The Evolution of My Christmas

[H2ODude]

Was thinking last night that I actually miss the series strings from childhood when you had to check each bulb to get the string working! It was part of the kids' holidays to "check that string on the tree ... must be one out!" No, I don't want any like that, just a bit of nostalgia working.

I have a routine string along front. Tree balls a big thing here. I do ONE of those, but it's near the top of the oak tree behind our two story house. I get questions of how do I do that? Bow and arrow, pull 10# fishing line first, followed by 50# that pulls the ball and extension cords. Hey, it['s something to do.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Gated Community, NOT 55+. We seem to have an annual ritual of Door Wreaths and Mail Box Tchotchkes. LOL, and No it is not mandated by the HOA Gestapo. We do have an 8ft. artificial tree with LED Lights, DW like to put fairy lights around the fireplace, and candles on the tables, but that is about it. No Kids so it is all for DW's benefit and she does ALL the work.

 

[Souschef]

We have also downsized. We have not put up our 8 foot artificial tree for a number of years. We no longer host Christmas dinner, so it did not make sense for the two of us. We have a cute 3 foot artificial tree lit with fiber optics that change colors.
This year we are not even putting up our LED icicles.

 

[Teacher Terry]

I have given away most of the decorations. Santa hangs on the front door outside and 5 things inside. Easy).

 

[Aerides]

I still hang lights around the gutter line (screwed in hooks years back so it's just about a 1 hour job). I like the look and the soft glow to help combat the darkness of December.

Indoor I have a 10 foot, 4 part tree that's now in its 13th year. I had to remove all the pre-done lights a couple of years ago and added new led ones. It's about an hour to get assembled and connected.

Then about another 3-4 hours to get the tree decorated. I actually still enjoy doing it. I have nice memories associated with many of my ornaments, either they were a gift or something I picked as a memento on a trip, or I found happily on sale one year, stuff like that.

A lot of happy stories play out in my head while I'm working on it, so I don't imagine getting tired of that any time soon.

 

[Born2BRetd]

My indoor decorating has become streamlined through the year as the kids grew up but this year we added a large inflatable Nutcracker and two smaller nutcrackers outside on the lawn. With all of the restriction on activities this year we wanted to give the neighborhood children something fun to look at.

 

[brett]

We have a bunch of those awful blow up things in our area. Very garish.

We put up the tree this year. Just the two of us because of covid restrictions. A few strings of outdoor lights and the job was complete.

 

[jollystomper]

We have a bunch of those awful blow up things in our area. Very garish.

I got a chuckle this morning. DW and I went for a walk through the neighborhood before the[-] horrible snowmageddon event to end all snow events as reported on the news[/-] mild snow storm stared. After a while DW asked "What is it with all these houses having piles of colorful cloth on their lawns?". I explained to her they were the large inflatable decorations, the owners had deflated in a advance of the snow. To me it looked like someone had killed and run over a bunch of snowmen/santas/reindeers...