Real Tree, Fake Tree, No Tree, Menorah, Other?

Susan · Post by **Susan** » Fri December 5th, 2008, 11:05 pm

A 6 foot fake tree with the lights already on it. It was always my job to put the lights on and take them off. I hated doing it, so I think this tree is wonderful. The tree comes out of the box and gets plugged!

Leyland · Post by **Leyland** » Fri December 5th, 2008, 11:10 pm

[quote=""Ariadne""]We haven't had a tree up for the past few years since our cats attack it, and we haven't spent Christmas at home in a while.[/quote]
Ditto the cats! And I usually go to my parents for several days over Christmas so I don't do much decorating for the season. My mother made me a green calico cloth tree with red calico strawberries on the tip of each branch a long time ago, so I always set it on the coffee table.

Sometimes I wrap white lights through the fake ficus tree and hang a few ornaments on it.

EC's smallish fibre optic tree sounds very cool. I think I'll look for one after Christmas Day when perhaps I can a get 50% off bargain.

Divia · Post by **Divia** » Sat December 6th, 2008, 2:50 am

2 trees. My roomie says I'm very martha Stewart.

The one is white with blue and white decorations cause I have a country blue and white theme in the kitchen. In the living room I have burgendy and green and folk decorations.

Ash · Post by **Ash** » Sat December 6th, 2008, 3:45 am

I grew up as the only Jew in our neighborhood, one of the few at my school. So dealing with Christmas has been a life long problem. When I was a kid, have a menorah or two in the window. End of discussion (of course we did get eight days of presents, so that did help...) but even driving to Hebrew School, the kids on the bus would start counting all of the houses with lights on. Later in college, I became very observant, and tried to avoid going to malls and such. I later became more pragmatic and realized that every culture has a winter holiday, and that there is a differenct between the religious significance, and our cultures secular celebration. My husband converted to Judaism for me, but pleaded to be able to have a tree. I agreed, only if we put up secular ornaments. Well, twenty years later we have a lovely array of ornaments from all over the world and from many special occassions and trips. Putting up the tree every year brings up memories of them, and adds to the holiday for me. We also have a menorah that has its own special place in the main living room window.

Oh, and our tree is fake, but we are going to need a new one soon; the branches are coming off and the needles are falling off the ends! So after Christmas, that will be our first purchase.

Divia · Post by **Divia** » Sat December 6th, 2008, 4:57 am

Thats true. If ya think about it they all have some type of winter celebration. Personally, I like the lights.

LCW · Post by **LCW** » Sat December 6th, 2008, 5:47 am

I'm agnostic leaning towards athiest but I looove Christmas! It's part of the human experience to have holidays whether they have secular or religious origins and I don't intend to miss out. Besides, today's Christmas celebrations and traditions are as much Pagan as they are Christian! Hello, this thread is about Christmas trees, lol!

I have friends of different religions and we all try to celebrate each others holidays...esp. if gifts are involved, lol. One of my very close friends is Jewish and I always give her a Christmas present and she always gives me a Hanukkah present. We both agree that we will use any occasion to accept presents! My fiance is Christian (although I know more about it that he does, hehe) but even if he was Jewish or Hindu I would embrace his culture and his holidays. More celebrations and holidays are always better!

MLE (Emily Cotton) · Post by **MLE (Emily Cotton)** » Sat December 6th, 2008, 6:07 am

I love holiday decorations when other people do them! As for me, I have the 'engineering bent' -- once the traffic pattern is resolved, the beams are earthquake-proof, the foundations are solid and the sheetrock is on that's where my skills stop. If my daughter hadn't hung pictures on the walls, there wouldn't be any there.
Our kids celebrate Christmas at our house, and every year I threaten not to bother with the decorations, and every year my daughter and oldest daughter-in-law come over and put them up. But that still leaves me taking them down. They finally get sorted and put away sometime around May.

So far, the tree is real. The garlands are fake. I never know what holiday scheme my daughter will come up with, but it always looks great.

When she was younger and actually lived here, she decorated for Valentine's day, Easter, May Day, Fourth of July, Harvest, Halloween, and Thanksgiving. I think she took up re-enacting just for the costumes and the props.

MLE (Emily Cotton) · Post by **MLE (Emily Cotton)** » Sat December 6th, 2008, 6:16 am

Oh and Ash-- this may be a little odd, but our family adopted the Jewish holiday of Purim. The kids read about it in 'All of a Kind Family' so we looked it up and it seemed like great fun. We read the whole book of Esther, stomp on Haman, (no spitting allowed inside) cheer on Mordecai, give the kids money and eat Haman-taschen. (sp?)
Odd, but my Jewish BIL never bothers with any of those holidays. I'm Christian, but hey, Jesus must have celebrated Purim and Chanukah, so why shouldn't I?
But then, I can't see that Jesus would have had a problem with Diwali or Eid-al-Adha either. So we celebrate those with our Hindu and Muslim friends, when the occasion arises.
Just as long as I don't have to decorate for it.

pat · Post by **pat** » Sat December 6th, 2008, 11:21 am

I love a real tree, but have fake! We have two, a large green one in the lounge, and a small 3ft one for the family room. The family room one is white/silver that is decorated with lilac baubles and white lights, very modern looking! The other one has deccies that have been collected over the times, with no theme just lots of love!

Ludmilla · Post by **Ludmilla** » Sat December 6th, 2008, 12:43 pm

My husband is a purist about the tree -- so real. Our kids are still young, so they enjoy helping with decorating. I'm not much for decorating, though. It's a chore, will always be a chore, for me. There are several Christmas tree farms near where we live, so two or three weeks before Christmas my husband and girls pick something out, bring it home, and we keep it up until New Year's Day.