I am going all artificial next year-this bites

[hearts and roses]

I undecorated for Christmas today. I usually wait until after January 6th (the epiphany; very big with Latinos apparently). I just couldn't bear the thought of waiting another week and since I have to go back to work tomorrow, it would be another week until I had the time to do it.

So, all the inside things are DOWN and so are most of the outside things. I only left up the front door wreath and the two little tiny trees on the porch. They look too cute to take down yet.

It didn't take long and H was a huge help to me...it was just really messy. And I always get a rash when I touch the real pine. And since I decorated my entire living room with REAL pine, I was a rash by the end of it all.

I have a fake tree in the basement and I think I am going to go all fake next year. The only reason we went with the real thing is because every other Christmas the girls are home so...

Thank God it's another year until I have to think of it or I will remember all of this. Haha.

 

[ML]

I am ready for the stuff to come down. husband likes to keep it up till after Elvis' birthday(which also happens to be his) but I can't wait that long. I enjoyed the season but I'm ready to move into the new year. How long till Spring again lol?

I'm sorry about the rash .. the real stuff sure does smell good though.

 

[Wiped Out]

Ouch on your rash! I hate the needles left by real trees but love the smell. We went artificial quite a few years ago and I really like it. I just burn lots of Christmas tree smelling candles.

However, every year when I put our artificial together I get a rash on my hands-gets cut up just like with a real tree-go figure! And we still get needles on the ground but not nearly as many!

 

[donna723]

I bought a very nice 7' artificial tree fifteen years ago and it's still going strong! I've never missed the mess of having a live tree either, but I do miss the smell a little. This one still looks great and everybody that sees it thinks it's real! I think I paid $89 for it way back then, and honestly, I don't think I could afford to replace it with another one just like it now!

I took mine down yesterday and just had to force myself to do it! NOT fun! I didn't even put all my stuff up this year, just the tree and a few of the other things. Usually I take all the glassware and other things off the fireplace mantel and put up all kinds of Christmas things, but it just seemed to be too much work this year to have to wash, dry and pack away all that glassware, then turn around and put it all back again later ... so I didn't!

 

[KTMom91]

I went artificial 12 years ago, when Miss KT and I moved into our little tiny house with no room for a real tree. We have a 4 ft. tabletop one now, pre-lighted, and it's still up, with Darth Vader still talking. That ornament really bugs me.

Hubby says THIS YEAR when he takes the tree down, he's going to mark the light sockets where the talking and lighting-up ornaments are plugged in, so he can find them more easily next year. That being the case, this may turn into a Valentine's tree.

 

[gcvmom]

We went artificial when difficult child 2 was born (he's an early December baby) because husband's mom was coming out to see him and stay with us and she's allergic. We discovered quite by accident that husband's annual sinus problems were in part aggravated by the live Christmas tree we usually had, and that was the first of many subsequent years that husband didn't get sick at Christmas time!

I miss having the scent in my house. So I opt for a live wreath on the front door, so I at least get a whiff every time I go in or out

I hardly put anything out this year because we had cleanup crew here four weeks straight after the wildfire and the last bunch left two weeks before Christmas, plus I had difficult child 2's birthday to prepare for. All I managed to put out was our artificial tree, a VERY small handful of ornaments, the stockings (never did find the holders), two strings of lights outside, and a store-bought wreath on the door. That's a fraction of what I normally drag out...

Thank goodness for all the awesome cards we got from the CD board and our friends and family -- they went a looooong way towards decorating our front hall

One positive is that I won't have much to put away this coming week. I also like to keep stuff up until after epiphany... something I got used to doing after marrying a Catholic!

 

[flutterbee]

I had a real Christmas tree. Once. *shudder*

 

[Abbey]

No tree for me this year, but I love a live one. I was shocked when I went to a store the other day and fake ones were $500 or more. My gosh. They looked beautiful, but I can't imagine paying that for one.

Abbey

 

[hearts and roses]

We bought a fake one at my insistence a few years ago, with the agreement that we would only use it on the years when easy child and difficult child were at their dad's. Well, those days are over. I am really loving the idea of using it every year. It's difficult child who does the most complaining every time I suggest using the artificial tree. But you know who does all the work? H and me...so I will turn a deaf ear to her cries next year.

I decorate the living room, the mantel above the fireplace, the outside porch, and splashes in the kitchen. I bring in live tree trimmings from the various pines in our woods to lay across all shelving and the mantel, etc. It's quite a labor and I love the way it looks. And fortunately the pine I choose along with the holly doesn't make such a mess as the live tree. I have to at least have something live. But our tree this year smelled like cat **** - it was really gross. H kept telling me, "No, that's the true scent of pine"...I don't remember pine smelling like that!

Glad to see I am not alone.