Show me your Christmas trees!

[somethingshiny]

Or Holiday Displays!

I have my two big trees up. I still have to do the little one for my son''s playroom and the little ones for the sunporch (which just have lights on them). And, I still have to do the porch. We just discovered yesterday that all of our outdoor lights are dead! Now, I''m going to splurge on pre-lit garland for the porch! We got our pre-lit trees two years ago and WOW! It is so much easier and quicker to set them up!

I know those of you who have real trees won''t necessarily have them in the very near future, so please bump this thread when you start getting them! I think they are SO beautiful, but I''m allergic to them so it''s all artificial for us!

Sorry, I still can''t figure out how to post more than one pic at a time.

Here''s my dining room tree. White lights, silver fabric, all snowflakes and a snow angel on top. (my dining room is all snowmen and snowflakes now)

 

[somethingshiny]

Here''s the Living room Christmas tree. White lights, gold fabric, reddish angel and "traditional" ornaments. Mostly blown glass like Christopher Radko.

 

[somethingshiny]

From the outside, you can see 3,000 lights blazing! I still need to put all my candles in the windows and do the porch. By then we''ll be looking at around 4,000 white lights. The neighbors tease me that it looks like a runway.

It IS dark out right now, so excuse the dimness of the pic!

 

[Skippy123]

Yaaaaaaaaaaay Somethingshiny! You have me so excited because I just just finished decorating my tree today so I will take a pic a little later and post my pic! Yay for this thread

I love your trees, wow 2! Great pic of the house; they look great! I can't wait to see everyones trees. hehee

 

[monarch64]

I love your trees, somethingshiny! I was just thinking today that I would like to use ribbon this year as garland, my mom used to use it on her trees and it looks s pretty.

I do 4-5 trees, several of which are themed. For some reason this year I have not been able to get in the spirit of decorating...I''ve not been feeling well the past couple weeks though so maybe that''s why. Normally I cannot hold myself back from decorating!

I''ll post pics when I get my trees trimmed! Thanks for the inspiration.

 

[somethingshiny]

Skippy~ hurry up with those pics, lady!!


Monarch~ My mom's tree always looked like the Spirit of Christmas threw up all over it. It was all covered in homemade crap. We had the colored lights with a big colored garland star on top. My mom doesn't like my trees at all. She doesn't think they have any "Christmas" in them.

I've used wire-edged ribbon before, too. I took lengths of it and cut a little hole in the middle. Then I slid it over the top of the tree (covered it with the topper, of course) then ran it vertically down the tree. I've also used it horizontally. The wire was really easy to form in and around the branches. That's actually fabric on my trees this year. I bought 3 yards of each fabric for $1/yd, and I just cut them up. This is the first Christmas I've done the "traditional" tree. I usually do more Victorian looking. My Snowflake tree I started a couple years ago. I do character ornaments on my son's play-room tree. Then, I like the three alpine trees on my porch with just the lights.

We have a perfect Christmas tree in our yard that we really want to decorate but it's SOO tall, we can't figure out how to get up there!!

Throw in some Christmas music, light a sugar cookie candle and get to work! I also find that playing White Christmas helps significantly!

 

[Skippy123]

My Christmas Tree; I think I will add ribbon or beads now seeing this pic. hehee

 

[Maisie]

My husband wants us to wait till the end of the week before we put ours up. I want to do it now!!!!

 

[pennquaker09]

I've been meaning to buy a tree, but I just haven't had the time, plus if I go out to Target or somewhere, I won't be able to lift it so I've decided to order one from Balsam Hill. I'm trying to decide between the Douglas or Fraser Fir. Any opinions?

Fraser Fir

Rocky Mountain Pine

Douglas Fir

Balsam Fir

 

[zoebartlett]

Just curious, do you use a real or an artifical tree? We haven''t put ours up yet but I''ll try to post a pic when we do. I grew up with real trees and couldn''t imagine anything else. My FI grew up with artificial trees and he''s always wanted a real one. We ended up getting an artificial tree though because I''m paranoid of it catching on fire if it gets too dry. I never thought I''d have an artificial tree but it doesn''t look too bad.

 

[Maisie]

I have an artificial tree. We had real ones when I was a child but its easier for me now just to stick a fake one up

 

[somethingshiny]

Penn~

My trees are called Timberline Fir, and they closely resemble the Fraser Fir you listed. They are very dense. I have to create openings for large ornaments, other than that, I love my trees.

