The Christmas Tree

[rebeccajo 14]

Well, I suppose I should get off my butt today and put up the tree...

Is there anybody else who really enjoys the finished product but just absolutely hates putting it all up?

[eric&gen 0]

I love my fake x mas tree it saves time and money you can reuse over and over instead of throwing it away. Less messy too.

[rebeccajo 14]

Mines fake too Eric. Have never used a real tree.

I think I need to sort through all my Christmas stuff. After nearly 30 years of housekeeping I've got enough for 3 trees probably.

I want the decorating to be a fun family thing. Instead it seems like work!!!!

[me_4_musa 1]

I hate untangling the lights if they are left over from last year. Also once you wrap the lights around the tree with lights and ornaments and it's finally nicely decorated the lights go out because of a fuse or because they are old. You have to remove all the ornaments again and start from the beginning with a brand new pair of lights! Wrapping lights around the tree is not as easy as it seems either.

[MichelleandCraig 1]

We were going to do ours today, too. Not sure now...may procrastinate a day or two more, I dunno. Bad cold and I just don't feel like it right now, but we'll see as the day progresses. Anyway, yeah. I don't mind actually putting the decorations on..that part is fun to me, but actually putting it up and the LIGHTS are the biggest ICK part...ewwww! Trying to get them all to work and untangled, etc. ARGH! Hopefully they got/stayed rolled up nice enough last year that it won't be a *big* problem, but I *hate* the lights part! We have an artificial one too, so also the actual bit of getting/bending the branches just so,etc. I could do without all of it except putting decorations on!!

Aside from that, we went groc shopping, etc. last night and now have wrapping paper, more tape, Christmas cards, and some of our food for Christmas,etc. ...but *NO* presents!!! yet...so, guess I know what I'll be doing next week or two...I love Christmas, but I don't like the extra 'to do lists' it creates...especially when most of us are all already pretty busy!! M.

Yeah! What she ^^^said!

Edited December 3, 2006 by MichelleandCraig

[eric&gen 0]

Mines fake too Eric. Have never used a real tree.

I think I need to sort through all my Christmas stuff. After nearly 30 years of housekeeping I've got enough for 3 trees probably.

I want the decorating to be a fun family thing. Instead it seems like work!!!!

Dont have to worry about wrapping the lights either around the tree they come built into the tree. Add the decorations and your done. We have to put ours up today its Dec 3rd already lol.

[MichelleandCraig 1]

I had a prelit once, and thought it was one of the best inventions ever...only problem was, only got the lights to work right the first year...ended up ripping them off the tree and stringing reg. ones on after that....M.

[de_sjiem 0]

Just a hint for those that dont like figuring out the lights.. they now finally have LED christmas tree lights! Yay.. LED lights are brighter than regular mini lights, use less power and at an average of 25,000 hours of life, its unlikely many (if any) will ever go out.. (at an average of 6 hours a day for 45 days that's like 93 years..) Soo.. you aren't likely to ever have to go through and figure out which one doesn't work and replace like 2 dozen bulbs...

I like decorating trees, but i dont like setting up the actual tree.. I need to get a better one! perhaps during the after christmas sales..

[Mags 112]

I'm not the greatest Christmas lover...but I actually quite enjoy putting up the tree and decorations. But, nobody else likes doing it with me...cos I'm a bit control freaky with the decorations. Then, about a week later I want the thing taken down cos it makes the room look messy.

Me? Easy to live with.....?

(Larry, don't read this....oops, too late!)

[Mary Lou 682]

I am with Rebecca on this one....i love how it all looks when its done, but i dont get as much joy out of decorating it as i once did. Maybe cause im older and dont have as much patience Our tree is up but just has the lights and i have berry garland on it right now. Have been working on decorating the rest of the house today. So hopefully tomorrow will get the ornaments on the tree. lol

[KarenCee 3]

I hate untangling the lights if they are left over from last year. Also once you wrap the lights around the tree with lights and ornaments and it's finally nicely decorated the lights go out because of a fuse or because they are old. You have to remove all the ornaments again and start from the beginning with a brand new pair of lights! Wrapping lights around the tree is not as easy as it seems either.

We have one of those pre-lit ones. Got it on sale after Christmas a few years ago. Beats the heck out of stringing lights on a tree. We want to get a special decoration for this year, since it's our first as a married couple. Also, one for Momma...today marks one year of her passing (*sigh*) and one for Joel's dad, who passed a few years ago too. As soon as we get a house of our own then we'll be able to decorate the way we want to...kinda hard to do that on a house you rent and the landlady is a b*tch.

[Ladylethal 12]

I love putting it up and I love the result, but I hate taking it down.

[Cassie 8]

I hate untangling the lights if they are left over from last year. Also once you wrap the lights around the tree with lights and ornaments and it's finally nicely decorated the lights go out because of a fuse or because they are old. You have to remove all the ornaments again and start from the beginning with a brand new pair of lights! Wrapping lights around the tree is not as easy as it seems either.

for those of you who use fake trees that you have to put together either by branches or by layers (like us):

first, as I dismantle the tree fron the year before, I take apart the strings of lights and tie each string in loops to keep them from tangling up with each other (doesn't take very long, I promise!)

then, when we put up the tree, we check to make sure all the lights work.

then, as we add each layer of branches, we add a layer of lights.

that way, we're not trying to wrap the lights around the finished tree, which is a royal pain in the butt!

ps. hugs to KarenCee!

[govols 1]

I did actually put up our tree the day after Thanksgiving. However, we put up our outdoor lighted trees and then stopped. We got tired of trying to figure out how to plug things together and then fit them through the front door! ( our house has no outdoor plugs )

We have been taking the kids around and "rating" the lights on a scale of 1-10. It's really fun! Then we drive up into our drive with 2 lonely lit trees .

[Cassie 8]

oh, and Rebecca -- I am completely in agreement with you. I am sitting here looking at our tree (with lights, no ornaments) thinking, hey, the minimalist look is in right now, right???