No tree this year :( b/c livingroom is still full of debris from gutted apt. The Kitchen not finished so the living room and bedroom floors are still plywood. I can't do the floors until I get all appliances installed in the kitchen, then template then counters...
One year I put up a very large tree and b/c of the weight and uneven floors we had to tie it to a wall to hold it up ! I usually get the tallest(7'-8') I can fit and then have to deal with not fitting it in the metal tree stand I have. Do those plastic adjustable tree stands work well...I need to find a really sturdy metal one. Any suggestions ? My husband humours me with the hassle of a big tree but understands b/c Christmas trees are big with people of German descent...I always buy it on Christmas Eve which is traditional and keep it up much longer than most Americans(up to New Year).

I must come clean, I keep it up well past New Year's...I love lights, the smell and any excuse to have party with friends and the tree makes the (small livingroom) so cosy looking.

Marti one time I was not able to get a tree. Friend and I went to get one for each of us and got stuck in the snow. We got her one and I took a large flat bottom branch off a larger tree. I did exactly as you said and put it in the window.It really worked out well. Smelled great was pretty did outside lighting.

If you do not have room maybe just buy some pine branches from a tree lot or trimmings off neighbors trees. Usally people always trim some off the bottoms. Stick them in vases. You will get the smell that way.

A couple of years ago I hung our non tree on the large mirror above the gun cabinet. Might do it this year, I am not at all in the mood. yet.

Now I look at the picture maybe I will do this again. I really am afraid kitty will be into the whole thing and make a horrible mess and make herself sick. She is not the brightest bulb.:^(

Here is a link that might be useful: Picture 86 and the next one 87

shadesofidaho: that display looks very pretty. My cat loves to hide and attack from behind the tree and considers it her private forest.

Well, I have a fake mistletoe wreath outside. Inside I have this fake strange little 2 foot tall artificial chartreuse sparkley tree, and it has small red balls on it. Sort of reminds me of the Charley Brown Christmas tree.

For several years, this cousin of mine and I would always have a champagne breakfast on the morning of the Winter Solstice. He had an apartment, and he'd hang a bare tree limb on his door, with one little black ball on it. It was really a different sort of tree. I like NON TREEs. :)

Down here we have Mardi Gras. Near the end of winter is the actual DAY, but after the Christmas (Advent) decorations come off the tree, they just put on the green/gold/purple ornaments of Mardi Gras. Especially the gold ones. I know some folks who leave a decorated tree up all year round....which is a bit much for my tastes, but to each his own. :)

Chris, I might just take the top from our artificial tree and put it on a speaker in front of the window - if I can figure out how to make it stand up. I love your nativity and have your picture in my inspiration file. I have a hard time figuring out how to display mine.

I have a 4 ft fiber optic tree that's on a table in the
family room. I bought one of the "slender" trees at the
after Christmas sales at Walmart a couple of years ago but
haven't taken it out of the box yet...

Marti Thanks. Maybe you can stick the top of the tree in a coffee can weighted with rocks or sand and rocks. I have also done that before when I used to have a 6 foot tree and room for a three foot tree. LOL Cover with pretty fabric as tree skirt.

I would love to try one of the artificial trees that hangs on the wall,it is flat on one side of course. I think it would look stunning especially in a room with a high ceiling, but any room really where you could make wall space for it. The ones I saw in magazines came decorated and with lights, but that was several years ago. Not sure about an electric cord hanging down, so they must have been battery-operated? I need to Google and see what comes up.

OH a hang on the wall tree would be great in a small space.I have used artificial trees for years. I have been known to bend the back branches around towards the front some to allow it to sit closer to the wall or corner. I suppose a person could upcycle their old artificial trees and remove the back branches. Hummmmmmmmmmmmmmmm

I had the skinny 9 foot tall artificial Frazer fir tree, bought on sale at Lowes after Christmas several years ago. It was gorgeous, but it sort of went kaput when I hauled it atop my car, in a big body bag, north to Massachusetts several years ago. It looked so good in the little old river house the year I lived there, before we bought this house. Now I do not have room for a tree, although I envisioned one in the middle of the glassed in sun porch, visible on 3 sides, including from the street. But now we have two swivel rocking upholstered chairs out there and my DH won't give up his reading spot!!

