Wish me Luck...I'm goin' in balls to the wall

[Rareboy]

Yes....it is that day that comes once each year......

....The tree was cut last Sunday and tomorrow is the day........our tree (not exactly as pictured) is a ten footer...cut out of a 12 footer (need boughs for table)...this year it is a Douglas Fir.....it takes almost 1500 lights and about 1000 ornaments to finish....in fact about 3 days of work.

Imagine starting out at the top with about 200 ornaments of less than 1 inch and finishing the bottom of the tree with all the unbreakable ornaments within paws reach of 4 cats.

...Last year I had decided that enough was enough and had packed all the ornaments away for some auctioneer or heir to deal with....but my nephew and his fiancee are coming for Christmas.....they are planning on having their wedding here at our farm next year....and I can't tell you all why.....but I owe it to this guy to make his Christmas perfect for his GF.

Our newest cat will be experiencing his first tree and if today's experience with the cedar garland is any indication.....tomorrow and the next few days are going to be such an adventure.....

So do your pets pay attention to the Krimble tree?

and let's see the pics of your tree this year.....it will give me hope.....

[ShiftyNJ]

Our tree is fake and I am not the most artistic, but I do the best I can. I'll put it up next weekend (we observe Advent as its own thing with its own decorations, and Christmas lasts into January so I don't do it too early so I don't get sick of it.

[East]

That is a very nice gesture for your nephew and his fiancee Rareboy...I know it will be a fabulous tree! Take a photo when it is finished.....

I think I still have mine...don't know where I put them though but if I find them again I will post them.

[meridannight]

setting it up is one thing. do you expect to take it down intact? 1500 lights? i'd throw the whole thing out after the season. who the hell has the patience to descramble all that shit?

have fun, though.

by the way, i'm just gonna throw some fake snow on my palm tree and call it a day.

[Hardheaded1]

It is still a little early, but I'll do some wreath and a few lights outside this week. A dozen or so pumpkins still lay siege out front, and they will put up a fight when I drag them into the garage.

I'm putting my fiber optic tree out in the portico as something different.

My indoor tree is tall and skinny, and doesn't photograph well. My ornaments are all red and gold. I am avoiding making a count as I don't want to become depressed at the work represented. I'll probably raise it the 18th after work and decorate it over the next week until Christmas Day.

I'm eager to see your tree, RB. It sounds like you keep Christmas very well indeed. How much is that goose in the window, Sir?

(Oh, and good luck.)

[MikeW]

...i'm just gonna throw some fake snow on my palm tree and call it a day.

^^^ SO not gay!

Living by myself, now, I don't do "Christmas" at all. I did string some lights along my balcony railing and will light candles on the Solstice. Of course I light candles and turn off the lights frequently, anyway, so not like that's a huge concession...

Back in the old days when David was alive, however, things were different. Like [MENTION=21495]Rareboy[/MENTION], a 12 foot blue spruce tree wasn't unusual. BEING ARTISTS, however, David and I didn't approach decorating a tree in quite the 'traditional' manor. Tons of lights, for sure, even a good helping of more classic ornaments -- always had a fondness for those bubble light candle things precisely because they're so ridiculous. BUT, most of our decorations were of two types: Those we'd hand made and those found throughout the previous year, composed almost exclusively of children's toys. We had a huge treasure chest filled with them.

So, for us, THE TREE WAS A MAGICAL REALM filled not only with lights, reflective glass balls, fake snow, and small works of art, but INHABITED by *creatures* and *characters* as well as miscellaneous weird things. FOR EXAMPLE: Creepy Crawlers -- Worms, spiders, beetles, butterflies and other insects; Mythological Critters -- Dragons, unicorns, hydras, ferries, munchkins, gorgons, satyrs, minotaurs, not to mention angels and jesuses in mangers; Miniature Dolls -- Raggedy Anns & Andys, Kens & Barbies (more Kens), a one-eyed kewpie, a bald Shirley Temple and miniature babies; Walt Disney Characters -- lots of Mickeys and Minnies, Goofies, Donalds, Plutos, Snow Whites and Wicked Witches; Vehicles -- Boats, planes, blimps, cars, trucks, fire engines, rocket ships, UFOs, robots, -- there was even a little train with Mickey as the engineer and Huey, Louie and Dewey being pulled in cars behind; Miniature Men -- Knights in shining armor, some on horseback, toy soldiers, cowboys and indians, firemen, policemen, etc.; Little Animals -- Puppies, cats, monkeys, lions, tigers, bears, snakes, birds, lizards, and dinosaurs; AND other odds and ends such as a collection of taxidermy eye balls, toy tops (the old tin ones), gyroscopes, wooden blocks -- and hundreds of those little paper umbrellas served in ridiculous drinks (among many other things I can't think of right off the top of my head).

Yes, it took hours and hours to hook and wire all these damned things onto the tree but the bows of the blue spruce made 'platforms' that were like stages upon which a variety of tableaus could be arranged. The idea was to create not only a luminous decorative spectacle but an adventure to be explored by our Holiday guests -- which on occasion numbered up to 30 or 40 other 'homeless' (without families to go home to) gay guys. We'd decorate the wooden rafters of our artist's loft with swags and wreaths and arrange four 4x8 sheets of plywood in a + shape, set close to the floor on cinder blocks, covered in white sheets, pine bows, more lights, fake snow and tapers. Then, on the 21st we'd have a feast with borscht, roast beef, roast vegetables, smashed potatoes, and persimmon puddings and mincemeat pies for dessert. Along with the ail and mulled wine. OH, and everyone was instructed to bring one wrapped gift, preferably hand-made but if not, not to exceed $10, something that would appeal to one or more of the senses. These were all placed under the tree and later, after the meal, drawn at random by the guests. A glorious time was had by all!

[Rareboy]

^ Sounds amazing..........how wonderful that you were able to create such memories!!! I raise a glass of Nog to you. I'm about 1/3 the way through putting on the lights.

[Rareboy]

Update...it is the tree from Hell to light. Not the most favoured tree by nature and art...it has a few quirky things going on.....but it is gobbling up lights to the point where it is drawing more power than the furnace and giving off about as much heat.

Only two more strings and then that's it....time for some roboxacet (methocarbamol) for my back and a hot buttered rum.

Day One done.

[Darius]

You might have less trouble with the cats if your balls didn't hang so close to the floor.

[meridannight]

^^^ SO not gay!

right now i smell all over like the guy i was with a few hours ago...i can literally smell him on me even though he's not here. insane. i'm not even gonna divulge what i had to do to get his smell on me. but rest assured it was very very gay.

so, i make up for it in other ways.


and,
i like your approach you described. sounds cool.