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Are you a festive Holiday Decorator?

jaysonsmom

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My husband thinks I'm nuts because ever since we had kids, I want to decorate my house for every holiday....Christmas (obviously =) ), but also Easter, 4th of July, Halloween, Thanksgiving etc.

I just had him help me put up Halloween decorations this past weekend, and he was griping about how this will only be up 2 weeks before he has to take them down again...but I love it, and I love that he puts up with me.
 

zoebartlett

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I love seeing other people's decorated houses, but I have to admit that I don't decorate our own. To me, it's just more stuff that I have to store some place, dust, etc., and I just don't feel like putting the energy into it. I sound like a scrooge probably but I'm really not. I'm festive in spirit. If we had kids, it might be a different story.
 

monarch64

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I like to decorate for holidays, yes. SO knows better than to complain. I put up/take down all the decor myself. He always makes sure to compliment me on whatever displays I create and he loves to tell any guests who come over that I am responsible for all the decorating. It's really nice of him and it makes me feel appreciated. :bigsmile:
 

Hera

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This thread reminded me to take pictures of my entry. I don't have kids but I decorate my porch for almost every season. I just add a little every year.

1hal.jpg
 

kenny

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No.
If I had my way I'd decorate the house with sarcastic giant illuminated VISA cards.


My SO is just the opposite so I do it for him.
 

jaysonsmom

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heraanderson|1318983384|3043081 said:
This thread reminded me to take pictures of my entry. I don't have kids but I decorate my porch for almost every season. I just add a little every year.

Very nice! I just got a really cute autumn wreath for my door. I'm going to have to take a pictures to show you guys, but it's always dark by the time I get home!
 

junebug17

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When my kids were little I'd decorate for all of the holidays, but now that they're older I just do a little for Thanksgiving and I still go all out at Christmas, since my kids are home for both of these holidays. I know I sound like an old fart, but it's just too much work to drag stuff out when it's just my husband and myself, and between his traveling for work and me staying with my mother for part of the week, it just doesn't seem worth it. I was feeling overwhelmed last year because of my mother's health issues and came close to not decorating for Christmas except for the tree. My 21 daughter said to my husband "Do you think mom could at least decorate the bannister like she usually does?" When I heard that, needless to say I did my usual decorating, with dh's help. I guess I'll keep it up for as long as my kids are here at Christmas, but honestly I don't know if I'd do it if it was just my husband and me.
 

packrat

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We do a little..our house is so small I don't have places to store things so I can't get too involved. I have one fall and one winter hangy thing for the front door and then a few nick nacky things to put on my Swedish cabinet for fall/winter and that's it. I would like to start collecting those christmas village things but there's no place to store them.
 

Haven

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Hell yeah, I am!

I really love fall and winter, so I decorate for those seasons. I have serious Christmas envy, and have managed to sneak in a couple tasteful wintery items that *could* be misconstrued as Christmas decor, but I say they're just wintery, thankyouverymuch. If I had it my way, I'd have a full-on Christmas tree.

I love decorating for the seasons. It's just one more way to celebrate the little things in life, in my opinion, and I savor the opportunity.
 

D&T

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The two times that I really get festive with our home is halloween and christmas. DH gets a kick and I love seeing the my kids get all excited about the decorations. I really enjoy putting the decorations up. My parents never celebrated any holidays and didn't put up any decorations up at all during my youth and I was a bit envious of my friends home, so at the age of 12 I used some of my allowance money to buy decorations at the grocery store and told myself that I would be festive when I had my own place. I went a little overboard after having kids too. I enjoy making wreaths, unfortunately I don't have a lot of storage so I keep to my three that i change out throughout the year and gift the others
 

diamondseeker2006

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Zoe|1318981689|3043063 said:
I love seeing other people's decorated houses, but I have to admit that I don't decorate our own. To me, it's just more stuff that I have to store some place, dust, etc., and I just don't feel like putting the energy into it. I sound like a scrooge probably but I'm really not. I'm festive in spirit. If we had kids, it might be a different story.

This is pretty much me. I decorate at Christmas, but really no other time. I have a new house and am collecting some new Christmas decorations. I don't do elaborate decorating..just wreath, tree, stockings, centerpieces, and that kind of thing. Oh, and we do the white single window candles (but that is hubby's thing).
 

tyty333

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I've got kids so I try to decorate for most holidays. Halloween is my daughters favorite so we've got all the fall/halloween stuff
out. I Love the color it adds to the house!
 

mayerling

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We're still renting, and we spend all holidays at our parents' so we haven't had an opportunity to decorate yet - which I really regret. And when I say we spend holidays at our parents, I mean we're away for practically a month at Christmas so there's really no opportunity to decorate. But I fully intend to go all out once we get our own place.
 

