Heh, heh. I think I would have been a magnolia.

Well, it didn't help that I had been drinking Margaritas and some peach wine when I wrote it. I should have obviously added ...years-old.

I got all the music boxes, Nativity scenes and other decorations out. I fluffed and assembled the tree, but we didn't decorate it yet. My aunt gave me her whole Christmas village so I had to move things around and make a new "plan" for everything to accomodate the village. My daughter and I had a good time putting the new village up. However, I thought they would 'daisy chain' with the plugs and they don't, so I have to buy some long surge protectors to plug in all the little shops, etc.

I put lights on the shrubs today (since it was in the 60's, I figured it was now or never), but I decided not to do the lights on the gutters this year. Next weekend, I'm going to pick up a couple lighted display things to put on the lawn. Michael's has some good deals and, of course, their 40% off coupon, so I think I can get what I want. No gutter lights this year, nope. The bottom line is, the shrubs are getting too large to be able to get my ladder in between them safely, on stable ground.

I think that I don't need to be getting up on ladders anymore anyway. I'm so wiped out tired from hauling boxes up the stairs. It's been a very tiring weekend.

Mine is the same, only with pink instead of burgandy. I also tuck silk magnolias & roses in between the branches, then scatter just a little artificial snow from the top.

I have two archways in my living room, with magnolias, and the same pink ribbon from the tree at the top of each. The same bows are on my mailbox, wreath, and lamp posts. The only lights I put up (clear, of course) outside are on a burberry bush (which glows pink) and the huge Mountain Laurel I have on the side of the house.

Today was clearing up for the decorations day; next weekend, I hope to put them up.

Since i already was in the christmas tree thread we have already put up the tree and decorations this past week. Besides my obession with the perfect full and tall tree i have decked out the house and it has all come together quite well. My decorations are pretty much in the burgandy, hunter green and gold color scheme. I have my grandfathers old train set under the tree as well as a beautiful navitiy set in the entry way table. Along with all the red, green and white cutsey old fashion decorations i cant ever get rid of.

I hang tear drop decorated weaths and lighted mantle swags over the mantle and door ways. I bought last yr at the after-christmas sale at wal mart this HUGE outdoor weath that is pre strung and put it up above the garage door along with the dangling white lites and mix it with traditional colored strands outside.

We really deck the halls every yr around here. My brothers and i can see who can outdo the other each yr :) I am now on the search for the old fashion tree lights that are now walk way path light stakes. We also put out the yard display items.

The housing development i live in , i think we secertly try to out do one another every yr , like my brothers and myself. :)

this is the first christmas that my bf and i have lived together - my first away from home...

so while my bf swears he has a big box of decorations somewhere, i think i'm going to have to raid my mom's garage, to see what we need :D

hopefully we'll find that box tonight! :p

This is my first christmas living with my boyfriend also...since our house is decorated in lots of earthy colors, green walls and beige couches, we went for a similar style in christmas decorating...pinecone garlands on the mantle, fake holly berries and nuts in a centerpiece, etc. The only mismatch is our tree, because I have soo many of the bright colorful balls and painted popsicle stick ornaments from my siblings that the tree looks super out of place :p I love christmas decorating though, we did it Black Friday!

It's so exciting to read about everyone getting their holiday decorations up, everything sounds so pretty...I'm actually kind of looking forward to the day when I have my own place to really decorate...

I'm starting to get a better idea of what the whole actually living on my own thing is going to be like since this year I'm living in a suite with five other girls that I know from last year and we've made our common room into more of a living room and less of a typical dorm common room, it's very home feeling all the time, but the best is how it's being decorated for the season. We live on the 11th floor of our building (the top floor, of the tallest building on campus) and we have multi-colored lights hanging in the windows, a real, alive christmas tree (which is amazing to me because at home we have a fake tree, and because, there's an alive christmas tree on the 11th floor of a dorm, in cleveland and that just seems like a very unlikely place to find a christmas tree) that has white lights and random orniments that we've made or brought from home. There are 6 little stockings on the wall and each one has one of our names on it in our favorite color, and the door is wrapped in wrapping paper and has a wreath on it (basically, one of my suitemates realllllly loves hoildays...)

It's also cute that at my sorority house we have snowflakes that the VP of Membership Development made hanging on the wall, and they each have a sister's name written on it.

My mom has annouced the theme this year will be "retro." She is putting up all her ornaments she has collected over the years, which probably means putting up the ones we made as kids too.

What I really think her theme is "I'm going to do my damnest to guilt trip my daughter to prevent her from moving 5,000 miles away."

I think she is going to put up the ones we made as kids, too. She even mentioned popcorn gurland. I'm frieghtened.

Since I spend the week betwn Christmas & New Year's at my parents, I don't do much here in NYC. Maybe some holiday scented candles.

Every year we use the same family tree with a bunch of old ornamets. Teacher ornaments from when my mom was first teaching, the ones we made in pre-school, etc etc. While I know it's the same tree year after year, it always looks a little shorter! Must be something that happens as I get older...

SigmaPsi Star.. You reminded me of one of my favorite college memories...
I was living with my sister-daughter and one of my pledge sisters in an apartment and it was finals week. We'd all been studying like crazy and it was around midnight and we were getting stir crazy. We decided we needed a break to get our Christmas spirit going so we headed to Meijer and picked up green garland and lights. We taped the garland to the wall of our living room in the shape of a tree, taped the lights on it and made ornaments out of construction paper. We had a blast and our "tree" looked great! Ahhh, those were good times.. wish I could go back!

I haven't even thought about decorating yet. I usually don't decorate until a week before Christmas.

I walked passed a Christmas tree vendor earlier and was overwhelmed by the smell of pine trees. It was 60-something degrees today so it seemed a little weird like Christmas in Springtime.

I'm being a Grinch this year. Normally, I decorate the weekend after Thanksgiving. We go get a 8-9' real tree for the LR and a wreath for outside. I have a large collection of Santas that get set in our piano, mantel, windowseat -- basically anywhere I can put them -- and two small trees that get the Santa ornaments.

This year, however, our house is in a state of semi-construction and I am not feeling the holiday spirit. I put up my Willow Tree Nativity scene, one Santa and some lighted garland outside. Good enough.

My Little Tree is in the window and still looking for the simulated stained glass winter scene. It has to be in the junk room.:confused:

My mother-in-law gave me a beautiful nativity set that belonged to her mother. It's off-white porcelain and absolutely gorgeous. I start putting the pieces out today only to find that Mary and 2 of the wise men are missing.
Damn. All I can think is where on earth are they but my hubby is laughing saying that she ran off with them & abandoned baby Jesus with Joseph. I could have strangled him. :rolleyes:

I think your husband's going to hell for that.

I started pulling stuff out today. I found out that our tree fits well in the corner next to our fireplace. It's pre-lit, and since it's in the corner, I only have to worry about decorating one side - which between two-year-old and new baby is about all I'm going to have time for.