on. I run Christmas Lights the length of it, and I must say it is beautiful.
The Parks Dept sorta knows about it.
The people that use it love it, especiall when it snows. I will see familys come out just to walk the bridge at night just to see it.
Summer photo, but you get the idea

http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x...bucket/139.jpg

You should hire a troll to live under the bridge and demand a toll from those who wish to pass.

GoChiefs is pretty busy during the holidays. Not sure if he'd be able to make it.

Fa ra ra ra raaaa ra raaaaa raaaaa raaaaaaaa
 

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Have expressed a similar plan with my wife with same results. What we need to create is a new holiday. This would give us cover. Call it Festivus. Oh wait, already taken.

I loathe Christmas.
a complete PITA

Water? :spock:

Yeah I kind of agree. The best part of Christmas is...when its over, and your sitting by the fire with your gal drinking Bourbon.

yep. I mean, honestly...it's basically Christmas all year for my wife and I. I suppose is might be different if we had kids...

but we're both from divorced families etc. Christmas is spent driving all over town. We're completely exhausted by the end of the day.

must be my reputation...i'm not an a-hole all the time.

if you go to just about anyplace around here that sells live Christmas trees, look real close at the needles and end tips of the branches. you'll notice a different shade of green.
I asked the lady that owns the Christmas tree farm and she told me they used some type of food coloring to make them look more "green".

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ROFL

I didn't think you were being an a-hole, just kidding around. I had no idea they did such things... bunch o' con artists, those Christmas tree salespeople.

no shit...next thing you know they'll start saying there's no such thing as santa claus. where do we draw the line?
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I'm a day after Thanksgiving guy.

Since we built a new house I have not done anything outside. One of the conditions of selling my old place was that they could keep the Christmas lights. The only thing that sucks is that I had a ton of those ceramic lights. I had a pretty rocking blue spruce in the front yard. I think I have somewhere close to 1000 lights on that thing.

My wife and I don't have kids, so our main room has the tree in it. It's themed, it matches everything else. Reflects her dutch heritage. Blues and whites. I use an artificial tree but freshen it up with some eucalyptus to give me that fresh tree smell.

Usually a week or two after Thanksgiving we get a real tree. I'll never have an artificial one. Other than the tree, not much in decorations. Just a few Christmasy knick-knacks around the house.

As for traditions, my wife and I buy a new Hallmark ornament with the year on it each year. Have done this since we got married. We also play Christmas music and drink White Russians while we decorate.

that's kind of like us only I drink while the wife decorates.
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:hmmm:LMAO

A bra with mix nuts in one cup
after dinner mints in the other

Don't lean against the railing after a hot date.

Sometime during the thanksgiving weekend we drive around and find a tree to cut down. Takes a while to find the perfect one and they're mostly in people's yards. People get pissed when you're in the process of cutting down the tree in their front yard, maybe we should go into the woods this year.

I shot my own turkey for Thanksgiving a few years ago, but now they don't let me shop at the Hy-vee anymore.

first I kill me some Iraqi's

then I turn on the tree and sing carols

Damn! Another bet I lost!! ;)

I guess we have a tradition of children making our decorations, but China handles that end of it.

I used to put a bunch lights up outside and the Mrs would put up the full size tree and decorate the railings in the entry and all that crap. Now we just put up a 2' tree on our coffee table and call it good.

Don't really have any since I moved up here.

Christmas used to make me want to hang myself. Now I just force myself to watch a bunch of youtube video's of fat black african kids with fly's stuck to the whites of their eyes and a smidge of thankfulness comes over me that I am not them.

I put up 1 tree in every room
...except the basement...it's full

Christmas is the best. I even decorate my hunting cabin. Sirius Holly is on all day when im near my sat radio. People who embrace the season are good happy people. I love the cooking, the music, enjoying time with friends and family. It is a joyous time to celebrate the birth of Christ.

I got rope red and clear rope lights. Wrapped them around the railing. Got a couple of big bows and a couple of red Christmas bells, and zip tied them. It's not going to win any contests, but it's simple and cute. I checked it out, and there's no way to hang anything from the ceiling out there. I'm on the top floor, so there are no boards to screw any rings into. If I could, I'd hang some over sized ornaments. I still have some ways I can dress it up if I want.

pretty much what we did; rope lights and one or two ornaments.

just make sure the drapes match the carpet. Thats all you need to know about decorating.

I put up a tree and a single strand of lights inside our dining room window frame with the wife last night.

Ho! Ho! Ho!

What a joyous season to celebrate the birth of Santa.

LMAO LMAO LMAO

Me and my wife, and you and your wife, must have been separated at birth.

As a guy that was married a month ago, I'm going to make this suggestion to the wife.

And I'm going to reap all the benefits of being a thoughtful and loving husband, while not telling her I got the idea from CP.

Ah, that's the Christmas-y feeling I was looking for.