| colliegirl
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| I LOVE it! Are those crab traps? |
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Fri Dec 03, 2004 9:55 pm |
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| shishibeach
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I've given my daughters a new ornament every year since they were born (sometimes two if I couldn't decide); sometimes they were home-made. 15 years ago when I hooked up with my now DH, I started also giving him and his kids ornaments since as a single dad he had nothing and very little money. We counted last year, there were over 200 ornaments (friends and relatives give ornaments too).
The only requirement for ornaments on our tree is that there are no round balls. After the lights are on, each kid hangs all of his or her own ornaments, I hang mine and whatever is left after each of them gets bored
(as they have gotten older, and the number of ornaments has grown, they seem to wander off to find the mulled wine or egg nog and forget to come back to the tree!)
It is a lot of fun though, looking at each ornament, especially the ones that were hand made, or given to us by someone who is no longer around....always brings a smile.
The final ornament to go on the tree is an old glass one, literally completely encased in scotch tape. It was my dad's when he was a boy, and years ago it was broken (kind of shattered) but my sister and I taped it all back together (more tape than glass) and it's hung in a place of honor on my tree every year. |
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Fri Dec 03, 2004 11:41 pm |
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| annecolorgreen
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Hey Lynda--
We have an artificial tree. I love the smell of live ones...but they scare me. :roll:
OK, here's the story: when I was a kid, my brother fought with me everyday about something. He was a big kid and four years older...I was scrawny. One Christmas we had a babysitter and he grabbed a tree limb and pulled a handful of pine needles off...and threw them at me. They were stuck in my eyeballs and had to be pulled out. Luckily, no permanent damage. We've tried a live one but I have four kids and that bothered me.
More than you wanted, huh?
That's great about dh doing having that special time with ds (and you too).
~~anne |
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Sat Dec 04, 2004 2:03 am |
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| LyndaB
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colliegirl wrote: I LOVE it! Are those crab traps?
I think they're lobster pots... not sure... but I thought it was really creative! 8) |
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Sat Dec 04, 2004 12:55 pm |
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| LyndaB
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I thought this was appropriate since we're celebrating Christmas on the Beach!
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Sat Dec 04, 2004 1:05 pm |
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| annecolorgreen
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Oh how beautiful! I need to figure out how to do pictures :roll: .
~~anne |
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Sat Dec 04, 2004 1:06 pm |
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| annecolorgreen
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[url][/url]
how's that? a little decoration for the tree... :)
~~anne |
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Sat Dec 04, 2004 1:42 pm |
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| annecolorgreen
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oops...guess I didn't need to hit the "URL" button...
~~anne |
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Sat Dec 04, 2004 1:47 pm |
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| LyndaB
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| Yahooooooooo... way to go, Anne!!! :wink: |
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Sun Dec 05, 2004 3:27 pm |
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| saralynn143
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We used to have a nice artificial tree, but we got a kitten that liked to climb it. She knocked it over and broke the base. Since then we've been cutting cedars on my husband's father's or uncle's farm. They are too dense at the bottom for the cat to climb since she has gotten very fat, so she sits at the bottom of the tree and looks forlornly up.
This year, however, we are in the middle of a construction project to expand our dining room and move the laundry room upstairs. All of our dining room furniture and the fridge are in the front room with the parlor furniture and there is nowhere to put a tree. I'm not sure what we are going to do.
I have been painting all day every day since Wednesday, except Friday when I went to my uncle's funeral. I just finished the second coat today. Yay! But the electrician still needs to come back, the washer/dryer installed, trim work put in and painted, and the hardwood floors sanded and finished. We might just be done in time for Christmas, but not in time to do much decorating.
I might just have to come to one of your houses. Anyone in Missouri? |
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Sun Dec 05, 2004 9:22 pm |
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| LyndaB
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saralynn143 wrote: This year, however, we are in the middle of a construction project to expand our dining room and move the laundry room upstairs. All of our dining room furniture and the fridge are in the front room with the parlor furniture and there is nowhere to put a tree. I'm not sure what we are going to do.
