Mine is now. Wanted to get it up while DS1 was still here. It's fake (90% off at Target, of course), but looks pretty good for a fake one if I do say so myself. I decorate it traditionally with lights and a ton of ornaments, both glass balls of all shapes and sizes, a collection of Hallmark ornaments, and various other ornaments collected throughout the year. My mom gives the boys an ornament every year personalized with their name and the year.

The stockings are hung and the nutcracker collection (Santa brings the boys one every year) is set up. The only things left are the lighted Christmas village, the advent calendar thingie, roping and lights on the bannister, and the outside decor.

How are your decorations coming? I know there are a few who are completely done!!

cj/.

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

My neighbors were done on Friday. We had company that left yesterday, after which DH & I just vegged on the sofa, watching football and DVDs . . . we'll do our decorations today. It's yucky and raining, so it's an excuse not to finish the leaves that just won't stop falling!

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Reading is Fundamental.

I have both trees up and some of the other inside decorations up. I plan to work more on that today after church. We have our outside decorations all up.

AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGGGGGGGGGGGGGHHHHHHHHHHHHH! !!!!!!!!!! Too much pressure!! ; ) The neighbors have been putting theirs up, but we've had houseguests for a week, one of our boys had a party here yesterday, and there just has not been time!

Rainy & yucky here too, so no outside work today. I have to finish painting a bathroom & hang a new light, and then am hoping to get started. We always have a live tree, so won't do that just yet anyway.

Would be nice if we could have a gallery of pix of everybody's decorations/trees. I love to look!

I was hoping to buy a balled tree this year, so I can plant in the ground when I'm through with it. Maybe a few days before Christmas, I will put up the tree and decorate it.

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We're off to never never land

I have two of the four up and all my indoor deco's done. I still have to do the outside. but it will have to wait. Rainy snowy weather for the next couple of days here.

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Well, I've got the tree up, but not the lights on the house. Wish I had done it yesterday. It's so cold today.

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Mary

I haven't had a christmas tree up in years! 8 Years to be exact. I considered having one this year, because the cats are 8, and not so into breaking things...but then this autumn I adopted a lil stray kitten that was hanging out on my front porch. She's into EVERYTHING! So.. another 8 years and no tree. Well... Christmas is in the heart, right?

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Support bacteria -- it's the only culture some people have!

If Vegetarians eat Vegetables. Do Humanitarians eat Humans?

'Vegetarian' is an old Native American word for bad hunter.

Absolutly!

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Mary

We are going tree cutting today I can't wait! And I have to decorate my outside tree with all those big candy canes and balls from the $ Tree. I cannot wait!

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The political system is broke and it's a joke.

I remember the first year we had our cat....those silky/satin ornaments were systematically shredded! And she loved, loved, loved to get up on the branches of the tree and sleep. Was too cute (although frustrating when she shredded the balls)

Anyway! All our inside stuff is up. We have a theme tree of blue/silver w/ snowflakes and snowmen. And whatever ornaments that the kids have made through the years.

DH will get the outside stuff up today. Just in time too, as we are under a winter storm watch!

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Mental that one, I'm telling you. ---Ron Weasley, "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets"

yup.......all 10 feet of it. still need to hang all of the ornaments, but it's coming along.

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I'm the kind of woman when my feet hit the floor in each morning, the devil says "Oh crap, she's up."

When I was young, every year when the tree went up the first thing my Dad would do was run a long cord/wire around the trunk about mid height and either end out to anchor to small hooks he would put in the wall on either side of the tree. It kept the tree from crashing when the cats would be doing their Tarzan routine.
I also remember getting quite good at catching ornaments when they would fly across the room after being batted by one of the cats in the tree.
Both of those are really good Christmas memories.

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Life isn't about waiting for the storm to pass
It's about learning to dance in the rain.

Oh man I don't feel like going through the trouble of putting up my tree this year I feel so BLAH :-(

Funny thing is my aunt keeps asking every time she calls " Did You decorate yet "

Um NO ! LOL

We will put it up next saturday, we always have a real one. We all decorate the tree with only wood ornaments, old ornaments, cranberries strings of beads and only white lights. A real old fashioned country tree.... peace.. CAtherine

We were out of town until late last night. Today I had to work at church, grocery shop, do laundry, take my mom on all her errands (she's panicing because her Christmas shopping isn't done yet!) and clean the house the bit. I won't get a chance to decorate until Saturday at the earliest. It's pretty normal for me to still be decorating around the 15th of December!

We got our tree Friday night. Saturday I wrestled it and suceeded in getting the lights on, but that's it so far. Hopefully tomorrow, I am so ready for it to look all magical.

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*** Find A Need , Fill A Need ***

I did something I've always wanted to do, but never did. I went to the local tree farm and got us a living Christmas tree so we could plant it after Christmas.
Murray Cypress 6 1/2 feet and it's BEAUTIFUL !!. My kids almost had a duck when I got home and we unloaded it from my van.

