You are too funny! I've never had anyone ask if I have a condom on my tree! LOL

This year I have done 3 small trees and did not put up our larger tree. But always, I use only little white lights. I just think that is sooooo pretty. I have the same on the mantel, in garland, etc. White lights are all I ever use. When I have up the large tree - our ornaments are collected over time. I will never be one to do a real, themed tree. I have a good size collection of vintage tinsel and scrap ornaments, vintage shiny brights, etc. I also have a few other glass ornaments bought through our married years that represent things/people/events. The crystal "our first year married" ornament always goes up - this is our 30th Christmas. There is also a very special ornament that represents our pup. I seem to also have alot of glittered ornaments. I lean towards snowflakes, stars and icicles. I bought some beautiful glittered snowflakes from an etsy store this year - made with german glitter glass. There are also pearl ornaments my great-aunt made - bells and stars. I like ornaments that have meaning behind them.

All our trees are artificial. I do not miss the needles or the allergies LOL. We also put our trees up too early for a live one to stay looking good. I do use live greenery elsewhere.

tina

We had white lights for the years after our kids were over about 12. Now that they are grown with their own children, we are back to colored lights. I do the colored for the grandchildren. I just think its more fun for them.

On our tree I have one piece of gold pipecleaner that my husband snatched off a centerpiece at a party we attended when we were dating 43 years ago. It has been on every tree we have had.

The other ornaments are a mixture of vintage, pricey 'good' ones, handmade and lots of glass balls placed inside to reflect the light. I do keep the large American Flag Radko Ornament that was sold after 9/11 center stage.

Lots of real candy canes, no condoms though..

Merry Christmas!

ML

I'm actually stringing the lights on my tree right now and decided to take a break. It is my most dreaded task WRT Christmas. The tree has been up since Friday night but only now getting the lights on! I use white lights - always have. I suppose it looks more elegant to me that way. If I had room for two trees, I would do one in colored lights. That is what I grew up with. My neighbor went retro recently and bought those huge colored bulbs. I have to say, it brought back fond memories of my childhood to see a tree with those kind of lights! I use a ton of lights - last year I made the investment and switched to LED lights and paid a small fortune for the many strands I had to buy so I'll be sticking with white lights for the near future!

I have a total hodgepodge of ornaments with very few bulbs. We have all of dh's childhood ornaments from his first year of birth until he turned 18 - MIL labeled them all with the year so it's fun to reminisce while putting them on the tree. I've started that tradition with my kids, so most of the rest of our ornaments are the ones I've bought our kids over the years (4 kids x2 ornaments each per year, one they pick out and one that goes in their stocking from Santa). We also have an assortment that we've picked out from our various travels.

Tree is real. I understand why people get the artificial trees (especially as I struggle with stringing my lights!) but I will hold out with real as long as I can. 8' ceilings in our house, so it's as tall as possible and still fit. This year it has a beautiful shape, near perfect.

Never heard of an unopened condom - is there some significance to that? Craziest ornament is probably one that is a naked Santa that has a soccer ball covering his privates. I'm sure I have some other funny ones, but that's the one that stands out in my mind.

Ours is a green, artificial one and probably 6 feet tall. It was old when my sister passed it on to me but it still meets my needs so we use. It's just as messy as a real one, dropping needles, but at least they aren't sharp. It's also just as much of an allergy problem since it has I don't know how many years of dust on it. I'd take it out into the yard and hose it down but I'm afraid I'd lose too many more needles.

I like colored lights on the the indoor tree and white lights on any outdoor decoration. I keep a pair of those funny glasses, that make the lights look like snowflakes, on a front branch for people to try out.

I just started putting up a tree in the last 5 years since my niece was born and everyone comes here for Xmas. The other years, I did various decorations but didn't bother with a tree. If, or when, it comes to the point where we don't all gather at my house, I won't put the tree up any more. I hope the old, dusty hand-me-down lasts until that point. I thought my sister was crazy for what she paid for it all those years ago but, oddly enough, it turned out to be a benefit to me since I'm still using the tree.

The theme for the past few years is "unbreakable" because my nephew is 3 and it seems the safest option. I have little to no emotional attachment to the ornaments. It is stuff I've received as gifts or that my husband brought into the marriage. For someone who didn't put up a tree for the first 14 years of marriage, I have received an awful lot of ornaments as gifts.

I certainly don't have a condom, and not because technically they're breakable.

This post was edited by hhireno on Wed, Dec 12, 12 at 14:53

The condom signifies a teen party my DS threw while we were gone over Thanksgiving. (He duped us.) The house survived just fine but the party favors included condoms. While I thought I was going to kill him, many years later it makes me smile as I hide it amongst the other ornaments.

