# Holiday decorating



## msmagnolia (Sep 8, 2004)

Hi everyone. I start my Christmas decorating in early November because it takes me so long to get everything done. I was wondering what kinds of things you do to decorate. I realize that some of you don't celebrate Christmas but maybe you celebrate another holiday this season. I'll start.

I collect Santas. I don't know how many I have but there must be around 300, not including tree ornaments. Here are some of the Santas on the built ins in our great room:








I also put up 4 trees because I've been collecting ornaments since I was a young girl. That's about 40 years of ornaments. I have an small alpine tree that is decorated with apples, birds, terra cotta and straw ornaments. In our dining room is a 9.5 ft. tree that is completely decorated in Santas. We have a regular tree on the sun porch that looks out over the water that are the good ornaments and ones I collect when we travel. The last tree is in our bedroom and it is all the ornaments that the kids made and got when they were little - like the ones from McDonalds, pinecones with glitter, etc. I can't bear to get rid of them. Here is the Santa tree:








I really hope I did this right and that the photos show up. I'd really like to hear about your own holiday decorations. 
Susan


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## msmagnolia (Sep 8, 2004)

I think I figured out the uploading. Thanks


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## Toby's Mom (May 7, 2004)




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## Brinkley & Neyland's Mom (Jun 14, 2004)

> _Originally posted by Nichole_@Nov 29 2004, 07:43 PM
> *
> 
> Okay and here is how anal I am...I take all my decorations down Christmas night, so when I get up on the 26th, the house is neat and orderly.  LOL
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How come I could have guessed that?!
















Just kidding...but it really doesn't surprise me...your disney stuff sounds WAY cool...my kids would think it "rocked"-(that is their new word)-

I don't do anything that cool. I like my tree...it is done in blue and silver with snowmen ornaments and all the kids' ornaments. I have various knick-knacks and whatnot that are decorations...I am hoping when and if we EVER move out of this tiny old house...that I can do more of a "theme" decor etc. I REALLY like snowmen!!! I also am on the lookout for a great Nativity scene. I can't believe I don't have one-but I am very picky about what I want. I found one at Cracker Barrel the other day that is made by Willow Tree-has anyone seen those? I love the Willow Tree figurines...I have a few. The Nativity was beautiful...but you had to purchase it in parts. The main Nativity was like 50.00-the Wisemen were 50.00 more and the shepherds and animals etc were like 40.00 or something. I guess I need to do a little bit each year...but I am not that patient...


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## Caesar's Mommie (Apr 8, 2004)

My husband and I are celebrating our 3rd Chistmas together, so we havent had a whole lot of time for traditions yet (no kids). We do love to put up our tree, nativity scene and other deocrations and we put them up a week before Thanksgiving







. I have a little village and each year for Chirstmas he buys me 1-2 more houses, so I now have 9 buildings and I love to have the village and christmas tree all lit up, somethign about it is just so relaxing.


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## dr.jaimie (Mar 23, 2004)

nichole your house sounds like my inlaws house. big disney people...in fact they are there right now...they were there for turkey day...they go there every year for thanks giving and another time in the summer. so i expect many disney items for xmas from them!


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## Toby's Mom (May 7, 2004)




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## Mystify79 (Apr 6, 2004)

I have to admit, I'm a bah humbuger when it comes to Christmas. Since I work at an open 24 hours a day answering service, I have had to work on Christmas for the last 3 years and will probably have to again this Christmas.. so it is just so hard to get in the spirit of Christmas because that's when I have to spend the most time at my soul-stealing job.







Last year we had Christmas dinner at Denny's because I didn't get off work til 10pm.. and we never decorate because I'm always in a bad mood and a total grump around this time of the year. I kinda want to do something this year to celebrate since it will our first Christmas as a married couple and Tuffy's first Christmas, but I'm going to have to do a lot to get in the mood... It would really rock if my stupid boss would give me the day off because I have high seniority, but she tends to favor the new people over me, so I think I'll get screwed again this year. Argh.







Yep, I'm a real downer! :new_Eyecrazy:

Nichole - My mom is the same way with Christmas decorations.. when I was still living at home we would stay up late on Christmas night taking down all the decorations! It was kinda nice to be able to kick back the next day and not have to worry about taking them down!


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## msmagnolia (Sep 8, 2004)

If I started taking down my stuff on Christmas night, I'd be doing it until New Years Eve. It literally takes me a week to put it all up and a week to take it all down. I start on January 2. 

