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With the Christmas time approaching soon, some of us may decide to get a Christmas tree and decorate it. I was wondering what type of Christmas Ornaments do you use? Do you have a certain color theme, do you use ornaments handed down from your family, or is there a very special ornament you hang up every year? Do you use white lights or colored lights?
We decorate our Christmas tree with red, blue and yellow glass balls (hand blown), apples, wooden figurines,hand made straw stars and long red or golden ball chains and all the crafts that our 4 kids made for the tree through out all the years. We use white candles.All my ornaments are hand made still from Germany and on the top of the tree we sit an angel.
Would you share with me, I am all ,,eyes'' thank you!
Gosh, let's see. When my children were toddlers, I used wooden and unbreakable ornaments. I learned that lesson after my son who, at the age of ten months, bit into a glass bulb that was hanging on the tree After that, it was all age appropriate which included stringing popcorn and cranberries. When the tree came down after New Year's we'd hang the popcorn/cranberry strings in the trees outside and let the birds have a feast.
I've never done "theme" trees, though. I've decorated with a variety of ornaments. What I do now. . . I have some white doves and red cardinals that I perch on the branches. Small silk poinsettias that I insert between the branches. I have a few vintage ornaments that belonged to my parents when they were first married in 1938, that I put towards the top of the tree. The rest are an array of ornaments; glass icicles, bells, hearts (which I've broken several over the years). To add a little sparkle I hang painted golden pears and red apples, large ones, at least 4 inches tall. Some years back I bought a few strings of red wooden beads that resemble the cranberry strings from years past. Of course, I put lights on the tree. Some years all clear (makes them look like stars), some years the colored lights. It depends on my mood.
I guess you could say mine is an eclectic blend of nature with a bit of glitz.
I decorate a live tree in my home every year. Almost all of my ornaments are hand-blown glass, though I do use a few which are made of other materials. I also hang other sorts of ornaments in different places in the house.
I have 50 or so ornaments that were my mother's; some which my dad purchased for her in Japan at the end of WWII. Others are ornaments I've received as gifts or simply purchased myself.
While I can appreciate the beauty of plain white lights, I use colored lights because the colors simply look more cheerful to me and make me smile more.
My mom was very particular about decorating the Christmas tree and taught my sister and me well. It's a very tedious and time-consuming process. Both lights and ornaments are placed in every conceivable space in the tree, all the way inside to the trunk so that you can see the depth and all of the branches inside are lit up. Only glass ornaments will do because they reflect the lights so well, magnifying the light. Tinsel is placed on one strand at a time. Several years ago in an antique mall I found two boxes of real tin tinsel, such as we had when I was a kid, and I bought both of them. I use a little bit of it each year, and the strands that don't get broken I save and reuse the following year. Does anyone else here remember real tinsel? The metal reflects the light beautifully and hangs so much better than the plastic "icicles" they sell nowadays.
Some of my ornaments are plain balls of solid colors, but the vast majority of my ornaments are in shapes such as drummer boys, St. Nicholas, birds, fish, geometrics, little houses or churches, icicles, pinecones, etc. I have one shaped like an eagle that I purchased in Winnipeg in 2002. I have one shaped like a tiny wine bottle that I received from my sister in 2006. I have one in the shape of a china doll's head, which my grandmother passed on to my mom more than 60 years ago. I have several tiny japanese teapots, all beautifully-detailed hand-blown glass, circa WWII. There are so many, and I remember when and where I acquired each and every one of them. Each a sweet memory.
A friend's mother told me decades ago that every Christmas tree should have a red bird on it for good luck, so I always include at least one little red bird ornament.
Each year, I hang about 750 lights and between 350 and 400 ornaments on my 8.5' live tree. I love it!
Not a very good picture, but here's last year's tree (before I added the tinsel):
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The dining room tree is artificial and multi-color lights (used to be white lights). It's primarily Santa themed European mouth-blown glass ornaments.
The family room tree is real. I do multi-colored lights as well. It's mostly primary colors and I try and keep all the decor kids friendly (shatterproof ). This is where the kids also display their ornaments or any of our mish-mosh keepsake ornaments.