These days, I'm not into hanging decorations that must then be stored somewhere. I like the small artificial trees, or maybe a potted real one, that I can hang the Swarovski crystal Christmas stars on. Then I can hang the stars the rest of the year, where the sunlight makes rainbows all day all year long. Nothing but beautiful!!

schoolhouse, do you know where you saw those flat wall trees? I actually had that idea today when we were visiting fil at the nursing home. I thought if I could find or make one, he could have a tree too.

OMG, I remember the first year we were married(1963), we had nothing, were broke, lived in San Francisco, but did have some ornaments, hung them on the drapes to make a tree! But, hey, we were in love! We still are, after 48 years, and don't really want to mess with a tree this year, we'll get a couple of pretty poinsettias(sp?) and be very happy with that!! It's amazing when you think what is so important when you're young turns out to be not that all important later in life, lol -

I have to have a real tree. A MUST. It is a tradition we all enjoy.
We love to go out and get a tree together. We try to find the best smelling, freshest tree. Then we take it home and squeeze it in a corner and move our chair in front of the sliding door. Usually a 7-8 ft tree with a slimmer shape fits best.

We like to get it mid month, so it stays a little fresher. And for a few weeks our cat thinks we have brought a tree inside for her. She lounges beneath its branches. She is sad when it has to go.

We've got a 9' pre-lit tree. It was new in 2005 and gets a bit scruffier every year. We'll probably get a new one next year. We thought about going with natural trees, but when looking for a 9' tree, it starts to add up.

Ours takes the place of a jukebox. The jukebox slides over partially into the dining room.

I haven't had a tree in many years. There aren't any good spots for one unless I move a lot of stuff which then has to be crammed somewhere else. I hosted Christmas day last year. I don't think my family appreciated my "tree": ornaments hung on the houseplants I have in the sunny corner of the family room. Oh well!

I do have a couple of little trees. A one foot tall feather-type tree I decorate with ribbon and tiny ornaments. And a net tree (remember those?) that a relative made many years ago. Kinda tacky but in a nostalgic way.

My artificial tree is about 18" tall. I love lights the best though so I put a garland up on a "window" in the wall that divides the kitchen from the living room and put lights on that. I have very limited display space and storage space so I keep it simple.

A little late to the party here, but I love all the memories this post is bringing to mind. Like the first year hubby and I were married, living in a little apartment - waited until the very last moment to get a tree and snapped up a bargain for $5.00! Haul it home and it was so huge it filled our dining room. (We didn't have any dining room furniture so not a problem.) As much as we love the smell of a real tree, here in the Seattle area it seemed we always ended up buying our tree on a rainy day, so we and the tree would be a mess by the time we got home. Now I have a 5' fake tree I bought a few years ago for $20 at Target - I tuck it into the corner of our very cozy family room and it sits on top of a overturned, large, square fiberglass garden planter. Makes it look like a full sized tree without taking up all the room. (I decorate my tree with cheap, vintage chandelier crystals - it's wonderful how the branches on the fake tree can hold the weight of my "ornaments".) Fortunately I have enough room in our garage to simply store the whole tree, still fully assembled - I cover it with one of those plastic tree disposal bags to keep the dust off.

By the way, I have to share a trick I learned from a local garden shop that has the most incredibly decorated (fake) trees every year. You know those amazingly realistic fir and pine branches you can find at crafts shops this time of year? Make the cheap fake tree look fabulous by tucking a bunch of these into your fake tree - I just lay them atop each branch of my tree. Really makes the tree look full and almost real! (I've had friends question me if it's real or fake.)

Merry Christmas everyone! :-)

Great tip carpecattus. If I ever use my tree again, I'll try to remember that.

mine is so small no one can see it. it ain't! lol!

haven't had a tree in many, many yrs.

my house is a bit bigger than those i've seen here, but i
ditched my 8 ft tree this year for a 4 ft and i really wish it was 5 ft
i could no longer drag the big tree out and put it together then pull the limbs apart and then decorate it

it was just too much for my back and arms and took weeks to get everything on it and then off again

my new little tree was up on one day and decorated in about an hour