My trees are green artifical but the main one looks real, IMO.

Main tree has white lights and is silver, white, and red. Growing up we used colored lights with red garland so I decorate a smaller tree like that and add all my hodge podge ornaments given to me over the years.

Sometimes I'll put up more trees. This year only I only decorated three.

The big tree makes me smile but the colored one give me that warm nastalgic feeling.

I think the silliest ornament I have is one from a pizza place. I don't always put it up.

This is the first Christmas in nearly a decade that I've had a tree! Decided to "try one on" this year, & purchased a 4.5 ft. faux "Virginia Pine." Its branches are sort of bushy (as opposed to skimpy), & it's soft green (not deep green) & just slightly dusted with a bit of "snow." Came pre-lit with white LED lights. I'm liking it.

It's perched on a table behind my sofa, in front of a window that has ivory drapes & sheers. At night when lit, it can be seen outside through the sheers, but it sort of glows rather than beams from the window. Decorated in silver, gold & crystal, it features bird & snowflake ornaments, some round & teardrop shaped balls, & a few small "snowy" pinecone pics to make the birdies feel even more at home (I have seven pine trees around my house!).

I'm kind of surprised by how much I have enjoyed finding things for it, decorating it, & looking at it. I'm already thinking that next year I may get another tree for the den! I could use reds & greens & more rustic ornaments, which would be fun.

My family will be over again for desert on the 25th. We all go out for dinner together, then everyone heads to my house. My niece is pregnant with her first child, & is due on January 25. After the baby arrives, I don't know if the family will continue coming over for xmas desert, as my house is not child-friendly (sharp corners, etc.!) We'll see.

It has occurred to me, that if I keep up with this tree thing though, I'll have to entertain *someone*...for tea or *something!* A tree has the effect of motivating one to be more social during the holiday it seems!

Good grief, I mean they come over for "dessert!" No camels allowed, lol!

I have a 7.5 artificial green tree with prelit white bulbs. I keep my tree traditional with greens, reds, and golds. I have a mixture of glass balls and country style ornaments, some from when my children were small and have added to over the years. I fill in with a mixture of red berries, red cardinals, pine cones, and various spikes. Some of my glass balls have birds or other traditional designs on them; some are plain.

My two favorite ornaments are two homemade stars made with dried hollow weeds/reeds threaded together with red thread. My children made them in an early elementary art class.

I have the first two boxes of glass balls that we used on our first tree in 1970 purchased at our only small-town department store for $1.99 box of 12. They are the mercury glass with stripes and designs in glitter - lots of pastel colors. I don't put them on my tree, but I display them in a glass bowl or pretty basket every year. My fresh cut cedar tree was proudly adorned with those two dozen balls, a string or two of large bulb lights, a string or two of gaudy garland, and lot of tinsel icicles. I thought it was beautiful; looking back at the pictures, it was so bare.

OMG, Goldie, an unopened condom for an ornament?!? ROTFLMAO!
To answer your questions:
- 5 trees, all artificial and all green (I'm allergic to the real ones), The main one in the living room is a 9.5-footer with white lights and many, many random ornaments that are very special to us as a family. Guest room tree is a slim 6.5-ft and is decorated with white lights and Western ornaments. Not exactly a theme trees since we live in the West. DD's 6.5-ft slim tree in her room has colored lights and special-to-her ornaments that she's collected since she was small. The 4-ft tree in the dining room has no lights or ornaments, just pine cones for decorations. Small tree in the kitchen has colored lights and holds the miniature ornaments from the kids' daily Advent box.

The craziest ornament on our main Christmas tree would have to be this little space guy. As I've mentioned, all of our ornaments have special meaning to us. Ornaments that our kids made while in grade school, ornaments we've bought while on special family vacations, ornaments we've inherited . . . all except this one ornament. He was just so darn cute that I couldn't resist him. He needed to live on our tree. My family calls him "Mom's Folly".
Lynn

No tree this year - haven't put one up in quite a while. Actually unloaded my nine foot artificial tree on Craigslist this year. I had real trees for many years then tried artificial - didn't like the assembly or take down very much. Now I'm at the point if I ever put one up again it will be in a different place that won't accommodate a nine foot tree. I've always had an eclectic assortment of ornaments, most from my childhood along with a few others I've picked up over the years. Our tree was thus very personal and random vs. a perfectly, color coordinated tree. No offense to anyone who likes white lights but I've never had them personally because I'm sick to death of seeing them everywhere else.

I've never had any crazy ornaments. The most unique ones include a six pointed star that my parents made out of a thin piece of cardboard and cigarette package foil - they didn't have money for store bought ornaments. Another one is made from my father's hair when he was a child. Were he still alive he would now be 101. So these are some old ornaments.