One way to avoid the artificial look is to go with a tree that has more than one type of "tip". Mine have three different tips which look more like real trees.

The Balsam Fir you linked looks very fake to me.


Our True Value has a great selection. You may want to stop in and look even if you intend on ordering something and having it delivered.

Just my opinion, but any tree that says Scotch or Canadian Pine look really scraggly to me. Maybe I haven''t seen any good ones, but I''d be hesitant.

Good Luck in your Tree Search! Post pics when it''s trimmed!

 

[somethingshiny]

Skippy~

I LOVE the COLOR of your tree! Is it blue spruce?? Pretty, Pretty!

 

[somethingshiny]

Thanks, SDL! I wish I could find that blushing emotie!

It''s white with green shutters. It has a little attic peak, too. And a sunporch that''s off to the left of the picture. We don''t own it yet, but we hope to.

 

[monarch64]

Here''s the tree I trimmed today...it''s in our bedroom on top of the dresser, a little fake pre-lit number festooned with my tropical Radko garlands and tropical themed ornaments. I used a piece of driftwood, a couple large conch shells and other shells around the bottom instead of a treeskirt, and I attached a large starfish as a topper this year since the little finial I have looks too small in proportion to the rest of the ornaments.

 

[monarch64]

Closer up:

 

[monarch64]

It makes a great nightlight as well!

I still have to get all the other Christmas decor out of the attic, I have at least two more trees to put up and decorate--the main one for the living room, and a smaller one I deck out with Wizard of Oz ornaments and paraphanelia. And if I'm feeling super-motivated I will do DH's sports-themed tree in the basement. Yes, I will be sure to post pics of all!

Skippy, love your tree, it's beautiful!

 

[KimberlyH]

Monnie, I'm lovin' the Buffett book you've thrown in the mix with your tropical themed tree!!!

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 11/26/2007 9:09:59 PM
Author: monarch64
It makes a great nightlight as well!

I still have to get all the other Christmas decor out of the attic, I have at least two more trees to put up and decorate--the main one for the living room, and a smaller one I deck out with Wizard of Oz ornaments and paraphanelia. And if I''m feeling super-motivated I will do DH''s sports-themed tree in the basement. Yes, I will be sure to post pics of all!

Skippy, love your tree, it''s beautiful!

thanks friend!!! I love your ocean themed tree; it looks fantastic!

 

[Skippy123]

Date: 11/26/2007 8:00:36 PM
Author: somethingshiny
Skippy~

I LOVE the COLOR of your tree! Is it blue spruce?? Pretty, Pretty!

I don''t know what it is? It is a fakey

People always think it is real too! I have seen the ones with the lights built in but I have a hard time giving up the tree now because people think it is real

thank you!!!

 

[monarch64]

Date: 11/26/2007 9:28:13 PM
Author: KimberlyH
Monnie, I'm lovin' the Buffett book you've thrown in the mix with your tropical themed tree!!!

LOL...underneath it is a copy of Southern Living, and on top of it is a little copy of Le Petit Prince! I felt like I was on vacation somewhere tropical when I was assembling all of it tonight, hee hee! Our bedroom is my oasis that gets me through these bone-chilling midwest winters! Oh, almost forgot, behind the books is an autographed pic of Jimmy himself that my parents got me one year for Christmas! I couldn't get a good pic of it with the flash on.

 

[somethingshiny]

Monnie~

I noticed your Buffet too! That tree is so cute! I''ve never seen a tropical tree. My BFF would die for that tree! She sneaks pineapples and palm trees on her tree. I love my Christopher Radko stuff, and it looks beautiful with your theme! I like the starfish on top!


Skippy~

For gosh sakes, KEEP that tree! Prelit is great, but REAL is better. That''s a great looking fakey!!

 

[Haven]

I just wanted to say that I love all of your trees! I love Christmas so much, I feel blessed to be able to mooch holiday cheer off of ya''all!

