We put up our tree with lights only on at the beginning of December, but don't decorate the tree until close to Christmas, because wait for the kids to get home from college. I kind of like this tradition, though, whether or not we're waiting on anyone.

I only use the clear lights and my decs are gold. I guess it comes down to personal taste but I have always be a fan of clear lights.

My brother uses just clear lights on his tree. No ornaments at all. It looks very clean and crisp, just like he has decorated his house.

Well, there's one ornament. Because I am a horrible big sister, I gave him one (1) clear glass ball ornament to hang on it. No color to mess up his "color scheme." Now when his friends comment on the lack of ornaments, he points to mine, which is nearly invisible.

I did our very first tree in our house w/ just white lights and loved it. Didn't have enough money to buy enough ornaments to fill the tree. I went to the fabric store and bought .50 spools of 1/4" white ribbon and tied bows on the tree. My BIL commented on how bare our tree looked but I loved it.

Try mixing varied strings of white lights for a pretty effect. Mini's all of the way up to C-9's looks fantastic in my opinion.

No kidding seagrass!!! I can't stand it when people do that!

I could be wrong but I think Mary is talking about decorating an inside tree with only lights and nothing else.

It might be pretty but only if you had a lot of lights on the tree. Now outside trees are beautiful because we can't see the greenery at night which makes the lights stand out. Inside a home I think the tree would look naked.

I go back and forth with lights. I'll do white for years, then the old fashioned colored lights (the big ones we had as kids).

I'm on a colored light kick now because not many people use color anymore. Colored lights really make the tree sparkle, IMO. Plus, colored lights give a tree that old-fashioned feel to it.

But I'm sure in a few years I'll be back to the white lights while everyone is doing colors! lol

I prefer clear lights but if you are not going to decorate with ornaments, then I think colored lights would be fine. I have a friend who did this one year. She just wasn't in the mood to put on all the ornaments.

Yeeeeeees, let's call it a "decorating choice;" sounds so much better than "I'm-too-tired-to-deal-with-all-the-ornaments-now-and,-even-worse,-when-they-need-to-come-off." Last year I didn't even get the lights on it! My all-grown children came home and I got a "really Mom?" comment. I pointed in the direction of lights and ornaments and interestingly enough none of them magically migrated onto the tree. Really kids?

This year I am dedicating myself to getting those lights on and that's it. I think it's visually spectacular and it will be a decorating choice :)

sorriso,
I really did LOL at your post. I guess some kids really do think elves magically take care of everything.

mary max,
I think a lights only tree would be delightful. Try it. What's the worst that can happen? If you don't like it then you can start adding ornies or you'll know for next year that you need more than lights. Go ahead, I double dog dare you.

Yeah....go on Mary.....I double, DOUBLE dog dare ya!!! In fact, I might just do that too. It'd be an improvement over last year when I gave the excuse of 2 young kittens and not wanting to dig the Christmas stuff out of the attic that had JUST been stored away (from our autumn move into the new house).....I didn't decorate anything but the mantle (and I grumbled over that). I didn't even pretend it was Christmas (first time not going to either mine or hubby's "home" for the holidays--because our move put us even further away) and we didn't know anyone to have over to our house to see decorations. I guess I didn't think just me and hubby were worth the effort!

When I put our tree up this year, I almost stopped at just the lights. We have a "different" kind of tree, and I used all clear lights. When I was finished, I stood back and looked at it and was a little smitten.

we often set up our skinny tree in the corner of the dining room and it only has clear white lights on it. In fact it has A LOT of lights on it :)

I really like the look.

Count me among the guilty! I did that one year when my son was a toddler because we were all very sick with strep and no one had the energy to do anything more than set up the prelit tree.

I did this last year on a slim full tree, only white lights. Looked so modern and clean. Mind you it was a second tree the main tree was loaded with decorations. So beautiful!

This is an old post....2011. But will say that one year we put only colored lights on the tree...no other decorations...didn't have the time to get out the other Christmas stuff....Looked good.

We do the same as Bird_Lover, we put up our main tree in our living room soon after Thanksgiving, but with just white/clear lights on it. It's lovely like that. And then when our daughter gets home from college on her winter break, we celebrate by having a special evening decorating all together.

The last couple of years we have done 75% clear and 25% colored lights and nothing else. One year I did the lights and those long sprigs (berries and such) that just poke in. Sometimes I just add bows with the lights. Now that the kids are grown I can't be bothered.

My first year out of college I had limited funds and spent almost my entire Christmas decorating budget on a star topper from Neiman Marcus. I had just enough left for a tree, gold foil star garland, and white lights. It was very pretty, and I still have (and love!) that star.

We have two trees, one fully decorated in our best room with traditional Norwegian candles and ornaments on it (we celebrate all day on Christmas Eve and open presents after dinner), and a small table tree in our library room that is only decorated with small white lights. The Yule tree is pre-Christian in origin, but Christians adopted the custom after Martin Luther (supposedly) brought a tree into his home from the forest one Christmas. He put candles on it to signify Christ as light of the world, and the tree itself, being an evergreen, symbolized eternal life. The simple white lights and no ornaments are actually quite beautiful.

One verse of a Christmas carol that I love describes a walk in the woods at night and seeing snow on a fir tree with stars shining above. The stars are the twinkling lights on the tree, mentioned in the song:

"The twinkling lights that deck thy boughs
Enchant me with their shining spell
And in a language all their own
The lovely Christmas story tells."