I put up a live tree; it reaches the 7'ceiling with the tree topper and stand. I am lucky to have a friend who owns an old overgrown tree farm and he cuts the tops out of much larger noble firs. He is slowly replacing the larger trees with smaller one, so the trees would be cut down anyway.

About 20 years ago, I found some strands of lights, some red, some white (not clear but white) that have little opaque globe lights on them. They look like red and white fireflies all over the tree. Over the years one strand burned out and I've never been able to find replacement bulbs. But last year at Target they had similar sets of lights, but the red isn't opaque. I was so happy to find more of them.

The weirdest ornament I have is one my son made for me (the first year of our reunion) which was kind of a "I dare you to hang this" thing, I think. He was into body building and I thought it was a crazy thing. We had very spirited conversations about the worth of huge muscles that are never used for anything but to lift weights at the gym. And what kind of male-ness women find attractive. Or "normal" women, I guess. So he cut out a 8" picture from a magazine of a body builder, grossly misshapen, in a bikini with a Santa hat on. Put a hanger on it and gave it to me for my tree. Of course, I hang it every year and I know he looks for it when I put up my tree. I don't think I know anyone who understands what it's doing there!

Looks kinda like this...ewww.

I dearly love that Space Guy!! Olychick, I'd certainly hang that on my tree as well.

My tree ornaments signify my life. Being the owners of a house that held one of the largest high school parties in town, well, that was a big deal at the time. Derek lost his Christmas to pay for rug cleaning, refinishing my dining room table, etc. Yes, this was Derek. After 10 years, I can't imagine my tree without it. But like I said, no one knows it is there except you people.

Mine is just the opposite of yours Golddust. I hang my son and his wife's pregnancy test with the plus on it. It was an early present to us and it's been on the tree now for four years. One of the best presents we've ever received.

Funny, Natesgram. Today I received a Christmas card from my niece. Featuring ntheir picture. Her, her DH and their dog in arms. They were holding a slate that says, "We are pregnant!"

I have first ornaments and a ceramic baby shoe my Mom made for me when we were expecting. I turned that into an ornament.

I bought a real tree at Home Depot today. It's a cute Frasier Fir. Every year I swear I will get an artificial tree, but not yet. Now my new car has it's first dose of pine needles in the trunk. My ornaments are a hodge podge of old one's from my family, the ones my kids made and new ones I have purchased. I try to buy a new ornament each year to remind me of something that happened during the past year. My favorite store for buying nice ornaments went out of business so I don.t where I will get one this year.

I use multi colored mini lights. My tree has a very "homey" quality, nothing like some of the trees I have seen on this forum! Hmm, no condoms but maybe that would be the perfect touch.

Very similar to Sheesharee's trees. We have a large 12' artificial tree in the foyer. We got it about 6 years ago and my kids bought me all of the ornaments that Christmas, all ornaments are gold, light green and burgundy, pre-lit with white lights. Although it looks lovely, I still love my real tree best. It has multi-colored mini lights and all of the collected ornaments from over the years. I guess the macaroni wreath that one of my kids made is one of the tackiest but most loved. There are plenty of headless mice and wingless angels too.

Couldn't help myself.

Couldn't help myself.
"I went a little smaller this year. Don't you just love the smell of pine?"

Judiegal - love your sense of humor.

We have 2 trees - a small, slender artificial tree that goes up right after Thanksgiving. It has white lights and most of the ornaments are glass that I've collected over the years. Many are from trips we took- I have a green glass cactus from a New Mexico trip, a sail fish from North Carolina, a tiny bottle with a Redwood tree seed from Muir Woods etc.

In the family room we have a 7' live tree with colored lights and and a wide assortment of ornaments - toys, feather, crocheted snowflakes, ornaments the kids made etc.

I always get a real frasier fir, and I like my trees very full, although not necessarily tall since we have 8' ceilings.

White lights for me too. I hang tropical theme ornaments along with silver, white and glass balls. I've got a few sentimental ornaments interspersed, such as photo ornaments the kids made in school (all of which I 'made' too since I was always the class mom helping create those projects).

My most unusual ornament is probably the one I *don't* have: a tropical theme tree topper. Over the years I've searched but just never found anything I like--and that is almost 30 Christmases of fruitlessly seeking perfection :). However this year I know my luck will change.

On Sunday I am leaving for a much-anticipated gift to myself of a short vacation on Sanibel island. I'm going to shop the stores there and have high hopes one of the many shell shops or even jewelry stores will have SOMETHING that will finally complete my tree!

Ann

judigal, that is TOO funny!