That's awesome! It sounds like you are having a great Christmas with your kids! LOL at the two toned tree-very cute! That commercial is very funny.

I had some friends in high school whose dad let them decorate the tree however they wanted. When I went to visit I was horrified to see mummified fish and a tarantula skin hanging on the tree, along with the nick knacks you get in cereal boxes and cracker jack boxes. The fish were old pets.

When I was in college the son sent me a gift (his sister was my roommate). I was horrified to open the box and see the shed skin of their tarantula Steve remarkably preserved! Both he and his sister thought it was hilarious! Looking back on it, I do too, now.

Though I had all the shopping done early this year, I was finishing ornaments that my cousin Jeannie started before she passed over. Her loss has changed me in many ways, so I gave up total control of the tree giving it over to our grandson. It was far from what many would think of as even acceptable, but to me it was perfection.

Love that story, Rockybird!

About 15 years ago, I had a woman boss who told me her own story.

As a kid/teen, my boss was often given chores/tasks to do by her mother. Every time my boss completed the task, her mom would come along and straighten up the outcome or totally redo the task. My boss grew up believing there was never anything she could do that would be good enough/smart enough/ adept enough in her mother's eyes. My boss was 45 when she told me this and still struggled when with her mother.

i have never redone another's work after hearing this.

When my daughter was much younger (she's 34 and married with 2 kiddos of her own now), I was that perfectionist mom. My tree was a statement, a piece of art. If she wanted to help, I'd let her. Her interest never lasted long so I'd let her hang what she wanted wherever she wanted. After she was finished, I'd rearrange the ornaments. She is the complete opposite with her children. It's very old fashion, lots of "kid" approved/themed ornaments and homemade ornaments and they help decorate it. I just may let the babies (they'll be 8 and 10) decorate our tree next year and I mean REALLY decorate it, leaving everything where they place it. Thanks for the idea!!!

I have always let the kids decorate the tree first with their stuff. They still do it at 26 and 28 using the stuff they made in kindergarten and things that were bought or collected through the years. BUT, then I come along and make a theme of it by adding my own decoration balls of whatever my colour theme is for the year. I don't move their stuff but I try to visually give it symmetry and rearrange it and bring sense to it with my own things. A little bit of passive/aggressive decorating on my part perhaps?

That commercial rubs me the wrong way - what an annoying woman.

Really not sure the points. As parents we go at parenting with an idea of what we want to teach. So often what we teach and what they learn do not match up. If I remake my kids beds are they learning their attempt is unacceptable? It was..but I was trying to teach the habit; the quality comes with age...The tree--over the years I invited, encourage, BEGGED for help. Never once moved an ornament they placed..can't imagine caring THAT MUCH about having a designer look tree..did they learn to love the event--heck no. They learned it is a lot of work no matter how you do the job. If that commercial was real life...mom should have bit her lip waited for the kids to go play--REARRANGED at will and most of the time the kids would not have noticed or cared. They would have believed they did it themselves!!

I had a tree pretty much like lazy gardens describes her acquaintance had. My kids decorates the bottom with lots of their ornaments and I put up a few breakable one up high. Then I let them have at it with the tinsel (remember that stuff?). I told them to just fling it where they couldn't reach. Well, it ended up in clumps pretty much all at the bottom. I left it.

I see nothing charming about that commercial at all. Yuck! My mom was a perfectionist tree decorator. It made me hate Christmas tree decorating. As a child/teen, I would spend what felt like hours moving ornaments around at her direction while she would stand back and view it from different angles because, heaven forbid!, there might be too many green ornaments clustered together or too much tinsel on one side of the tree. Bah!

When my kids were growing up, DH and I would hang the lights and a few more precious and fragile ornaments up high on the tree. And then the kids would decorate the rest while we sat with our hot buttered rums and watched. Yup, it was years before we had ornaments that actually covered the whole tree as the rest of ornaments were only hung as tall as they could reach. I LOVED those trees. They were allowed to redecorate it throughout the holiday season so I was quite often surprised by their new decorating ideas. I was completely charmed the time they decided that all the ornaments with faces should be facing the fireplace. It was hysterical.

I'm thrilled that my DD is marrying a man with custody of his 5 year old daughter. We have a child in the family again! And this year she did most of the tree decorating. It's the best tree we've had in years. :)

Most perfectionists don't want to be perfectionists. They can't help it. If something out of place it is like having an itch they HAVE to scratch. Or they are worriers. If the heavy ornament is hung at the end of the branch what if it smashes on the floor and the dog steps in the glass?

Sure, there are some people that like to do things their own way because they feel superior. But when I watch that commercial I feel sympathy not disdain.

My tree - I put on the garland and the lights and the ornaments go wherever children and grandparents put them. We have a large assortment of different ornaments and tall people so there are no worries about symmetry or balance.

Yeah, that's just kind of sad, that what the kids do is not good enough. I can see helping with the higher parts of the tree and the more fragile ornaments, but that's about it.

What is wrong with those kids?? Can't they see they're doing it all wrong? That poor mother.

Disclaimer: When I was a kid, I took a pair of scissors and trimmed the tinsel even all around the bottom of the tree. I never threw the tinsel on the tree either. Shudder.

I enjoyed the ad, thought it poked gentle fun. Most moms do rearrange the tree decorations, AFAIK, or at least the moms I knew did (and I'm guilty too). It is annoying, so at least wait a few days for the initial thrill to pass and do it when the others aren't around, like my mom used to do. Or do like a friend of mine and have two trees: one family-decorated tree and one "pretty" tree with color-coordinated, evenly spaced decorations.

