My XMAS confession

[Quinlonsma]

I don't want a :tree

I think at first it was because of the cats making a HUGE mess out of them. Then I think my complaint was the needles falling off.

Except for my first year out on my own I've managed to avoid it. I'd do the big house decoration and no one really seemed to notice. A couple of years I did a bunch of the really little trees in pots and gave them away at my party so they made a nice decoration and then they left.

The Grandparents went Nuclear :getu after I had Quinlon so I bought one of those small $20 rotating fiberoptic trees and used that the past 2 years. But the motor burnt out last year and now that Quinlon is 2 1/2 he may actually remember THIS Christmas :xmas SOOOOOOOOOOO.... What do I do?

PS I currently have NO cats but a Toddler, a 4mo old and an Aussie.

[pmcgary]

When our dd was little we bought a smallish tree and put if up on a wooden storeage box....it worked well.

We now have an artificial tree from Hobby Lobby that cost less than a lot of the "real" trees. Kids and Dh are pushing for a "real" tree this year. I said maybe next year~!

[willowsmama]

We have a big fake tree. I'm going to put the folding gate thing around it. It's a octagon baby gate, I think it's marketed as a playyard. I'm hoping that will keep Gavin away from it. I'm going to have to bolt the gate to the wall or I can just *see* Gavin pulling up and squishing himself under the tree. But tha'ts just something my kids would do.

I have to have my tree. I don't ask much for the holidays but beware the person that stands between me and my fake tree.

[Quinlonsma]

I have to have my tree. I don't ask much for the holidays but beware the person that stands between me and my fake tree.

That's a pretty common theme, I hear. I've seen those playyards and they are about the size of my whole livingroom. I think I could probably get away with a fake prelighted tree if I don't put any ornaments on it.

Maybe I can cut out little circles of Quins art work and tie them with yarn? I dunno.....

[Ruth]

an Aussie.????????

Do you mean Australian? I can't stop wondering about this since I read it so I had to come back and ask LOL. My SIL and best friend are both Aussies. I also keep noticing that your babies are almost exactly the same age as my babies, Amy.

:getu this is actually me bashing myself over the head for thinking I should be having more babies LOL.

[BethyM99]

I have a tree, a 6 foot fake one with decorations. No gate... a newly crawling not quite 8 month old and a three year old.

3 year old decorated the bottom with plastic ornaments, top has my pretties. The tree has never been an issue, we decorate together, talk about what he can and can't touch. That said, we spend most of our day in our basement family room and not in the living room with the tree. If I had to run tree intervention every minute, I too would fetch the octagon baby gate (which we use in the summer to protect DHs grilling area)

[KaliD]

I have kind of done the reverse. When DS was itty bitty we had a fully decorated live tree. At that time we also had dogs and we gated the tree from the dogs (tail swinging greyhounds) and thus DS also couldn't get near it.

Thinking about it now I realize, as he's gotten older the tree has gotten smaller!! As a baby we had a 6' live tree, then it was a 4' (or less, memory is foggy) on a folding card table when he was toddling. The table tree was great because you could "hide" presents under the table OR DS could play under the table. And the tree was safe enough to put breakables on it, if we wanted to.

Right now we have a 2' tree (maybe smaller...not sure) and DS is 7! It still isn't up, because our living space is so tiny I haven't figured out where it will go. BUT we also aren't going to be here at christmas and I know that Grandma will have half of the 6' fake tree fully decorated in all her breakables and fancies and lights and..and..and.. well you get the picture!

A few ideas that I've either seen or have used for past christmas's:
small tree on card table (my favorite!)
half a fake tree (empty half is against a wall)
Hang the tree from the ceiling
hang lights and decorations around the room but without a tree (did this the year no one wanted to celebrate christmas, doesn't look as odd or bad as it sounds LOL)
have dc pick toys out, and then hang them on the tree using yarn
pick them out yourself (or get new ones at a discount store) and hang them
find wood ornaments that you


And best of all...don't feel like you *have* to have a tree...the christmas police or the tree police won't be knocking on your door !

