I have two tree's now. One in my family room which is our memory tree with ornaments collected over the years. Ornaments that I have bought my kids and ornaments that we have made. I also have a smaller 6 1/2 ft in my living room which has jewel color ornaments on it. My girls call that my funky tree.

When my daughter and SIL lived closer and came for Christmas that was their joke to see how many Christmas trees I had up. I use to have a 3 ft in the dining room.

I forgot that my 3 kids put up a small 2 ft tree in their rooms also.

I am usually a less is more type person but it doesn't seem that way at Christmas.

You can use your decorated garland idea for the tops of large furniture pieces like entertainment centers, china cabinets and tester beds. Filling bowls, apothecary jars or hurricanes with ornaments are another way to display some of your favorites. You can hang several ornaments individually from ribbons across a window. Use 3M Command hooks on your window frame. They can be removed after the holidays leaving no damage behind. You can decorate a hanging light fixture with ornaments hanging from cord or ribbon or tied to greenery swagged into the arms of a chandelier. Make a small candle ring from some greens and ornaments and a pillar candle for the bathroom.

I just finished tree #3. The largest tree is in the breakfast room and is decorated with white snowflakes and glass icicles, birds and nests. Another tree is in the dining room and is decorated with my collection of Old World Christmas ornaments. The third one is a tabletop tree in the sitting room. It's decorated with pearl garland, some vintage glass ornaments and small silk hydrangeas tucked between the branches. Now on to the foyer...

I asked DH if he wanted me to put up a tree in the family room but he didn't want one in there. So I put it in the 'library' which is next to the FR. That tree will have a country theme, lots of stuffed snowmen, reindeer, etc. I might add gold balls, not sure yet what other things, but it'll be a comfy tree. I'll have to wire the stuffed things on, because last year the cat would knock them off and the dogs thought they were toys. I had to wire it up to the bookcases because two of the cats immediately started climbing it.

I bought a small fresh tree for the living room. It'll get decorated with silver, bronze and teal ornaments. That room gets a lot of silver and glittery stuff in it. I'm thinking of using some of my fleur de lis finial collection as part of the decor this year too.

I also decorate the pendant light over the dining table, I add garlands to make a 'tree' and I'll probably add poinsettia and maybe the fruit to that tree...make it more old world feeling.

When I finally get grandchildren I'm planning to do a childrens themed tree...I've been collecting mercury glass ornaments and will use the kids' ornaments from when they were small. But till then, it's just the two trees this year.

I also decorate the family room in a rustic/primitive theme (it's currently a western themed room) and we have a wagon wheel chandy in there that I put garland & red balls on. I use a lot of Santa's in there.

I'm kind of a Christmas tree addict. Big one in the formal dining room, visible when you first come in the door: multicolored lights this year with all green and silver ornaments. Tall skinny one in the family room with all gold lights, covered with 35 years of precious family ornaments. 3' tree in front window, done in red lights and gold ornaments and lots of gold ribbon. 3 trees in graduated sizes from 1' to 3' in the patio, decorated with white lights and lots of little wooden ornaments. A 4' tree with gold lights and white ornaments. A 2' tree all done in snowmen, including the snowman lights. A 6" one with fiber optic lights that goes in the back of a sleight, looking like it's ready for delivery along with the presents. Yeah, I'm an addict.

Kate

Lol my name is dawn and yes, like the rest of you sad ladies, I am a Christmas tree addict. This year my addiction was enabled by the Victorian society who asked if I would open the house for a holiday tour.

So my two trees last year (which I thought was a great deal of fun...more than one I mean) expanded to eight this year...though I may make it to nine by next week :p. People going through the tour asked a few times...." would you do this much if you weren't on the holiday tour?". Each time the sensible me began to answer...."no of course not, it's a lot of work" but then, like a cheap shot of gin calling to an alcoholic the Christmas freak in me would say...."of course! In fact I may add a couple more" while visions of a tree in the kitchen danced wildly about in my head....

