Poll Thread -- Do you . . Decorate?

I have my very own house for the first time in my life this year. So my mother hauled all *her* Christmas decorations over here and we put them up this afternoon. It's the first time I've ever had proper decorations in my own house. I'm not normally the Christmas spirit type but that pretty tree in my living room is twinkling things up for me this year. Do you decorate?

Zana

I put up a fake tree with lights (small tee for a small apt.) for the first time in 12+ years. It is still daylight outside and my tree lights are on. I guess I should have done it the last 12.

Short answer: yes, but not until the week of Christmas, or a week before Christmas if the 25th is on a Sunday. Never with an artificial tree.

I put up a Festivus pole.

A few years ago my mom asked me the same question. When I told her no (because it reminds me too much of steve martin throwing a party with cardboard guests in The Lonely Guy) she got all depressed for me, hehe. About a week later a box showed up by FedEx. Inside was a small fake christmas tree, already decorated. Just had to pull it out of the box and plug it in. hehe. Gotta love mom. I dutifully tell her that I have it out ever year... despite the fact that it hasn't been out of the box again since.

A little. Standard old fashiond (big bulb) lights just along the front gutter. Simple, tasteful. And a fake tree. Last couple of years we only put the top half up. (pets, kid.. easier).

Here is my addition tho. I have a strict rule. No decorations or songs til after Thanksgiving and everything down by the first week of Jan.

Yes - a small artificial tree (the dog ate the pine needles the one year we had a real one and got sick) with home made ornaments and a menorah. (The tree is for Sig Other, the Menorah for me.) I usually only remember to light the menorah about 5 out of the eight nights, though!

Bhodi,

That reminds me of an old room mate I had some years back. I yearned for a tree, she was Jewish and neither of is was interested in a real tree. Our solution was to cut two tree shapes out of plywood & notch them. We then put it together, painted it & added hooks for decorations & topped it with a Jewish star. I'll bet she still has it too.. lol.

I'm happy enough with a string of xmas lights and some xmas cards pinned to the wall

A few of my housemates I've shared with over the years have persuaded me to get a real tree, and they do look the biz.
I have this thing with recycling them though... striped of branches they make great climbing poles for stupidly large cheeseplants

I am forced to give up one of my evenings to put up lights outside for my family, while they all... well... do nothing. Then they expect me to help wth the tree :^p

My family makes us decorate the family tree, garland the halls, put out the boughs, decorate the front walk with lights spiked either side of the driveway, etc. O_o;

Me, personally? I've got a 2 foot fake Xmas tree with mini ornaments on top of my TV.

We have a small ceramic tree that we turn one every year. with pets, and a general lack of room for anytihng else, it's too much of a pain to put up a tree.

Our multi-strands of holiday lights are aready gracing the front of our house as of yesterday. Why so soon? Because as we were leaving my parents' house after our Thanksgiving visit, my son started getting all wigged out and whining that he doesn't want to leave Grandma's house (which is understandable, since my mother and sister spoil him rotten and stuff him full of goodies); so to quiet him, I promised he could help Daddy put up holiday lights (note I didn't say *I* would be stringing up the damnable things) the day after we returned to our house. Et voila! - holiday lights before the end of November, which is usually very anti-our holiday decorating policy.

We also have an artificial tree that will go up in about two weeks and a little ceramic old-timey village with lights and people and stuff. The latter I purchased from Jo-Ann's, a nationwide sewing supply retail chain that sells a lot of inexpensive holiday decorations. My husband likes to point out that most of the decorations were probably made in China by prison laborers (hence the cheap price) who scratch their heads in puzzlement over the stuff and scoff about American decadence. Yup, I'm already feeling that warm holiday glow.

I have this great little electric menorah. Screw in the bulbs and they light up. Unplug in the morning and feel all jewish. Wee.

We put up red chilli-pepper lights in the dining room, and thousands of small lights in the honeysuckle arbor in the back yard, which I leave up until March or April. Quite cheerful on those long Pacific Northwest nights.

La Esposa Bonita and I have collected a lot of ornaments over the years in the shape of birds, and we're usually motivated to put up a tree just to get those out and play with them. Sometimes we string popcorn and cranberries but usually it's just a few small lights and all those birds.

I used to hate this time of year because my mother had such an elaborately orchestrated set of rituals everyone was supposed to participate in. But about ten years ago Esposa and I *left the country* during Christmas and New Years (went to Belize) and that seemed to break the spell. Now we have our own little rituals and routines and can just enjoy the hot-chocolate-by-the-fire pleasures of the winter solstice.

Ooh. Excellent idea! Now I'm tempted to go see if I can find full-spectrum Christmas lights.

(come from Texas by way of California, I do, so PNW weather's never seemed right -- where DO they hide the sun, anyway? )

Think of us Jewish types in religious neighborhoods Zannie...
We have to be content hopefully having lots of non-Jewish friends to go visit... Any infraction in my neighborhood could get you "non-virtually" drummed out... So sad for the party girl... LOL
Happy Hollydays to all...

Nope, not anymore.. after many misadventures with my dog -- treating a real tree as a real tree and shorting the lights out, coming home to find that plastic trees make outstanding chew toys, I sat back and thought about it.

I've worked every christmas day for the last 12 years.
This year it's only me and the dog anyways.
And I'm not religious.

So this year I've 'decorated' by wrapping all the goodies for my dog as I would gifts, I'll place them out just before I go to work and let him 'unwrap' them.

When I get home I've a nice cigar I've been keeping and a bottle of wine imported from the homeland..

Put my feet up and watch a few DVD's because christmas programming sucks.


Siggy.
(feel free to 'humbug' at any time)

That sounds mostly like me. Although I actually assemble the tree on those years where I'm alone. It helps to have multiple personalities.

First I'm me, laying on the couch, too lazy to help around the house. Then I put on my responsible parental personality and baste the Christmas turkey (OK, I really just heat a can of soup). Then me and Teddy bear open up our presents. He always likes what I give him, but objects when I hold him suspended by the neck to view the tree.

Finally at days end I look at myself dozing again on the couch and yell, "HEY! can't you help with the dishes just this once!?". But I pay no attention and snooze on, with episodes of Mr. Bean playing on the telly.