what do you do with the old stuff???

[Sparklelu]

So looking at the pretty trees in the show me your tree thread, I got to thinking. what do those of you who do a different color or themed tree each year do with the old stuff? And why do you change each year? My DD SIL just posted her tree on FB and commented that she was doing purple and teal this year so she gave all her silver and black to her sister.
We have collected many ornaments over the 35 Christmases we have been together, and they all go on the tree each year. We have ornaments that we collected/they chose for the kids. When they moved out I tried to give them, but they wanted their own decorations so they go on too. Funny though oldest DS wants us to wait till he comes down from NYC to hang "his" ornaments.
So we put the same ones on each year, each one has its own story and I love that. Even though we use the same ornaments the tree looks different each year.
We do have 2 other tress. one that is garnet and gold ( mostly ) go FSU!!! and one that is mostly Disney ( really mostly Mickey and Minnie), and we add to those too.
So question is why do you do it, switch colors or themes... and more importantly what do you do with all the beautiful stuff you are not using....
Our trees are not up yet as DH is painting the house, so i am living vicariously through you all!!!

 

[iluvshinythings]

Every year a few ornaments get broken and the next year I need more of one color or another. One year I did green, red and silver but the year after that I couldn't find any of the right color of green so I went to red, silver and gold. The gold was leftover from the purple and gold year. It all evolves due to breakage. Once in a huge while I switch it out just for fun. We have our special ornaments that are put on the tree every year. The "special" ones are usually hand made or have some kind of special significance. I don't have enough of those to do the whole tree though.

All of the stuff I'm not using goes back into the attic and eventually gets recycled.

 

[monarch64]

I have given away a few decorative things over the years, mostly office gifts that didn't fit with the rest of my stuff, and things like stocking holders because we do not have a mantle in our current home, and some things I bought as temporary fixes like Target tree skirts.

I've been collecting special ornaments for probably 36 years (as long as I've been alive) thanks to my parents. I would never part with those even if they don't get used every year.

ETA: my trees aren't up yet, either! We have an 18 month old and I'm reconfiguring the loft area so I can put our big tree up there. Baby is getting a little pink one in her room, and I'll put another slim 4 footer on the first landing of the staircase that is gated off but still visible from the living room. Toddlers sort of muck up the program!

 

[NTave]

We add to our ornaments every year..I pick up one at each place we travel to on vacation and we add another ornament around the holidays, usually a lovely, nice one. My children also add their own ornaments they make at school and those continue on the tree each year until they don't look well anymore. I pull out ornaments that were given to me as a child by my grandmother that has passed..ones that make me think of my children when they were tiny, ones that make me think of my parents..I love opening the box because each ornament on my tree is full of memories. It may not be the prettiest, but the sentiment when we look at it makes it the loveliest tree to us. So I do not throw anything away unless it cant be repaired.

 

[momhappy]

I usually do a new color theme each year and I just put whatever I'm not using into storage bins.

 

[JewelFreak]

I have a horrifying amount of Christmas decorations! Bought ornaments all over Europe when we lived there & back here, on sale after the holidays. Added to that when I couldn't resist something.

Never do the same tree twice -- I've done Victorian trees, trees full of toys, bird trees, you name it. The unused stuff stays in boxes till the next year.

Now if I could only keep the DAWG from chewing them up when I have my back turned, decorating the tree. Grrrrrr!

--- Laurie

 

[marcy]

We cleaned out a lot of our stuff last year when we moved. I have about 2 dozen sentimental ornaments; none of which are very nice so I keep them but rarely hang them on the tree. I just enjoy seeing them each year. We used to have a 14 foot tree in the house so we have a ton of little lights; I think I will have DH take them to our local meals on wheel next week. We bought a slim 6 foot pre-lit tree that we use now.

Our outdoor decorations this year are new; we bought LED to help keep our light bill in check. Our old house had a 25 foot (approx) pine tree we used to put lights on plus had them running along the edge of our house. We had the older style C7 lights and had a lot of them due to the size of our tree so I gave them to a friend to put on their house. Sadly they threw them away because when they were trying to put them up she and her little kids kept stepping on them and breaking bulbs and blowing fuses so he got mad and went to Lowes and bought all white lights. Maybe that is what he wanted anyway.

We had a reindeer that is about 18 years old and really yellowed because it's old but I love that little thing. DH had to replace a lot of bulbs this year so I hope it will last us for awhile.

 

[LaraOnline]

It may not be the prettiest, but the sentiment when we look at it makes it the loveliest tree to us. So I do not throw anything away unless it cant be repaired.

Yes, I'm afraid that 'my' kind of Christmas tree is not the decorator tree either!
Each year it's the same decos perhaps with a couple more home-made ones that the children have made at school.
If I do pick up a new decoration, it is just because I liked it, as an individual deco.
I have some beautiful hand blown ones... unfortunately most are broken now because my youngest child took a liking to them, secretly picked them off the tree and put them in a bag to lump around! So they mostly broke.

The idea of a stylish 'teal and purple' tree with matching baubles or similarly well-put-together colour-themed tree is something I view at our shopping mall lol. I suspect mine will always be a higgle piggle family tree with a lop sided angel.
Perhaps when I'm a stylish old lady and my children have left home...

 

[Gypsy]

The only thing I collect is ornaments.
So I try to take as much care as I can with them. I do get some breakage each year. Primarily because the majority of my ornaments are glass and crystal as that's what I prefer.

I used to keep my ornaments limited to shades of white, metallics, shades of red and clear ornaments with a few rich violet ones thrown in for interest.
However my collection has gotten too big for a small tree (7 feet) so last year I pulled out only the white, clear and silver. The tree was lovely.

And I kept the rest in storage. This year I am doing an even smaller tree, so I am going to also use only the white, clear and silver. But I am hoping that maybe once we move I can have the room for a large tree again, and put all my ornaments out again.

Or... just give in and do two trees. Of course, that assumes I have the space for that. Which I do not currently. Don't know if I ever will honestly.

 

[kenny]

Old stuff?

Every 15 years I dump the old boyfriend and get a younger one.
Why? Because I'm rich and gorgeous.

This one expires in a year

Just kidding.