What do y'all do about stockings for your pets? We have stockings, even for the fish (when we had them). Sadie needs a stocking and we are trying to find one that we like and then will have to find a stocking hanger. You can see Jolie's on the mantle - the beige stocking toward the middle. Can't wait to get Sadie's up there!


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## Toby's Mom (May 7, 2004)




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## kodie (Aug 24, 2004)

> _Originally posted by Nichole_@Nov 29 2004, 10:38 PM
> *Since I am having Toby's b-day party, I bought party favors for everyone's dog and I ended up putting everything in a doggie stocking so after the party they actually will have their own stocking!
> <div align="right">index.php?act=findpost&pid=19350*


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VERY CUTE IDEA!


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## babycoconut (Oct 27, 2004)

Well, this is our first Christmas in a house so we plan on making some new traditions! I want to decorate the porch with lights and garland. I also want to wrap garland along the banister up the steps.
We got out the tree, but didn't decorate it yet. I got most of my Christmas decorations put around the house. It's so much more fun this year decorating the house rather than a small apartment!
The only real traditions we have are getting the tree out the weekend after Thanksgiving. Also every year we go to Florida and we buy ornaments there, you know, like glass seashells, manatees, santa in the lifeguard chair, santa riding on a manatee etc. (haha) So a lot of my tree is decorated in beach theme, which we love. That way every year we get out all of our ornaments and think about when we bought them and remember the warm summer at the beach.








Also, we have to hide the glass pickle ornament in the tree! Since our family's German we have a glass pickle to hang in the tree, and whoever finds it first gets an extra present. Well, at home with just me and Jay, he hides it, and i try to find it. He usually gets me something little (Like a stocking stuffer type thing) for when i find it.








At mom and dad's, my mom hides it, and the whole family tries to find it. Last year i was the lucky one and i got Olive Garden gift certificates.  
So those are our little traditions.
We usually un-decorate about Jan. 2nd. I could never imagine taking down on xmas night. My mom would faint!







She looooves christmas and has a hard time taking them down after the new year!

I'l take pics when we're decorated up!


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## LexiAndNikkisMom (Apr 13, 2004)

My mom and I have been collecting Department 56 The Original Snow Village pieces for years. Technically it is her village but I've been helping her pick pieces out for years. For my birthday last year I got my first offical piece. My mom has so many pieces we have to set them up on a banquet table. I'll have to have her take a picture of it.


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## Caesar's Mommie (Apr 8, 2004)

> _Originally posted by babycoconut_@Nov 30 2004, 09:14 AM
> *Well, this is our first Christmas in a house so we plan on making some new traditions! I want to decorate the porch with lights and garland. I also want to wrap garland along the banister up the steps.
> We got out the tree, but didn't decorate it yet. I got most of my Christmas decorations put around the house. It's so much more fun this year decorating the house rather than a small apartment!
> 
> ...


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How exciting, first Christmas in an actual house!







 We are still in an apt, and my husband always says how he would put lights differnet places whenever we do finally buy a house.  We dont put any lights up here, we do have a little deck, but usually dont have the blinds open too much at night, it seems very drafty that wall anyway.


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## Brinkley & Neyland's Mom (Jun 14, 2004)

> _Originally posted by msmagnolia_@Nov 29 2004, 10:17 PM
> *If I started taking down my stuff on Christmas night, I'd be doing it until New Years Eve.  It literally takes me a week to put it all up and a week to take it all down.  I start on January 2.
> 
> What do y'all do about stockings for your pets?  We have stockings, even for the fish (when we had them).  Sadie needs a stocking and we are trying to find one that we like and then will have to find a stocking hanger.  You can see Jolie's on the mantle - the beige stocking toward the middle.  Can't wait to get Sadie's up there!
> ...


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I haven't had stockings for the pets in the past...I usually buy them all something and just GIVE it to them while we are all opening presents. I did find those cheap stockings for the cats at Target...so now I am looking for some cute ones for the dogs...that way everyone can have one.

We have some traditions...silly ones...

1) My son finally caught on to one this past year-it was cute when he realized it-...I let the kids open ONE present on Christmas Eve...(of MY choosing)-just happpens that every one they open is a new set of PJ's!







Then they get to put them on and wear them that night so that they have cute new PJ's for Christmas morning pictures.









2) Because we don't have family around...Christmas is sad for me.