Beginning in the daylight basement, where we have our family room and play room, we have a tree for my son, decorated in woodland creatures (stuffed toys) and other pretty non breakables. I plan on this expanding to be the memory tree where the horribly ugly vpcrap my son makes for me in school will go....oh dear I said that put loud...don't worry, I get all sappy at the thought actually :). All he's come home with so far is a dradel (he is Jewish this week which he announced on Tuesday).

Ok so on the main floor...one live tree in the dining room decorated with a tin soldier theme in green, red, white and gold. It's a nine footer

One in the smoking parlor, just an urn tree that is done in war time ornaments (not silvered because metal was being conserved for the war effort). In the music parlor there is a ten foot tree full of radkos and a few other ornaments I collected in Europe many moons ago.

Up another floor is my sons room which has a skinny 8 foot tree with kitchy 60's and 70's plastic ornaments and it will also have bubble lights on it when the arrive (thank you good will dot com). And in the master suite I have an eight footer decorated in antique and vintage ornaments as well as ornaments my grandmother made in the 60s and 70s It stands on a wonderful 1926 stand that would have an electrician screaming in fear (open sockets and plugs on the same surface in which you pour the water). Then finally the big bird tree is in grandmas room. It's white feathers on pruned stacked wreaths....hard to explain but very fun.

On the top floor I have a servants theme tree with hand tarted ornaments dh has from his great and grand mothers as well as cinnamon gingerbread men and bottles from our cistern which is being dug. Very home spun and cute...I think it is about six feet like the big bird tree. Then lad and actually least is the Charlie brown vintage tree with lionesses blanket at the base. Only certain people get that heh heh.

How many is that? I have an undecorated tree waiting....ummm calling to me lol in the gardeners cottage...just the name of the building conjures up decorating ideas lol.

Will the next addict please admit they are nuttier than me please??????

Ahhh, yes I thought there may be some others who would admit to being tree addicts.

All of the trees sound lovely. You have all given me some validation and now the little wheels in my brain are quickly turning. A tree in every room will probably be the result in our home by Christmas Day. It is the dismantling that stinks!

Carry on fellow trimmers!

I have three trees this year.

The large 6.5’ in the LR is decorated with white lights, silver/white garland, pearls, ornaments are silver, white, red, and crystals.

I have a 3’ tree in my hall/foyer area on a plant stand that’s decorated with white lights, silver & champagne large beaded garland, ornaments are pink, cream, and champagne and it has coordinating bows.

I put a 4’ tree on a table in our bedroom this year and it’s decorated the way my family did the tree growing up with color lights, red garland, and all the hodge podge ornaments that were bought for me over the years by family. Everything from Baby’s Frist Christmas balls to those metal ones with my name engraved. It’s not my style at all, but reminds me of being a kid and makes me smile.

Starting next year, since DH’s man room is finished in the basement, I plan on putting a manly, outdoor/earthy tree down there.

Someday when we have kids, I’d like to get them each a tree for their room to decorate how they want. I would’ve loved to do that growing up.

So three now and someday maybe six. Oh, and I have a little 1’ tree I didn’t get out this year.

As far as what to do with your other ornaments, do you have another place you can hang garland? Around a mirror or stairs? What about filling some in a decorative bowl? My vote is for more trees. :)

Usually I only put up one tree, as we seldom have visitors over the holidays. We travel to our children's homes instead. However, I do have 3 trees. A large 9 1/2 foot tree, a 6 foot tree and a 4 foot tree. So depending on the year, and how I feel, 1, 2, or 3 trees get decorated. The large tree is decorated in a somewhat Victorian look and the medium tree is old fashioned. I even made a paper chain for on it one year.

Large tree

medium tree

small tree

Every year, I have a small, white feather tree that I decorate with Grinch ornaments and little balls in red, grinchy green and gold. This goes on the server in the dining room or the table in the kitchen.

The years that my 3 yo niece & 20 month old nephew visit, like this year, I put up a tree in the LR. The theme is "unbreakable" and I use anything unbreakable that I can find in the Xmas storage boxes.

I bought 4 strands of LED lights on clearance a few years ago and, because they're almost blinding bright, it seems sufficient to light the tree, which is about 6 feet tall. I have a pair of 3-D glasses that are kept on the tree. When looking through them, they turn the lights into snowflakes. I do love the way the lights reflect on the wall & ceiling but don't look directly into them or you can perform your own laser eye surgery.