I'm really mellowing in my old age. This year, DH decorated the tree and I let him set the Christmas table too (!). So what if he used our everyday glassware and flatware and used mismatched serving bowls.

White *and* colored lights. That would be me. Half and half. White to provide brightness, and color to give it that Christmas kick.

My kids have been decorating the tree for the last few years, but they are adults. They decorate for, and with help from, my grandson, so I leave it as is. They use colored lights, family favorite ornaments, and my grandson's ornaments.

This year my GS decided he wanted a tree in his bedroom, so as they decorated, he stockpiled the ornaments he wanted to use. After the large tree was finished, he and I went outside, and by the light of a waxing gibbous moon, cut the top out of a small volunteer cedar tree. He's 8, so I hope that memory will be with him always.

Last year I decorated a small tree with some of my vintage ornaments,
just to see how it looked in the new guest room. It was beautiful, and
if ever again I live alone, I will use them every year.

Lol! I have a friend that woman reminds me of. I can't blame her, though. I'm so glad I don't have kids.

I have to draw the line somewhere. Two of my 4 are rather creative. My daughter has done origami ornaments and some "interesting" things with pipe cleaners and I have not batted an eye and most of it goes on the tree every year. However, she likes to collect the different bottle caps off of her dad's beer. One year she came down stairs with string on all of the caps to hang as ornaments and while we all laughed heartily, there was no way that was going to happen.

Never had kids. Dh knows to help with tree placement and lights and then step away. ;)

Well, I think it's very special that so many of you have your children decorate the tree - such fun! But not all of us do - or did- and that should be ok, too. Just because some parent's choose to decorate the tree themselves doesn't mean they are control freaks. I collected antique, hand blown and glass German reproductions many years ago, and also had some precious heirlooms. My kids watched, we talked about the ornaments, and when old enough they would hand them to me. They loved the Christmas trees! When older my daughter would help, but she was assisting me. She has been grown, on her own, and in her own home for many years; she also takes much pleasure in her own tree, and her incredible blown glass ornaments. She has a much bigger home than I did and I'll bet she will have a second small tree when her child is a little older that my grandchild will decorate. Until then, her offspring will assist her. Interestingly, I asked her if she had wished they had been allowed to decorate the tree themselves, and her response was she doubts she would have been so passionate about decorating her own trees if she hadn't been inspired by mine. So there is that.

No children here either. I haven't seen the commercial, but I have always thought the tree was (hopefully) a family affair. We have one tree that is mostly vintage (shiny brights and tinsel/scrap ornaments), but to that are added sentimental ornaments from out years together. We enjoy seeing/remembering the ornaments each year as we decorate the tree.

I grew up helping to decorate the tree, rather higgledy-piggledy as I recall. The moment we kids were off to college, mom started having formal trees full of antique European glass, so I guess her teeth were on edge for the previous 20 years of Christmases, lol.

I love this video, which my kids say reminds them of me, and I can see this 'mom' saying "we can't have any signs that CHILDREN decorated this tree!":

Great comments and stories! Thanks to all who have shared. I love the bottle cap garland, tinsel and spider skins.

Wow, some interesting stories here!

I guess I was lucky that my mom never paid much attention to Christmas tree decorating. When she was busy in the kitchen, she definitely appreciated if someone else took care of the tree! First it was my Dad with me helping a bit, then it was Dad setting up the tree and stringing the lights and me putting all the decorations on, and, finally, just me as Dad was re-assigned to help Mom in the kitchen.

Mom's criteria:

- The tree must be straight and not fall over;

- You shall never use the nice new bedsheets to camouflage the old 5-gallon bucket the tree is in, a leftover piece of white fabric would do;

- The tree must be done by the time she gets to setting the table for the holiday dinner;

My decorating criteria as they evolved with time:

1) The biggest and brightest balls and pieces all in the front, and the small stuff is crammed in the back. A few pieces got dropped and broken as I crawled under the tree to reach into the back (the tree was in a corner);

2) All the pieces must be on the tree, no matter how crowded. That
included a dozen mismatched garlands and two tree toppers. I stuck the
smaller topper on a side branch near the top as my Dad held me up. My mom only shrugged when a
guest asked her why the second topper;

3) Each piece next to a light of matching color, e.g. green next to green, red next to red and blue next to blue. Purple, orange or multicolored pieces became a problem, so they either didn't go on the tree at all, or got buried deep inside;

4) Placing the balls in symmetrical rows: red balls at the bottom, golden balls in the next row up, blue balls in another row, green balls in a row too, then red balls again, golden balls and so on until I reached the top. The rows of the balls were separated by rows of tinsel garlands. My high school friends loved it;

4) When I was in college, I had a bright idea of decorating the tree with red bows. I still decorate my Xmas tree with bows! :-)

Gramarows, I was simply sharing my own experience and how my mother made it miserable for me with her perfectionism when I was a child so I went the whole other way as an adult. Most ornaments were made by me, the kids, by friends, or were gifts so all the ornaments have meaning and the few breakable ones have always been placed safely high on the tree by DH and I.

A rather ironic epilogue, while my new GD did much of the tree decorating this year, I have inherited my mom's Xmas ornaments. She is 92 with Alzheimer's and doesn't even remember what Christmas is. Those ornaments that tortured me as a child are some of my most precious possessions. Funny how that worked out. GD wasn't allowed to touch them They were carefully piled into crystal bowls that sit on upper shelves in a display cabinet. Not only are many from my own childhood but many were also ones my mom inherited from her own parents and were on the tree during her earliest childhood memories in the 1920's.