My husband has to work crazy hours because he is manager of a drug store...so we really can't travel to seee my family after Thanksgiving weekend. His parents are both deceased-his sister's family has kids/grandkids etc...that have their own schedules and traditions. We usually see them for one day/afternoon on a weekend before Christmas. Therefore, Christmas day is only the four of us. After presents, I usually make a big breakfast with bacon, sausage, biscuits, eggs, gravy etc. We have a short Christmas Day church service-we just wear casual-, then we come back home to clean up, rest, play, watch football the rest of the day.
That evening I make the kids' and hubbies' favorite meal...fried chicken, real mashed potatoes, velveeta shells and cheese, home cooked fresh green beans, and pillsbury frozen rolls. (not the traditional holiday meal







) Although I know there is really nothing I can do about the absence of family etc...it still makes me sorda sad and mopey that day.

Hubby always has to go to work the next day, which really stinks. I usually get a sitter and go after Christmas Sale shopping for paper, decorations, etc. Then I clean house the next day, and pack up the third day after. That way the house is all cleaned up and I have a day or so to rest and relax before the kids and I have to go back to work and school.


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## Toby's Mom (May 7, 2004)




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## LexiAndNikkisMom (Apr 13, 2004)

> _Originally posted by Nichole+Nov 30 2004, 10:49 AM-->
> 
> 
> 
> ...


My mom and I have Dept 56 pieces too! Mom has the Dickens Village. She quit collecting a few years ago when she got around 60 pieces. It is just too much. She has some of the original pieces from the early 80s. Here is a tip--if you wait until Mid March-August and go on e-bay, sometimes people are selling thos early pieces for a pretty reasonable fee. Any other month and they try to get you for the Christmas holiday.

I have the Dept 56 Disney village. They only made it for one year (1995 I think) and then Disney pulled the licensing because they said it wasn't "Disney enough." I used to put it up, but not so much anyomore--I agree, it really doesn't look a lot like Disney World. I guess a few years ago Disney and Dept 56 got together again and are making some more pieces which look so much more like a Disney inspiration. That is what my brother bought me last year for Christmas.
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My mom and I get a kick out of getting the Greenbook Department 56 Collectors Guide (I think that is the one). It comes out every March. It is fun to see how much each piece is worth (the price goes up after the pieces are retired). My aunt MIL has a piece that is worth almost $800







. She paid about $20 for in back in the late 70's/ early 80's.


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## Toby's Mom (May 7, 2004)




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## LexiAndNikkisMom (Apr 13, 2004)

> _Originally posted by Nichole_@Nov 30 2004, 11:17 AM
> *You know my mom has a piece like that.  I think it is the original bakery or church...I can't recall.  Thanks for the link--I didn't know that even existed.
> <div align="right">index.php?act=findpost&pid=19416*


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It is a lot of fun looking through the book and seeing how much some of the pieces are worth. Usually we buy the book and then my aunts (who also collect) borrow it to check out their pieces.


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## babycoconut (Oct 27, 2004)

You guys sound like you have so much fun on Christmas! Even those of you who are sad about not having much family around, at least you have your own traditions, and you can look back on those days for years to come and be happy that you get to spend a nice Christmas with those that you do have.









Ohhh yeah, Christmas day at my mom & dad's is crazy!!!
We spend hours apon hours opening gifts! One person wears a santa hat and passes out the gifts, and we all go around in a circle and take turns. Then after you open it, you hold it up, get your picture taken, avaryone claps and yells "Good gift! Good gift!" hahaha. Seems strange and silly, but it's fun!







It's funny, because my aunts and uncles will call to say Merry Christmas and they ask what we're doing and we have to say "ohhhh still opening gifts at 4:00pm!" Then they usually all come visit that evening to see the gifts, then we go to their house the next evening and see their gifts, eat cookies, and just hang out, tell stories, reminice and laugh our heads off! 
I love Christmas with my family! Oh, look here now, i'm getting all excited!

Yeah, the pickle thing is fun! You should just try it and see how it goes! Hmmm... now if your brothers knock over the tree, that maaaay be bad!


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## nataliecmu (Aug 12, 2004)

Christmas with my family is a blast...we end up having 4 celebrations... starting this Saturday...This Saturday is my Mom's side of the family, so we will have close to 70 people at my parents. My parents also have Christmas Eve and Christmas day. Christmas Eve is one of her sisters and her kids, and one of her cousins and her kids. We have sea food that night (it's my favorite day to eat of the whole year). Christmas Day we celebrate with my parents best friends... so 3 different families come over and all of the "kids"... I'm the middle "kid" and I'm 23... so we now all have started to invite our bf/gf... so Christmas has really grown. The the day after Christmas we are going to my Dad's sisters for Christmas with that side!









To me.. the holidays is cooking, cleaning, and decorating. I look forward to Christmas all year. I LOVE giving (and getting) gifts... I just think it is so fun. 

