Is triming the tree a time for ceremony and traditions at your house?

Warm us this year with your memories of Christmas past.

We usually purchase a live tree because we like the way it smells. I know it is more expensive, but we do splurge once in awhile.

When we trim the tree, we always put candy canes on it and some Hershey's kisses in little ornaments that my late aunt made out of plastic canvas that you can squeeze and they open their "Mouth" and let you have the kiss! During Christmas, any visitor is welcome to have one of those edible ornaments. We have hot cocoa and play Christmas music. The cocoa can be stirred with one of the candy canes.

I also made a picture ornament each year for pictures of my little ones as they were growing up. We have Christmas stars, bulbs, hearts, and more, all with their smiling faces coming through. It brings back very nice memories.

Our biggest tradition is Christmas cookies. My grandmother had a special recipe that she would not let anyone have until she could not make them anymore. We would always get a box that had these cookies in it sometime during the first week in December. Then my aunt took over making the cookies until she could no longer do it. Then we all have the recipe. We make them around Thanksgiving because they need to season. They are soft with anise flavoring. :) > While we bake these for friends and also a sweet bread called "Hoska", the recipe remains with us.

It is getting quieter here at our home. My children have flown the nest - the youngest one graduates from college this year - and it is just my husband and myself, although they do come home, it is mostly just the two of us and our dogs. My parents live very nearby and my older daughter and her husband and little girl live just down the road about ten miles. We see them often and still keep the traditions, although they do change a little without the family around the table.

For decades the tree went up after mid-December and came down on the 26th or thereabouts.  For about 10 years or so, it has went up on Christmas Eve with a family gathering/snacks-treats, and a great time.  This year, I "think" we will be putting the tree up this weekend, or next week, but it still comes down before the end of December.  December tradition would be that our holiday meal is always a non-traditional potluck buffet, our gifts given/recieved are few, and the memories made are of good times and enjoyment rather than hectic activities and overspending.

 Growing up, we all went to get the tree then dad put it up and the whole family decorated.  My DH is much the same.  Now, we have Christmas music playing and either hot chocolate or warm cider as a preliminary.  DH & I get the lights on, then I start unpacking ornaments and handing them to the grandkids for placement on the tree (I rearrange after they have gone home/to bed).  Then comes the treasure.  It is a really tacky star thingie and every year at least one person feels the need to point out that this REALLY needs to be replaced.

Nope, it used to belong to my great-aunts and has been on every tree since I was a baby.  It isn't Christmas until it tops the tree.

Ahh memories! Hopefully this will give at least one person a good grin... I still laugh when I remember that day!

The first Christmas AC (after cats!) is one I will always remember and now that some time has passed and scratches have healed.. will cherish too!

I pulled the tree out of the box, and removed a branch from a cat's mouth.

I attempted to set it into the tree stand and stopped numerous times to nudge away a cat who was still trying to taste it.

I got it standing up in the tree stand and stood back to admire it... just before watching it topple over with a cat on it.

I removed the cat, tried unsuccessfully to communicate to her that the tree was a nice tree, undeserving of attack.

I fluffed out the branches realizing that I was merely providing them with more secure footing.

Suddenly the tree toppled over onto me along with a cat, more determined than ever to kill this foreign invader.

Time for weaponry.. I grabbed my water bottle (vet approved!) to squirt their fannies when sharp words are being ignored.

I refluffed branches, keeping my weapon close and squirting them as needed.

I got out the garland, returned to find both cats on top of the now horizontal (again) tree, contentedly snapping their tails, secure in the knowledge that they had conquered this tree thing.

I grabbed my camera and took numerous pictures of what I sensed would be my last large Christmas tree for a while.

I removed the cats and loaded it back in the box.

I went to a home improvement/big box store and bought some wreathes and wreath holders that go over the door, and some miniature trees. I hung the wreaths on the inside of the door (real cedar for that fresh cedar aroma) and put a few small ornaments on them. I then put the miniature trees on bookcases.