Here's what one looks like in case you never seen one.
This tree is almost as big and just as pretty as mine.

Since the first year my kids were born, I bought them each an ornament or two, some years they would get a music box or some other tabletop decoration, geared to them (but generally not personalized). Occasionally they would also receive an ornament or two from family or friends. WHen we decorate the trees each year they would always look for "their" own ornaments to put on the tree first, then the rest of the decorations would follow. They took turns choosing which tree topper to put on. When they move out of the house, they will each get "their" ornaments to start their own trees. (I get to keep all the homemade ornaments made by them through the years). I LOVE Christmas and decorating, but haven't started yet this year.

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"Well-Behaved Women SELDOM make history."Laurel Thatcher Ulrich


"Yesterday is but a vision, and tomorrow is only a dream. But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a dream of hope." Anonymous

"Your candle does not lose it's light by lighting another candle" Generosity

Have the courage to be yourself.

jeanief -

my boys will also be given a box of their ornaments and their nutcrackers when they have a place to call their own. i hope the women in thier lives will allow them to use these decorations....you know how that goes sometimes.

my mom did this for us....well after we left home....but i still have some of cj's ornaments from growing up on my tree (those are some OLD ornaments, lol!) my older sister got green, i got red, and my younger brother got blue for our ornaments. that was our funny system!

cj/

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I was walking home one night and a guy hammering on a roof called me a paranoid little weirdo. In morse code. -Emo Phillips

we put it up earlier then ever this year. I am so happy I did. We put it up Nov 22nd. Since we go back to east for Thanksgiving it is always so hectic when we get back to get things ready for Xmas stuff going up, and Thanksgiving was so late this year. It makes it even more difficult. So I feel good coming back home and seeing most of the Xmas decorations up. Only a few outside decorations to finish.

No trees in the house yet, but I did put the balled tree on the front porch. I just need to string the lights and put some small bows on it.

As far as our trees go, we'll be doing that in 2 weeks, since the real dry out so fast. I will be putting up the pine roping and such this coming weekend. Only thing out right now is my antique santa my Grandma gave me years ago and a small reindeer! I hope to get some outside decorating done today!

We went to a Christmas tree farm and cut one yesterday. It's really nice and I will decorate after work tonight. The cutest thing--he had Rudolphs made out of logs for $10 so I got one. It's adorable in my front yard I will post when I finish my decorations. I pet it because it's so cute! The ears and tail are just something else! I wish I had a whole herd of them.

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The political system is broke and it's a joke.

What a beautiful tree!!!! About 10 or so years ago (before the cats) I got a living tree.. it was much smaller... maybe 4' in a bucket.. the first ever live tree i ever had.
After christmas, we planted it in the back yard.. and now it stands..well over 20' tall... it is beautiful!! I'm sure it's home to lots of birds and squirrels too

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Support bacteria -- it's the only culture some people have!

If Vegetarians eat Vegetables. Do Humanitarians eat Humans?

'Vegetarian' is an old Native American word for bad hunter.

The only things I have out are the Advent calendar and the Advent wreath. I'll slowly add more to the decorations as the weeks go on but honestly, I'm just not into it this year. Maybe because last year our tree had to come down on Christmas night because all the needles fell off and we were leaving town the next day and were afraid it would some how catch fire while we were gone and burn the house down! It was very sad

We always cut our own tree but the farm we usually go to is closed for three years so the trees can have time to grow large enough to sell. Fortunately, there are many, many tree farms in our area.

Our new neighbors are cute-- they're "going all out" with the decorations because this is their first house and they're excited aboout it. Fortunately, their idea of "going all out" is pretty tasteful and not over the top gaudy.

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Cecilia

"We must love them both--those whose opinions we share and those whose opinions we reject. For both have labored in the search for truth, and both have helped us in the finding of it."
Saint Thomas Aquinas

Hi,
We usually buy a tree we can plant. This year we are doing a "Charlie Brown" tree. We need to plant some trees in our backyard for shade so we are using one for a Christmas tree. We are lucky and can plant the tree right after Christmas.
Happy Decorating & Merry Christmas,
Judy

My son put up the artificial tree I got on clearance at Macy's last year. It is so beautiful ! Love it ! My first pre-lit one and it is gorgeous

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Live, Love, Laugh

I have always debated getting a pre-lit one....early ones were so awful looking. However, now it seems the quality is getting much better. I am thinking that maybe I will get one on clearance this year so we can have a tree upstairs as well as downstairs with not as much hassle.

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"Well-Behaved Women SELDOM make history."Laurel Thatcher Ulrich


"Yesterday is but a vision, and tomorrow is only a dream. But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a dream of hope." Anonymous

"Your candle does not lose it's light by lighting another candle" Generosity

Have the courage to be yourself.