I can't imagine putting up a tree this year. We have 2 kittens, and I don't want the hassle of dealing with keeping them out of the tree, etc. Also, we just moved in, got most things in its place, attic squared away with boxes (and decorations), and the though of dragging it all out again just doesn't sit well with me. I guess I'm in a bah humbug mood (mostly just tired of unpacking / packing boxes).

Oh Tracey...I have two kittens, a cat who never grew up, a small dog who is still a puppy at heart (2) and a five year old. The kittens and chaos just add to the joy :). Last year I didn't have my own ornaments but it was still a great feeling to put up the first tree in a new house :). Come on over and I'll ply you with enough spiked eggnog to remember the joy :p.

I have bells in the bottoms of the trees so I can hear if any kitten chaos is soon to begin lol. They ring constantly.

Do gumdrop trees count?

We have one big green tree in the LR, and that is all we will ever have. I like to decorate it, but once it is done, my attitude is "been there,done that."

But I think it was on this forum that I saw a gumdrop tree and thought it was very cute. Looked up how to do it on the net, and this year, after we all trimmed our one tree, we retired to the kitchen island for spiked eggnog and to stick colored gumdrops into a aluminum foiled wrapped cone. A good time was had by all, and the trees look great as a centerpeice on the island.

Just a little warning to all the multi-treers...I grew up in a house (a *small* house) that typically sported between 5 and 7 xmas trees, with xmas junkies as parents. The trees went up soon after Thanksgiving and weren't taken down till, I dunnno, mid to late January. I HATED them, the work, the watering, the vacumming needles, hated all of it (yup, they were all real except the little one footer in the bathroom). Until I had a kid (OK, until she was old enough to ask for one), I never even had a tree. We now have a single tree, which is put up a week before xmas and taken down on New Year's Day.

Of course I do realize that my kid will no doubt grow up to have a house with 7 trees...

sandyponder

Ok. This is weird. As I read this thread, I was thinking about one place we lived when I was a kid. We had a large (8' wide x 12 ft tall) real tree. My mother put up several artificial trees, too. She tied red bows all over one of those original aluminum trees. It was the only time I liked the darned thing.

Like sandyponder, I was thinking that I only put up one tree. Then I realized that I also put lights on the Norfolk Island pine. And then there's the little artificial tree that belonged DH's grandmother that he's sentimental about ... And well, you get the picture. Not only can I sometimes feel the brain cells die, but I'm turning into my mother!

shee - your trees sound wonderful. I bet you could gather a good amount of "manly" or outdoorsy things throughout the upcoming year for use on a tree in your DH's man's room.

DD has always had a tree of her own in her BR. So many themes over the years - Disney, Barbies, beanie babies (remember those?), ballerinas, when she was still dancing, mermaids, oh, I can't even remember all of different year's themes. I think it is alot of fun for kids to do their own thing with a tree in their BR. So nice to wake up to a lit tree in your BR.

Unfortuantely I have no place for garlands. Have used some apothocary jars for some of the ornies, but I am considering at least one more tree, MB?

mary lu - I love your trees. Very pretty Victorian. A girlfriend of mine has her "own" Christmas tree done in Victorian style in her formal LR. The kids get a real tree which they decorate for their FR. Nobody is allowed to fuss with her fancy tree!

igloochic - absolutely right. A little nog goes a long way toward making the holiday bright!

barb5 - gumdrop tress absolutely count! There a few posters over on Holidays forum who decorate their kitchens with a candyland theme. Very nice!

tracey b - Yep, the animal/pet/small children in the house can be a challenge. One of our labs made his entrance smack dab in the middle of the holidays 7 years ago. We've always had a houseful of challenges, I mean pets.

Every tree is anchored for safety. We do anchor the trees to the closest wall by using a cuphook painted to match the wall color, and large piece of fishing line for a somewhat "invisible" tethering option.

sandyponder - Sounds as tho we may have lived in the same home at Christmas time as children, lol! My childhood home was decorated until it practically burst. Every horizontal surface was adorned with something Christmas. Too much for my own taste, and thankfully, DM has scaled back alot. When I left home and lived on my own as a single gal, I did absolutely no holiday decorating. Actually, didn't again start to decorate for Christmas until DH & I bought our home.