We still have those "trees" as part of our holiday traditions as we love our fur babies more than plastic or wood. :)

Merry Christmas everyone :)

We buy Christmas ornaments as souveniers on our vacations. They're inexpensive, and as we take them out of the box to put on the tree, it brings back memories of family vacations through the years: a miniature Monticello; a bread-dough Mark Twain from Hannibal, Mo.; Gateway Arch; egg from the Shaker Village; crane from the Crane Foundation; Abraham Lincoln Library; Nauvoo...

Guess the list shows we're midwesterners!

DH used to enjoy helping his mom put her tree together & help her decorate it, but I don't remember him ever helping me, besides getting the tree out of the attic!  Now the trees are in plastic bins in the garage, so I don't even have to bother him for that!  He's a great guy, but I don't think he enjoys Christmas like he used to.

 I put the main tree up & get the lights on, then DD helps me put the decorations on. I try to at least have a Christmas movie on tv while this is going on.  With DD's tree, I put hers together (pre-lit is the greatest!), spread her ornies out, & let her decorate however she wanted.

 The only tradition is that I try to get all of the Christmas decorating done the Saturday after Thanksgiving.

With our painting project in the lviing room, our tree decorating has been put off. We usually do it the first weekend in December and take it down New Year's Day. I"m going to work on it this weekend.

We have an artificial tree and DH sets it up, I "fluff" up the branches and we put on the lights. I have 2 boxes of ornaments, fragile and not fragile. The kiddos can put on all the nonfragile ornaments whereever they want to on the tree. Mostly, those are all the ornaments they have made over the years. It's cute to see a cluster of 5-6 hand-made ornaments on the bottom of the tree. I hang the more fragile ornaments higher up. After the ornaments are on, I circle the tree and drape wired-ribbon around the tree. I usually buy a different color on clearance at the end ofthe previous year. So it could be gold, silver, red, blue, red/green, etc. The previous years' ribbon is used for tying bows on gifts. Last year it was gold will be very pretty on my gifts. This year, I have red which will look nice with our new living room paint color (caramel). We have an angel that tops the tree. DH puts the lights on a timer and we enjoy it for several weeks.

While we decorate, we listen to Christmas music or have a holiday movie on TV. I make hot cocoa or hot tea to drink and pop popcorn.

We had a similar tradition growing up. My dad would make a big fire in the fireplace. We didn't watch TV but listened to Christmas records on the record player. He and my mom would have a "hot toddy" and I would have hot cocoa. Popcorn, too.

Tussiemussies:

What a nice thread, I really enjoyed reading over everyone's traditions...

Me, too.

When the kids were young, they loved to help decorate the tree. DH would put on Christmas music and I'd make hot cocoa and get out some of the Christmas cookies. Both kids had certain ornaments they liked to hang, and DD, the youngest, always put the angel on top of the tree. DS's job was to hang the traditional pickle ornament in a hidden spot for one of us to find at some point during the season. These days, they still do those two little tasks, but otherwise DH and I generally do the tree trimming on our own. The kids are just too busy with work and school. If we waited til all four of us can be together at the same time, I think we'd end up decorating the tree late on Christmas Eve! LOL

Our tree is almost always a real one. One year we bought an artificial tree. It was nice, but it just didn't have that wonderful smell. So it's up in the attic collecting dust while we buy our real trees.

I have a few ornaments that are real treasures to me. The tree isn't complete without my dear little Christmas elves from the late 1950s, and a tiny snowman I fasten to a branch with the aged green pipe  cleaner it's attached to. They were always on the tree when I was a child. And I have a couple of glass ornaments from the 1940s that belonged to my grandparents' that I very carefully hang out of reach of any tiny nieces' or nephews' curious fingers and playful cats' paws. Once those ornaments are hung, and DD places the angel on high, Christmas is really here.