 

[monarch64]

Thanks, Somethingshiny! Soooo, from one Radko lover to another, I have all kinds of questions for ya...where do you find yours? Do you pay full price or find them on sale at the end of season? Do you like a particular style (all Santas, yearly ones, themed ones), have you gotten into any of the other holiday ornaments such as Halloween, etc.? Sorry, deep breath! My parents started my collection when I was a teenager, I think I got my first garland from one of their trips to FL when they discovered that Radko designed tropical themed ones, and I''ve been hooked ever since. I worked for Steinmart for a few years, my last year there we got a shipment right before Christmas of ornaments and finials and ended up marking them way down and I was able to get a huge finial for my parents'' Christmas gift for around $20! I haven''t seen such a great deal since. If you know of any websites where you can find deeply discounted Radko anything I would love to know! My SIL and her family love tropical anything, and last year I had the hardest time finding them a tropical Radko ornament but ended up getting one from www.curiocabinet.com for full price. It was worth it, their whole tree (and they are sane, they only do one main tree) consists of Radkos they''ve collected over the years.

 

[monarch64]

Date: 11/26/2007 6:19:36 PM
Author: pennquaker09
I''ve been meaning to buy a tree, but I just haven''t had the time, plus if I go out to Target or somewhere, I won''t be able to lift it so I''ve decided to order one from Balsam Hill. I''m trying to decide between the Douglas or Fraser Fir. Any opinions?

Fraser Fir

Rocky Mountain Pine

Douglas Fir

Balsam Fir

Pennquaker, I like the Fraser or the Rocky Mountain Pine. Unless you live in CA, I wouldn''t do the Douglas...it looks very native to CA to me...and I feel like the Balsam is too branchy, if that makes any sort of sense.

 

[KimberlyH]

Date: 11/26/2007 9:40:43 PM
Author: monarch64

Date: 11/26/2007 9:28:13 PM
Author: KimberlyH
Monnie, I''m lovin'' the Buffett book you''ve thrown in the mix with your tropical themed tree!!!

LOL...underneath it is a copy of Southern Living, and on top of it is a little copy of Le Petit Prince! I felt like I was on vacation somewhere tropical when I was assembling all of it tonight, hee hee! Our bedroom is my oasis that gets me through these bone-chilling midwest winters! Oh, almost forgot, behind the books is an autographed pic of Jimmy himself that my parents got me one year for Christmas! I couldn''t get a good pic of it with the flash on.

An autographed picture? Don''t ever let me near your house, I might catch a case of sticky fingers. My sister has an autographed copy of A Pirate Looks at 40 that I have been coveting for years.

 

[Gypsy]

Here''s mine. The tree is a 7 foot noble fir. And our new tree topper, which looks like a jeweled showflake on top.

Here''s one without the flash so you can see the lights.

 

[Gypsy]

With flash.

 

[somethingshiny]

Monnie~

My BFF started me on the Radkos a few years ago, so I don't have many. I think I have like a dozen or so of the blown glass ornaments, a few ceramics, and a musical candle holder. I started with snowmen, then santa's, then with world types, and last year I got a 2006 ornament because that's the year my son was born. I want to start a collection for him to have one day. (not all year ornaments)

The Botanical Gardens in Peoria used to do a Radko open house. They were less than retail, but not deeply discounted. I've gotten my best deals at Marshall's for the ceramics. And, the best deals for the glass on Ebay. I usually find great deals in the Summertime. They're still pretty expensive in Jan, Feb. But, by May, they're out of everybody's head. I got the Snowsquad ornament for $12. The only place near me that sells Radko is a place called Lodestone. But, they don't get them in until middle of Dec. Then, they only order very few and they're sold out by Christmas.

I wish I could find the Shiny Brites. I would love to have those on my tree!

Gypsy~ I was looking for a topper like that for 3 years! I ended up settling for the angel on my snowflake tree. Very pretty!

 

[monarch64]

Somethingshiny, you''ve got a great collection of Radko''s started so far! I just went to www.christopherradko.com , there is a whole cute interactive thing on shiny brites, the sets of 12 balls aren''t priced too outrageously at $29.95...maybe you can put those and a couple larger shiny brites on your Christmas list this year!

I love the shiny brites, but since I''ve never started a collection of them and I have mainly the sun and fun themed things as of now I think I''ll stick with those. Someday I would love to do a whole 6'' tree with nothing but tropical-themed Radko''s. I have 4 garlands as shown in the pic of my little bedroom tree, but those are totally overlapped in the back, you just can''t tell from looking at the tree from the front, so I think I only need maybe two more of those to incorporate into a large tree someday.

I don''t know if Steinmart''s exist in IA (I think that''s where you live, right?), but doesn''t Von Maur carry Radko, and if so, maybe you can check them out after the holidays for good deals on Radko? I also worked for them for about a year post-college and I know they do their markdowns on Wednesdays and Thursdays, FYI!