Jennifer W

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No, not really. People tend not to decorate houses where I live, so it would just look odd. Well, the exception is for Christmas, but I'm not a lover of Christmas decorations, so we restrict it to just a nice tree.
 

yssie

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We do!

Christmas is my favourite time of year (which most people find odd, given that I'm Hindu and DH is Jewish ::) ) - the lights, the smells, the food, the family gatherings and festivities, the music... Yeah, I go nuts. I don't bother trying to make it pretty or matchy, I know I'll go overboard anyway - we get the biggest tree that'll fit, and put up lights *everywhere* - coloured, white, it all fits! And plug-in candles and strands of pinecones and cider and the songs go on as soon as I can justify it... DH really is a saint, he just puts up with it ::)
 

monarch64

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Yssie|1319056634|3043704 said:
We do!

Christmas is my favourite time of year (which most people find odd, given that I'm Hindu and DH is Jewish ::) ) - the lights, the smells, the food, the family gatherings and festivities, the music... Yeah, I go nuts. I don't bother trying to make it pretty or matchy, I know I'll go overboard anyway - we get the biggest tree that'll fit, and put up lights *everywhere* - coloured, white, it all fits! And plug-in candles and strands of pinecones and cider and the songs go on as soon as I can justify it... DH really is a saint, he just puts up with it ::)

SO is also Jewish and he doesn't mind my decor overload either. He is actually one of those people who shops at 4a.m. the day after Thanksgiving for holiday gift bargains. He likes the entire season.
 

Cind11

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My daughters are 17 and 19. I decorate with a small amount for Halloween and Thanksgiving and go all out for Christmas. I probably always will until I can't do it anymore!
 

JewelFreak

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Really nice doorway, Heraanderson! I LOVE to decorate for Christmas, don't do much other times of the year.

Throughout my global travels I bought Christmas stuff everywhere I went, if it was available. Used to run to Harrods for the post-Christmas sale & come out loaded. Got neat things at the Christmas markets in various German towns, all that sort of guff. I still buy more after the holiday, now that we're back in the States. Never have to do the same tree twice -- I usually think up a theme. Cats limit what I can do, though. :angryfire: Outside I just do a wreath on the door, candles in the windows, but inside I love to make it happy & shiny & warm. DH thinks I'm crazy, boo on him.

--- Laurie
 

Gypsy

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I don't decorate for Halloween or Thanksgiving (other than a centerpiece if we are hosting). But this year I really saw some flipping adorable Halloween decorations and if I had kids I would totally invest in some.

I DO love Christmas and Christmas decorations and have a lovely collection of stuff I've bought over the years that makes me smile when I open the box!

I am planning on switching to a fake tree this year for financial reasons and also because I can get it up right after Thanksgiving and keep it up through mid January without any worry for fire hazards. If we had our own house lights would be a must as would 'candles' in each window (I love that look).

I do get a fresh wreath every year and plan to this year but I hang it in my house so I can enjoy it, not outside.
 

Laila619

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Zoe|1318981689|3043063 said:
I love seeing other people's decorated houses, but I have to admit that I don't decorate our own. To me, it's just more stuff that I have to store some place, dust, etc., and I just don't feel like putting the energy into it.

Exactly this!

I am very minimalist and don't like a lot of stuff cluttering up the house, so we only have an Xmas tree and ornaments. That's the extent of it. I'm not even going to do a tree this year though, since we have two cats and a crawling baby.
 

zoebartlett

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Laila619|1319072587|3043870 said:
Zoe|1318981689|3043063 said:
I love seeing other people's decorated houses, but I have to admit that I don't decorate our own. To me, it's just more stuff that I have to store some place, dust, etc., and I just don't feel like putting the energy into it.

Exactly this!

I am very minimalist and don't like a lot of stuff cluttering up the house, so we only have an Xmas tree and ornaments. That's the extent of it. I'm not even going to do a tree this year though, since we have two cats and a crawling baby.

I'm not sure if we'll do a tree this year. Some years we just can't be bothered with it. :bigsmile: I'm terrified of the fire hazard of having a real tree, but I've never found an artificial tree that looked real enough.

The funny thing is, I'm not sure where my lazy attitude towards decorating came from. My mom doesn't go overboard, but she does display a ceramic antique village in the living room, sets out a few candles, and puts up a beautiful tree (real) with ornaments up every year. Oh, and my parents put a single white candle in the windows of their house. It looks really pretty!
 
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