~Angela *still no christmas decorations here!*

[twouglyducks]

I've never had a tree since I moved out of my parents house at 18. Last year, I bought one strand of lights (white, but with several flash sequences) and taped them onto the wall in the shape of a pine tree with lights going back and forth. The boys loved their christmas tree. LOL Then this year, I went to find the lights, bring out a wad of lights and the 3yr old says, "MOM!! It's our Christmas tree!!!" LMAO Oh well though.

[Aurora]

:tree I :love real Christmas trees! This year with ds mobile we are thinking about gating the tree. In the past we have just gotten a small table top tree when we had a 1 year old but we all really want a nice big tree this year. :xmas

[Quinlonsma]

These are some GREAT ideas!!

I meant Australian Shepard ;)

and my Mom called last night and told me she bought her grandchildren 2 trees and I could pick which one I liked best. UGH!!

So yes the tree police have come a knockn'

[jmo]

We haven't put up a tree in a couple of years. It's our Christmas at home this year, but since we're facing the possibility of moving very soon, we haven't pulled the decorations out. Honestly, I hate decorating. I'm so creatively challenged... When I look at a blank canvas, I see... a blank canvas. :bag

[pageta]

We don't own a tree, and I don't want to buy a real one. I was going to buy a fake pre-lit one, but I dread having to store it. DH doesn't care about decorating for Christmas, but I want to do something. So if you don't have a tree, what are you doing to make the house feel festive? I've thought about a wreath, but that still isn't much. I don't want a herd of things I have to store - like towels, placemats, centerpieces, etc. I was thinking about making a gingerbread house and having it as the centerpiece on our table, but I don't know if I will have time. I could buy a new Christmas CD - I'm very tired of the ones I have. I really need to think of something...

[Quinlonsma]

I'm so creatively challenged... When I look at a blank canvas, I see... a blank canvas. :bag

Yep' me too!

I usually just go the grocery store and buy what they have there. We get a bag of cinnamon pinecones, some indoor lights, a wreath for the front door and some blow up thing for the lawn. Then I put bows in the plants and pull out my xmas blankets. That's about it. But now I have TWO TREES to figure out what to do with.

[meco]

I have the best of both worlds :D

My entire family goes to my parent's house in Canada over Christmas, and my mom gets a gigantic real tree (I mean huge!!). It is great. Not too many decorations. Some simple lights and perfecto!!

Last year we just put a tree high on a table and the toddler never touched it. JIC I put unbreakables at the bottom. It worked well. Nothing too big or fancy.

This year, goodbye big old house, hello small apartment. So we are enjoying our beautiful but sadly fake :( tree in the lobby right now. The doormen did such an excellent job decorating the lobby!

But I am going to get one in a pot this weekend, and keep her around her awhile :D I did put up some lights with my sister around my window and door. I am going to buy real trimmings and hang them around a part in my kitchen and hang decorations from that and call it a day.



Oh, and my decorations are really only handblown glass icicles. And white lights. I need simplicity and basic stuff. Nothing crazy. If Elias wants to make some yarn angels or something, they will be up too! :love

[twouglyducks]

What are good ideas for a 2 and 3.5 yr old to make as decorations? Something simple but not too tacky. :LOL I'd like to buy a small tree, real or fake depends on price really. :emb I'll probably also get a couple more strands of lights.

[Quinlonsma]

What are good ideas for a 2 and 3.5 yr old to make as decorations? Something simple but not too tacky.

Well Tacky is in the eye of the beholder ;)

That said: I was going to let Quinlon thread some popcorn onto some fishing wire with a plastic embroidery needle. And I'm having him paint on some heavy paper then I'm cutting it out in christmas shapes and let him hang them on the tree. He's 2 1/2 so that's about it. Sonce I've been anti- :tree I don't have any decorations. Well I do have photo ornaments from Richmontcreations.com One of the grandmas reps them so we got about 6 or 7 last year and I'll be making more this year with updated photos and with our new baby Morgan. I've always decorated really simple classic prissy but I think a "homey" to the decorations is more appropriate this year. Maybe I'll make one of those LTK Angels :chin I like the Ginger Bread house idea too but I'm afraid my :chef skills are lacking. Maybe I just won't let anyone eat it.