I do my best to try and decorate for Christmas with everyone's issues in the back of my head. Kittens are a challenge, but a squirt bottle filled with water can be very helpful!

hhireno - Love the Grinch decorations. Were they hard to find? I have a small stuffed Grinch that sits near the top of the tree on a branch. Had to wire him as he wasn't meant to be a tree ornament. A Grinch tree would be perfect in DH's office as he is really a Grinch when it comes to Christmas decorating.

WIP- All of the Grinch ornaments were gifts from my in-laws and came from Hallmark. I've also noticed other Grinchy stuff carried in more stores every year so it's not hard to find.

I typically put up 1 tree but in past years have done 2 trees. I started a tradition with my grandchildren of buying each one of them an animal ornament. I will look for them throughout the year, then put their initials and year on the bottom.GC1 is an elephant,GC2 is a giraffe,GC3 is a monkey, GC4 is a zebra and GC5 is a lion. Three are coming for Xmas this year so the elephants, monkeys and zebras are all on the tree. That's all that's on there. Looks wonderful. When they turn 10 I plan on giving them their ornaments.

We do 2 trees here; both artificial since we burn wood 24/7 which would wreck havoc with a real tree.

I admit, I am selfish. I never did a 2nd tree for any other reason than I had kids and they started to touch 'my' tree with it's perfectly strung beads. So, off hubby went to buy to cheapo 2nd tree and we still put it up. We do one family tree, mine, with all the good stuff. The second tree, in our music room, is all the kids homemade ornaments, school ornaments, all their memories and treasures. We let them decorate it 100% and leave it be. It's been an ongoing rule since they were crawling; they can touch their tree but not mine.

This year I have a 3rd in the process, non-traditional for my non-traditional dining room, thanks to HGTV. I'll post a pic when it's complete.

We don't put up our trees till we have to. We've held hubby's work Christmas party here for 5 years now, so it has to be decorated in time for it. They stay up through the epiphany; January 6th. We have 2 dogs, 2 cats, 3 kids, any longer and we'd all be sick of them and they'd look like heck.

Mary Lu Love your trees

More power to anyone who puts up multiple trees. I clearly don't have the energy or will.

Altho I have *a few* decorating addictions Christmas trees are not one of them. The most trees I've ever put up were a main family tree, a white/silver/clear glitzy tree for me, and a small 3' pre-lit/pre-decorated for my bedroom.

Now I only do one main tree but this year bought a 4' pre-lit white one for the breakfast room. Should have waited til it was on sale after but couldn't resist, it's so cute!

Also have some tiny ones (12") but they're too small to count! I do more than a few vignettes tho.

Is there a thread where everyone is posting photo's of their trees and home decorations? I'd love to see them.

Such beautiful trees! Thanks for sharing.

We're a one-tree family, and it's not decorated yet. Last year I did something I've wanted to do for years: bake cookies and use them as ornaments. Just cookies, candy canes & white lights. My sons had friends over, and we all rolled & cut & baked -- & ate too. They had so much fun that they've asked me to wait until finals are finished so we can have the cookie baking/tree decorating session again. Edible decorations make taking down the tree easier too -- they disappear on their own, lol!

I have two trees. The largest one, where the presents go under, is located in family room. It's decorated with baskets, bows, handmade ornaments, and the popcorn I strung for our first Christmas 28 years ago. The popcorn has survived two kids and two grandkids. This year we have a dog for the first time so I was concerned if he would think of this as a treat strung out to tempt him. So far, so good!

Our second tree is located in our dining room. It's a thin wirey 5' Charlie Brown type tree. I have all Williraye ornaments on it with a wooden train circling around it.

Greatgollymolly, go over to the Holiday forum lots of trees and seasonal decor there.
Treedgrad, I forgot to tell you earlier I think your tree is very pretty I love the colors you chose.

