I’ve never understood why people with artificial trees take the ornaments off every year, if they don’t enjoy the ritual of unpacking them. If you’re going artificial, why not get one that’s lit?
Joy, I suppose your grandkids will have trees at their homes. To me, they—and the wonderment they delight us all with—are one of the main reasons to get a tree

My mom has an artificial tree. She places it on top of a big sheet/drop cloth. Then when the season is over, she just wraps it up in the sheet, ornaments and lights and all, and moves it to the basement, where it stands, wrapped up, all year long.

We, however, just don't have the storage space, as we live in a condo. We do have a locked caged storage section in the basement but it's small. The artificial tree and boxes of ornaments and other decor was taking up quite a bit of valuable space (half the unit!) that we need to stash other items.

My granddaughter just turned a year old. She is walking and will pull down any tree we put up. Maybe next year. Her parents are putting their tree inside an indoor fenced area so she can't get to it. Our grandson is a little preschooler and loves the nutcracker decorations best. He is very careful with them.

Though we normally put up a real tree, there are years when we didn't. One year we put lights in a tree we had as a house plant and other years I decorated with a few bouquets of greens - making a particularly large one under which we put the presents. I always feel melencholy when I deconstruct the tree after Christmas, even though I have nothing to feel sad bout! I'm thinking about following the Victorian tradition of a smallish (3 ft?) set on a table this year.

Shiny, love your mom's tree storage idea!

Your urns look amazing Carla! I'm minimalist-leaning but my family is not with me on that, so we've landed somewhere in the middle. I try to keep the tree classic but if you look closely, you can see R2D2 and the car from Christmas Vacation hidden in there. I also enjoy my Xmas coffee mug : D

Ok. I’m starting on the decorating. I put up some outdoor lights... I’m calling these my Charlie Brown Tree Lights, First Pic.

For laughs, Second Pic is the competition - neighbor across the street. Lol.

My poor little trees...

OMG, rachylou. How do you sleep at night?

I haven't done any indoor decorating yet. Baking up a storm, but no indoor bling yet. Must get going on that!

We just got a new big artificial tree this year. It has a remote to control the lights and I love it! Here it is with just the lights, and then a pic of some of the decorations. It's so big it took a whole weekend to decorate!

Awesome tree, MsMary!

Carla, it’s a nightmare! Lol! You can tour their yard, and people do!!

Wow MsMary! That is some tree!!! Love it!

Fun. I enjoyed seeing your decorations, ladies. Personal, meaningful and festive.

Ours are understated and Euro. We decorate the Seattle home - not the loft. I’ve added 10 more white candles that you can’t see in the pics. Our old metal tree is Avant-Garde and the decorations very sentimental.