by darthfader 28 Replies latest jw friends
Darthfader, if you're in the western U.S., the retail construction supply company, "Lowe's", carries the best selection of Xmas lights in our area...
Your local JoAnn's Fabric stores also have a decent selection of lights - but I'd start with Lowe's and Home Depot....
Also, we have "seasonal" stores in the area, which focus exclusively on Christmas...
Charlie Brown Jr., the 'green' movement started early in Denver, due to the extreme smog problem... They banned burning one's trash in incinerators when I was a kid - early 60's - here, due to the smog.
We would start like 3 trees on fire and just throw 1 after another on.......
WHOOSH!!!!!! They would burn in SECONDS!!!!
And it wasn't really work.... it was fun!
Our house is pretty small ,and at first my husband was not thrilled with the whole holiday thing ,so our first tree was/is a Dollar General artifical 6 1/2 ft tree. I added 100 twinkling lights and 100 clear lights . For a cheap tree I think it looks pretty awesome !
I work in a fancy gift store that goes crazy at Christmas time ,so I have bought glass ornaments for several years ,and saved them until the time was right My favorites are Old World Ornaments ,beautiful blown glass .
Now that husband is on board for the holidays I am hoping for a better tree next year . Something at least a bit thicker and fuller . I like the thought of real tree smell ,but artificial ones seem more practical .
"I like the thought of real tree smell, but artificial ones seem more practical. ..."
Ah, yes, the question of practicality...
I suspect that, when one compares the time involved in setting up an artificial tree versus rinsing off a real tree and keeping it watered, would be pretty close, with the real tree eating up a bit more time.
But oh, that fragrance...
We live in a very dry climate - VERY dry. Yet our trees have always kept very well, in spite of the climate, following the steps I've outlined above... [And I'm talking about those crappy grocery-store trees, which are almost always too dry to start with...]
It also hinges on whether your town or county has a municipal tree-pick-up program in place...
Zid
Only me, your first tree sounds BEAUTIFUL!!
[even if it wasn't a "live" tree!! ]
I wanted a crisp white look for my Xmas wreaths, last year, so I bought 4 white feather boas and added red glass ornaments, on a circular wire wreath frame... [All on sale at JoAnn Fabrics - one of my favorite fabric/crafts stores!!]
Maybe you could find pink feather boas at your local craft store and make a matching - er, semi-matching - pink wreath....
Zid
(Part of the fun of setting up the tree was hanging the lights).-- are you kidding?! I fight with lights each and every year! When I was a kid that was the least favorite part! Dad was a perfectionist so he would string the whole tree then we all had to stand back and squint our eyes to find the 'bald' spot! haha, funny now but when we were teens we wanted to get the job done quick. Finally us kids wised up and never found the bald spot but then Mom & Dad would find it anyhow and he would take them all down and start over. sigh.
I wish I could have a real tree but that would require help from my jw so ....... Will haul out my giant fake one that looks real. Funny, my jw picked it out pre jw days and got one that was rather pricey at the time, still looks real.
My tree is hung with memories of our life and many, many homemade ornaments from when the kids were little and even into the teen years. Opening my ornaments is like opening time capsule.
Have fun decorating your tree! Create your own traditions.
For years as a JW............
I was responsible for putting the Xmas Lites up in my Town as it was a Job requirement.........
(I don't remember the Elders saying it was "Bad"......)
What was really funny was my Partner... An Atheist!
For years it was the Town Joke... Hey you know a Jehovah's Witness and Atheist put up the Xmas Lights..... maybe we're all going to Hell!!!
Thinking about it know.... why wasn't I talked to about it.... I was Scolded for everything else.... maybe they just gave up on me........
Charlie will die at Armageddon!
LOL, I'm going with an artificial tree. I grew up with Christmas, so this won't be my first. But every year in December I would break out in these horrible blisters that itched and burned like crazy. I thought my skin was reacting to the cold weather. Then I read an article, and it turns out I'm allergic to the live trees. LOL!
Also, I just can't be trusted to care for a live tree properly. I'll forget to water it, I'll leave it up too long, the needles will fall all over. I'm telling you---I KNOW me! I keep a very sparse home because I don't like to take care of things. I have never kept an indoor plant alive and giving me one is certain death.
For that matter, when my ex walked out on me he left the plants! So every week when he came to pick up our daughter, he would be greeted by yet another dead, dried up plant set on the porch for his viewing. I'm a beast that way. One of my friends begged me with tears in her eyes to let her take the plants to a good home. I said, "NO, they must die!"
So no live trees for this walking hazard.
NC
I was just laughing at the white drugstore tree. When I was a kid, for several years, we had a silver tree. The "trunk" was this silver pipe with a bunch of holes in it and each "branch" slipped in---but they were straight. No reality. It stood perfectly straight, perfectly triangular, no twigs, and needles that "swished". My brother's and I would pull them out of the tree and play with them. For me they were wands, microphones, dancing accesories--princess stuff. For my brothers they were swords. Ah the good old daze.
NC