For the past few years I have had a little tradition with my mom of making and decorating a wreath... we are gaudy Italians so we love the wreaths with the sparkly fruit, and vines and all that stuff!


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## Toby's Mom (May 7, 2004)




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## msmagnolia (Sep 8, 2004)

We have a pickle on each tree too! When my girls were younger their friends bee-lined to to the trees to find the pickle. Last year I hid it so good that I couldn't find it on one tree to remove. This year when I assembled that tree I found it and it was just fine. LOL


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## babycoconut (Oct 27, 2004)

My mom did that one year! She hid it too good.

You guys are making me remember stuff!
Every Christmas eve we go to mom & dad's, have a dinner of stuffed shells and bread, go to church starting at 7:00 ending at 9:00 and we go back to mom & dad's and get out the cookies, candy, crackers, cheese etc. and we watch National Lampoon's Christmas Vacation. And we laugh so hard at all the same parts every year. I love it so much!

Haha, Nichole! That sounds similar to our bit we go through.









What's everyone's favorite Christmas songs?
Mine's Silver Bells, What Child is This, and There's No Place Like Home For the Holidays. I looove the part where they say "I met a man from Tennesee and he was headed for Pennsylvania and some homemade pumpkin pie." Being from PA, and everything. For some reason when i hear that song i get a little choked up! Especially that line. I don't know why.

I love reading everyone's Christmas traditions! It's making me all gooshy and happy!


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## nataliecmu (Aug 12, 2004)

> _Originally posted by babycoconut_@Nov 30 2004, 04:51 PM
> *I love reading everyone's Christmas traditions! It's making me all gooshy and happy!
> <div align="right">index.php?act=findpost&pid=19484*


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Hahaha, me too! My Favorite Christmas songs are O Holy Night, and The Christmas Song (Chestnuts)









I love the holidays... I just set up a Holiday treat exchange at work! WEEEEE!!


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## msmagnolia (Sep 8, 2004)

I love that song that Bing Crosby and David Bowie do - Peace on Earth or something. My favorite movies are "White Christmas (since I was a little girl), Christmas Vacation, and A Christmas Story. 

We have exactly the same meal at Christmas that we had for Thanksgiving - Turkey, etc. When we lived in Virginia Beach, and after the girls were older, we and our neighbors and family started going to Colonial Wmsburg to one of the taverns for Christmas dinner. It was so fun. So we would do our big homemade meal on Christmas Eve and then go to church. Now that we're in Mississippi we are back to having the big meal on Christmas Day. 

We never travel (except for a weekend trip) because all of the kids are home from college and my husband pulls lots of wisdom teeth during the holidays. 

I don't shop much anymore because we all kind of get what we want during the year. For me Christmas isn't about the gifts but is really the decorations, the family, the food, church, etc. I love hearing all your stories.


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## Toby's Mom (May 7, 2004)




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## kodie (Aug 24, 2004)

I love Christmas too! Our family is just getting sooo small with everyone dying... its depressing.







This will be the 5th Xmas with my bf and i'm struggling to find him something nice for Christmas. Maybe i'll get a DIAMOND







from him.. hehe... i doubt it..







Anyway... My mom puts up our fake tree before Thanksgiving each year because shes too busy at work for Xmas. We always have an advent calendar with chocolate behind each door! We also celebrate Christmas with my mom's side of the family on Christmas Eve because in Germany (my grandmother and Mom, Aunts ,etc. are born in Germany) Santa comes the night before Christmas Eve. Then Christmas day my parents will give my sister and I our gifts and we go to my Dad's side of the family for an "American" traditional Christmas. I technology have 2 Christmas'.


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## Nicolle916 (Nov 1, 2004)

Oh I am so excited that I decorated my apartment today for Christmas. I had to wait until after finals because I was tooo busy. This is my first Christmas with my own apartment. I have always had roommates and I am happy to put all the decorations that my parents have given me on the tree(they gave one to me and one to my brother for a special happening that year). So it is a small tree but I love it!

Here are the pics...


















I got Bella a stocking but i didn't take a picture of it yet. I'll post it when I do.

Nicolle


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## kodie (Aug 24, 2004)

Nicolle916... awwww... cute pictures!!!! I love them!!!


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## Mystify79 (Apr 6, 2004)

Nicolle - I love your pictures! Very cute!


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## dr.jaimie (Mar 23, 2004)

nicolle,
very cute...looks like bella is ready to open some presents!


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## msmagnolia (Sep 8, 2004)

Bella is so cute! Great tree, too.


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## k/c mom (Oct 9, 2004)

Bella looks so cute...... Your tree looks nice, too!!


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