We only have 2, which seems almost grinch-like compared to some of you! We have an artificial, pre-lit tree that we put in our front room (our old FR which is now the homework room). We have a bird theme for that tree because 2 years ago we realized that for some reason we had all kinds of bird ornaments. So we gathered more bird and egg ornaments (plus one cat at the bottom) and use those only for that tree.

We get a larger, approx. 9' live tree for our great room at the back of the house. This has a combo of all our other ornaments, old and new, fancy and homemade. Unfortunately 2 years ago the live tree fell down, onto the side where all of our favorite ornaments were and many were smashed. Now we use clear fishing wire to tether the tree to the wall behind it, so we don't have a repeat of the fall.

A tree story: we have very fun neighbors and we all sometimes play jokes on each other. 2 years ago we were on Kauai for the week following Christmas, coming home after New Year. While we were gone our neighbors brought their Christmas trees and put them in our yard. We got such a laugh rolling up the driveway at about 5am after a loooong flight to see a couple dozen trees in our yard! They looked really pretty in the snow. I think we had 25 total; here are a few:

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I love the Christmas Season. We call our big 9 1/2-foot family tree in the living room,"The Story of Us Tree". No themes allowed there! Every ornament that our DD and DS made in school is on that tree. We buy an ornament to remember each family vacation, which also goes on the tree. Ornaments that relatives and friends have gifted us or that we've inherited, hang alongside the Fisher-Price animals from the mobile that hung over both our children's cribs, ten years apart, and the green felt elf slippers with turned up toes that I made for DD's first Halloween. We think that it's a spectacular tree!
I have an Old World tree in our family room. A small Advent tree in the kitchen. I have a rustic, 6-ft Western tree in the guest room, which is done in a Western look. I refuse to call it a theme room because we LIVE in the West.
When our kids were just babies, I started trees for them. As they grew, so did their trees, ending up with two slim 6 1/2-footers for their bedrooms. DS is away, serving in the Army now, but DD LOVES putting hers up. Both trees sport ornaments the kids picked out on our vacations over the years, as well as special, personal ones, such as Star Wars for DS and fairies on DD's.

All our trees are artificial, because I'm allergic to the real ones.
Lynn

LOL LYnn..I am allergic too...I'm sitting here enjoying my tree with kleenex. I think the garland (real) on the stairs was what put me over the top allergy wise.

I actually was hoping for more pics too so I'll share a few of mine and hope more post :) I love Christmas trees and the descriptions are fun...but not enough to feed the addiction LOL

I tore down the polyester lace so it's hard to take pics without too much sun causing an issue with my bad camera skills...but here's the tree in the music parlor:
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The servants tree:
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Charlie brown token tree :oP
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Big bird:
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I love close up shots when they work...this is the tree in our master done in vintage ornaments:
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Scary stand:
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Dining room:
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"So, do any of you decorate more than one Christmas tree?"

I cannot even get one decorated. Has taken three days to get it up, put the lights on, and a hand full of ornaments. I am bound and determined to finish it today, but don't seem to have any steam.

Will those of you that like decorating, please come finish my tree?

I gave away 2/3 of my Christmas decorations last year when I thought I was moving. I didn't move (sad story) and am now trying to decorate ONE tree. At least I saved my old family tree ornaments.

I also hung very small red balls on my Norfolk Island pine and I copied someone's idea of lights in mason jars at my kitchen window.

Next year there may be an aluminum tree in my house. I recently stayed in a hotel that had aluminum trees decorated with copper and gold balls. They were stunning! Since my decor now is gold/caramel, beige and black, I'm hearting those copper and gold decorations!

Oops! I do have a small Norfolk Island Pine that I bought at Lowe's. It was fully decorated.

javachik - Sorry about your move - or lack of. :(

OK, now to work on my tree.

This is the first year I am not putting up a tree. I'm not even decorating for Christmas. I am going away for Christmas, so I don't see the point.

In the past I have used a real Rosemary Tree in the kitchen. And a large Frasier tree in the living room.

One year I saw a tree decorated in a country style, with strings of dried black eyed peas, butter beans, walnuts, balls of real cotton, it was precious and so southern.

Oh Myyyyy.....Such gorgeous, Magnificent Trees and decorations!!!!

