January 15, 2011 9:49 AM
Whose tree is still up?
Just wondering because ours still is . Not a needle on the floor. I don't know how we lucked out this year, but we have a tree that looks good to go for at least another month!
Before you go getting jealous though, you should know I've paid my dues. One year - when I was a single mother of two girls, I carried our tree proudly home on top of our little red Kharmann Ghia, wrestled it up in the tree stand (now I can't imagine doing that as I've had a husband to rely on for 28 years). Samantha, Jasmine and I decorated it and three days later it was dead.
So dead I had to remove all the ornaments, tie it back on my trusty little KG and haul it back to the place I got it to demand a new one.
Life has its ups and downs :)
Someone asked to see a picture of our tree. I post this reluctantly because I'm no Martha Stewart and our Christmas tree is never special to anyone but our kids. It has no theme - just lights and the kids' individual ornaments, collected over the years (they each take their box with them when they marry). Tripp and I also have a box of ornaments with our two-bird theme (I collect stuff with two birds).
Tripp has the boys at Special Olympics basketball this morning and when they come home, our family project is to take it down and pack up Christmas for another year.
What about you?
Posted in Christmas, Family | Permalink
Comments
We still have ours up. I was driving through the neighborhood last night, so I know I'm not the only one. It seems lots of people are enjoying their decorations a little longer this year.
Posted by: Julie at Elisharose | January 15, 2011 10:21 AM
I just had to take our down yesterday. I did it with sadness--it still looked nice, but was getting so dry, it was a hazard, plus it was raining needles! sigh.
Posted by: Kelly | January 15, 2011 10:36 AM
Ours came down on New Yr's day, which is typical (usually the Saturday after New Yr's).
I just wanted to say your tree is beautiful, BECAUSE it is "just" decorated with family ornaments and other ornaments that you like. Has everyone fallen for the theme tree thing? Sure, a themed tree can be pretty to look at, but one can never be as beautiful as a tree decorated with meaningful, special ornaments and lots of love. I think yours is a good example of that- the pic is warm & inviting, and Martha would be (or should be) jealous. :)
Posted by: cam | January 15, 2011 10:37 AM
That is the point though. The tree is for you and your family. I let my children decorate our tree each year. I don't decorate to impress people but to celebrate the reason for Christmas. Someday I would love to have a Victorian tree but again, that is because they have a special place in my heart. I don't care what others think of my tree and you should not care what others think of yours!
Ouida Gabriel
P.S. The tree looks lovely anyway!
Posted by: Ouida Gabriel | January 15, 2011 10:43 AM
We just took ours down last week and the rest of the decorations just got tucked away Thursday night.
Similar to your tree, ours has only family decorations and lights. When I was a child, each year my grandmother would make an ornament and let me choose a Hallmark ornament that she would purchase for me. I love decorating my tree with those memories and I love even more that my oldest son Ethan will ask about my grandparents and the ornaments. Both of my boys have their own collection started of the ornaments their "mamaw" has purchased for them and it is fun to talk to them about the year each ornament was purchased.
Posted by: Laura | January 15, 2011 12:37 PM
We took ours down last week...but i wanted to add, that we too got really lucky with a great tree. When we brought it home, my husband left it outside on the back porch in a bucket of (what later became) ice for three days. When we brought it in, the needles looked a little yellow. We thought he'd killed it, But almost four weeks later, it was incredibly green and turned out to be the least shedding tree we've ever had. Our tree came from a farm in Chantilly, VA, and was a Scotch Spruce.
And our tree doesn't have a theme either...just random decorations, white lights, and my bubble lamps.
Posted by: Susanna | January 15, 2011 12:50 PM
Ours is coming down today. Just got all the (random) ornaments and lights off, so there is chaos in the living room! Just when company came for a surprise visit. Oh well, just keeping it real.
Posted by: Kate J | January 15, 2011 2:26 PM
"Keeping it real" - lol
That would be a good sign to post in the house or at the front door :)
We just finished everything except taking the boxes up to the attic - a pretty tricky endeavor with one of those ceiling doors that comes down with a very rickety ladder. The Christmas take-down team consisted of Tripp, me, Maddy, Jonny, Jesse , Daniel and Justin - so little real muscle power other than Tripp. Matt is in NYC at an audition, so Tripp said he will wait for him to get home to take everything to the attic. But understanding my heart being set on order, he actually piled all the boxes up in neat stacks awaiting their final journey.
I love getting out the Christmas stuff, but by the time we put it away I begin to understand that part of my sanity is dependent on an uncluttered environment. yes, I know that clashes with 12 kids, and I've gotten pretty good about it. But there's something archetypal about the sudden order after Christmas is put away.
You know what I mean?
Posted by: Barbara | January 15, 2011 3:21 PM
I was one of the readers who asked for a picture. I've never heard of "themed" trees, so perhaps I'm behind the times. I love decorations, so the more, the merrier...but there is no theme, unless, of course, you count Christmas.
I'm w/you. Although most of my ten kids are grown and gone (only two high schoolers remain, w/daughters that come home from college from time-to-time), the tree can get pretty raggedy after g'kids' little hands have touched the ornaments (that's a joyful part of the season), and, our cat, Victor, has knocked off a few ornaments. So, though I love to just sit and look at the tree in all its glory, I hate clutter, and it's a good feeling when the tree gets put outside to be hauled away, the decorations are put back in the rafters, and we say "so long" until next year when we go buy another, bigger tree, and haul it home, only to have another "Groundhog Day" experience. Come to think of it, though, I wouldn't have it any other way!
Posted by: Cathy | January 15, 2011 4:14 PM
Our tree is still up and though the needles are all still intact and it looks beautiful...I suppose it will come down tomorrow or Monday.
We have a so called "themed" tree...silver, cranberry red, black, and white. I loved picking out the decor with my hubby (not sure if it was a blessing or curse that he has as much of an opinion on it as I do), and I decorated it one afternoon while I was snowed in and he was snowed out (stuck at work).
We don't have any kids (yet...) and the few random ornaments that we have aren't enough to fill a tree. I very much look forward to the day of being able to have a tree filled with a collection of our kids' ornaments.
Posted by: Tessa | January 15, 2011 5:44 PM
Our tree - purchased on Christmas Eve - came down yesterday. It was drying out and frankly, we needed our living room back. It was a huge tree in a small living room. We always get our tree on Christmas Eve or the day before and keep it up until at least the Feast of the Epiphany.
Oh and the theme of our tree this year? Unbreakable plastic ornaments.
Posted by: Molly | January 16, 2011 7:31 AM
The tree's beautiful! :)
Posted by: Anna | January 16, 2011 4:45 PM
Thank you Barbara for letting me know we aren't the only family with a tree still up on Jan. 16th. We were planning to take it down after the Epiphany, but our son Kevin who has autism just would not have that! He cries and melts down whenever we even mention taking down the tree. We've decided to do it when he's at school--but we had no school last week due to snow and ice. So, we might have our tree up until summer at this rate (it's not real, thank God!). Your tree was lovely!!
Posted by: Sara F | January 16, 2011 7:49 PM
Mine is still up too. Actually Christmas season doesn't start till Christmas and goes to probably Epiphany. I boxed everything up this past weekend except for the tree and the lights. But, I notice too, in my part of the world, that there are quite a few who still plug in their Christmas lights at night and I love it. Would be neat to have a smaller tree, artifical or real, and decorate for each holiday during the tree. Something magical about a lighted tree in the evening time in that dark corner that soothes the soul.
Posted by: Lela | January 17, 2011 1:16 PM