Last year, we'd just moved into our home on Dec 13th. Not much time to think about a tree what with the unpacking. But still, I couldn't imagine a Christmas, hectic or not, without a live tree. So, we did go out tree hunting and found a really nice tree... I didn't put the ornaments on, but only strung it with white lights. We'd shoved it into a corner in the dining room. It looked kinda sad there, but added just enough Christmas spirit to help us survive the move. The saddest thing, for me, was that after a week, we had to take it down because it was occupying the space that my marble-top table had to go into. I still can't believe that I only had a tree up for one week in my lifetime. Ugh!
We actually don't have the space for a tree either. Lots of rooms, but older house, and the rooms are either very square and on the small side or very long and narrow. I finally rearranged some living room furniture, put one bookcase up in my stepson's room for the season and the tree happily occupies its own space this year.
Last night, DH and I settled in to watch *The Terminal* after dinner (excellent movie with Tom Hanks). I looked at the tree and noted that the topmost strand of lights burned out. That means, I have to remove about 70 ornaments tonight to restring a new light and then try to remember where the ornaments went... waaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!! :cry: |
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Mon Dec 06, 2004 11:06 am |
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| saralynn143
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LyndaB wrote: Last night, DH and I settled in to watch *The Terminal* after dinner (excellent movie with Tom Hanks). I looked at the tree and noted that the topmost strand of lights burned out. That means, I have to remove about 70 ornaments tonight to restring a new light and then try to remember where the ornaments went... waaaaaaaahhhhhhhhhhhh!!! :cry:
LyndaB -- try very gently pushing in the bulbs one by one, it's time consuming but less so than taking everything off. Sometimes the lights go out because one bulb is loose and breaks the electrical connection.
I may go by Hobby Lobby today and get one of those really skinny pre-lit trees. We should have room for it somewhere. We have an older house, too, worse part is itty bitty closets. |
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Mon Dec 06, 2004 1:10 pm |
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| LyndaB
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saralynn143 wrote:
LyndaB -- try very gently pushing in the bulbs one by one, it's time consuming but less so than taking everything off. Sometimes the lights go out because one bulb is loose and breaks the electrical connection.
I may try that because this morning I looked at it more carefully and it appears that it's only half of that particular strand that's out, not the entire string. I have some spare bulbs but thought that this was the type of strand that, even though a bulb is burnt out, as long as you keep the bulb in the socket, the string would stay lit. Thanks for the hint! |
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Mon Dec 06, 2004 1:20 pm |
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| JessicaRabbit
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I posted this in my journal, but seems like this is more fitting home:
DH and I's goal each year is to find the tallest "Charlie Brown" tree as possible. We started this tradition a few years ago when we waited until the last minute to get a tree (I think it may have been Christmas Eve) anyway, we stopped by Wal-Mart since most the tree places had closed up and there we found the most pitiful tree for 15$, but it was perfect. 15' tall and pretty scappy, but only on one side! We've got really tall ceilings (20'). Yesterday, we went to the "Home of the World's Largest Christmas Wreath" and cut our own tree for 15$!! Scrappy? yes, but at least 15' tall. Scrappy trees are actually quite pretty if they are still proportional, which this tree IS! There was even a cute kitten that followed us around AND free cookies and punch. DH said he thought the guy running the farm WAS Santa in disguise |
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Mon Dec 06, 2004 3:22 pm |
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| saralynn143
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LyndaB wrote: I may try that because this morning I looked at it more carefully and it appears that it's only half of that particular strand that's out, not the entire string. I have some spare bulbs but thought that this was the type of strand that, even though a bulb is burnt out, as long as you keep the bulb in the socket, the string would stay lit. Thanks for the hint!
One of those tiny little fuses in the plug might be out, too. If you absolutely can't fix it, you might put a short strand of lights over where the burnt-out ones are. That's what I did last year when a string went out on our outdoor tree. I wasn't about to unstring a 14' cedar in the bitter cold! |
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Mon Dec 06, 2004 7:06 pm |
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