I never change my tree...well, at least not in the last 7 or 8 years with the exception of new rabbit/bunny ornies that are given to me as gifts throughout the year.

But looking at these trees you've all posted has given me some new ideas, inspiration....Thank you!

I don't have my tree decorated yet.

Oh, the huge plastic totes are stacked taller than me in the sunroom.....full of Santa-threw-up-all-over-the-house Decorations.

I have the branches stuck in the fake Christmas tree but that's as far as I've gotten.

We can't do 'elegant' around here. Nope, no way....not with my brood (human) and critters.

And try as I have over the years to cut back, I always get the guilt trips from my adult kids.

They notice immediately when they walk in the door if I've skimped on the mantel or if Woodworker Santa isn't out front and center.

They know when I've skimped....believe me, they know. :)

Anyway, the decs all over the house are what put those wide-eyed smiles on my grandkidlets' faces so I'll continue to do it this way until I no longer can.

Since the only thing that changes on our sunroom tree are the addition of new rabbit ornies, I'll post pics from last year.

amity - That tree is gorgeous! I love the beaded icicles. I'll have to remember that idea for next year.

I know what you mean about the children noticing the skimping. I would chuck it all and just concentrate on the true meaning of the season, if it were not for the kids. Also, this is the first year that I have had NO help from them. No one lives in the house anymore, and they have conveniently stayed away the last two weeks.

This was also the first year that the star was put up by me. Normally, the children take turns. We have even waited for them to come home from college to finish the tree off. We have one left in college, and he will not be home until Christmas Eve. He is bringing a friend home this year, so I think I am secretly doing "more" decorating than usual.

Awwww..... I love that Charlie Brown tree.

But Igloo, where is your DS's animal tree? That was a fabulous tree!

NewHomeBuilder,

Thank you so much...that was so sweet!

"I would chuck it all and just concentrate on the true meaning of the season, if it were not for the kids."

Oh NewHomeBuilder,
Do I EVER know what you mean!

Six years ago I announced "No Gifts" for adults.
I decorate a large box in Christmas wrap and put it by the front door.
Anyone who comes to the house during the season, can't bring a gift but must bring the item I've selected for that year for the L.A. Mission and homeless.

First year it was mittens.
Second year it was socks.
One year, Blankets.
Last year I went out on a limb and asked for coats, never thinking I'd get a big response.
WHOA....it was the biggest haul ever!

Before the New Year we make the drive and distribute.
Then go have lunch and talk about and count our blessings.

Do our kids (yours and mine) have a little of the same DNA?
They notice if I've skimped but I sure don't see them knocking down our front door to come help put it all up or take it down! LOL

OK, confesssion time: Beaded Icicles.....Bought those about 7 years ago when Big Lots was closing it's doors in our neighborhood.
A huge bag of continuous beaded garland, white or gold for $3.

Don't know what I was thinking....I bought 10 bags.
I could wrap my whole neighborhood in those continuous strings of beads.
Did I mention each bag was a continuous string of beads? :)

After a few years of fighting them, trying to get them untangled no matter how neatly I wrapped them after the holidays, I gave up.

I cut them into long strands, 3 to 8 inches each, and now use them as Icicles all over the house and tree.

That was a great idea you had...the big box and the icicles!

My camera will not take good photos of interiors in the evening, so I took these awhile ago and still didn't do very well. I really admire everyone's decorating, mine looks meager compared to yours.

Igloogirl, I love my vintage ornaments,too!

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Awww Jane - you should do a little tree somewhere for you to enjoy. I like the rosemary trees also, didn't get one this year.

We usually do our big tree and then a couple of smaller trees. This year, we did the big tree and only one smaller one in our bedroom.

We do the big tree together. Hubby always sets it up, gets the lights on, etc. then I start with the garland, trim, whatever. We each put on ornaments. We make an afternoon or evening of it, put on Christmas music, etc. We have many special ornaments (which leads me to a question - I'll post in a minute) and it's always fun to remember where we got the ornament, or who gave it to us, or what it represents, etc. We really enjoy our trees and I don't feel like it's work, decorating it together is a tradition for us.

tina