I'd eventually like to do a smaller tree in an urn and put all my mom's hand beaded ornaments on there, but I want to wait until my youngest (2 years old) is a bit older.
(I have A LOT of ornaments and holiday decor. I was just talking to my husband about getting a storage unit for it all. )
Dining Room (with white lights - we just purchased a new tree with multi-color lights)
Ornament Detail
From 2010 - Family Room Tree
Last edited by TheImportersWife; 11-27-2012 at 01:27 PM..
Beautiful tree, PJ! and TIW. (I was typing before I saw your post. ). I see what you mean about filling it up. It's exquisite. Oh gosh! I remember hanging tinsel. I'd be in such a hurry to get the tree done, I'd try to slip by and throw it on and Mom would quickly remind me, "One strand at a time, dear. One strand at a time." I'd smile, turn my back and do this ... What I wouldn't give to have that time back to hang tinsel with Mom. I'd stretch it out to an all-day event.
Beautiful tree, PJ!. I see what you mean about filling it up. It's exquisite. Oh gosh! I remember hanging tinsel. I'd be in such a hurry to get the tree done, I'd try to slip by and throw it on and Mom would quickly remind me, "One strand at a time, dear. One strand at a time." I'd smile, turn my back and do this ... What I wouldn't give to have that time back to hang tinsel with Mom. I'd stretch it out to an all-day event.
Thanks, Mars!
I'm glad I'm not the only one who remembers real tinsel! I had the same reaction when Mom would tell me, "One strand at a time." And I, too, would love to have that time back. Mom's been gone for 41 years, and what I wouldn't give to have a day with her decorating a Christmas tree! Some of the sweetest memories of my life are times like that with Mom. My Christmas tree is a constant reminder of her during the holidays.
I usually put my live tree up on Thanksgiving weekend, but Turkey Day fell too early this year. I'll put the tree up this Saturday. I keep the tree up till Epiphany, January 8th, so it needs to stay fresh for several weeks.
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___________________________
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The dining room tree is artificial and multi-color lights (used to be white lights). It's primarily Santa themed European mouth-blown glass ornaments.
The family room tree is real. I do multi-colored lights as well. It's mostly primary colors and I try and keep all the decor kids friendly (shatterproof ). This is where the kids also display their ornaments or any of our mish-mosh keepsake ornaments.
I'd eventually like to do a smaller tree in an urn and put all my mom's hand beaded ornaments on there, but I want to wait until my youngest (2 years old) is a bit older.
(I have A LOT of ornaments and holiday decor. I was just talking to my husband about getting a storage unit for it all. )
Dining Room (with white lights - we just purchased a new tree with multi-color lights)
Ornament Detail
I'm glad you were able to upload your photos. Very lovely!
This is going to be a great thread. Many thanks to Almrausch for starting it.
Edit: You added more! I love the one with all the colored balls, too. it's gorgeous!
.
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My tree is a hodge-podge. When I travel, I buy an ornament to remember the destination. Over the years my friends have given me ornaments, too. I grew up Catholic, which is how I came to the tradition of putting up a tree, but I'm now an atheist, so I consider it a "memory tree" at this point because it's more about thinking of all the places I've been and people I've known over the years. I get a lot of joy out of opening each box and thinking of the person or place.
I'm glad you were able to upload your photos. Very lovely!
This is going to be a great thread. Many thanks to Almrausch for starting it.
Edit: You added more! I love the one with all the colored balls, too. it's gorgeous!
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Thanks PJ!
I have a fondness for the satin balls, but they're surprisingly expensive, especially when you need a lot them. So I found the next best thing at Kmart...those glittered, shatterproof balls!
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thank you!
After that, it was all age appropriate which included stringing popcorn and cranberries. When the tree came down after New Year's we'd hang the popcorn/cranberry strings in the trees outside and let the birds have a feast. 
)
What I wouldn't give to have that time back to hang tinsel with Mom. I'd stretch it out to an all-day event. 
So I found the next best thing at Kmart...those glittered, shatterproof balls! 
