Christmas trees!

[crow-queen]

the forum is all dressed up for Christmas! for those of you who celebrate, i was wondering whether you put your christmas tree up yet? i'd love to see how you decorated. for those who don't - do you celebrate something else this time of year which you decorate for? feel free to share! i'd love to see that too.


here is my tree! it's a narrow model because my last tree was too large, and i don't have a very good concept of size. i have cats, so i don't decorate much close to the bottom of the tree, since last year they damaged a lot of my ornaments. i also don't use plastic tinsel because i worry about them eating it and needing an expensive trip to the vets - i made fabric tinsel instead so that they would be less inclined to eat it.
i didn't do much else to decorate, but i did put the christmas furby out.

[brisray]

Our tree looks fairly normal this year. Last year however, the cats decided to destroy it just after we finished decorating it and broke the base. This is what it looked like for the entire time it was up.

[virtue]

I don't have a picture of it on hand unfortunately, but you might find interesting at the house I was going to a party at a few weeks ago their Christmas trees were all hung with Halloween decorations, which I found really amusing. Skeletons and ghosts and whatnot. They hosted a Halloween costume party in December, how wild is that? it was a great party though, almost everyone played along with the idea. I'll see if I can find some photos of it if anyone is interested.

[aribluejeans]

Pretty budget-friendly tree, but I love it! It's not a very full fake tree, but for what I paid, it's incredible. I worked at a store that sold all of the display trees at the end of the season to employees for 90% off. I paid a whopping $4 for this little tree. Totally worth stringing on the lights myself (okay, so, my spouse does that part) and spending forever fluffing the branches.

[tomyatemo]

This is mine! The reindeer plushie near the top is a gift a teacher gave me when I finished high school.

[crow-queen]

Pretty budget-friendly tree, but I love it! It's not a very full fake tree, but for what I paid, it's incredible. I worked at a store that sold all of the display trees at the end of the season to employees for 90% off. I paid a whopping $4 for this little tree. Totally worth stringing on the lights myself (okay, so, my spouse does that part) and spending forever fluffing the branches.

this is so nice! it looks similar to my tree but i paid a bit more than that since it was a full price purchase haha. i really love how you've decorated it.

This is mine! The reindeer plushie near the top is a gift a teacher gave me when I finished high school.

that's super cute! congrats on finishing 

I don't have a picture of it on hand unfortunately, but you might find interesting at the house I was going to a party at a few weeks ago their Christmas trees were all hung with Halloween decorations, which I found really amusing. Skeletons and ghosts and whatnot. They hosted a Halloween costume party in December, how wild is that? it was a great party though, almost everyone played along with the idea. I'll see if I can find some photos of it if anyone is interested.

that sounds super cool! i'd love to see some pictures of it if you get the chance. i love halloween. i was going to get a bat garland yesterday but it was way more expensive than i wanted to spend. but i do still have a couple of my halloween decorations about anyway haha.

Our tree looks fairly normal this year. Last year however, the cats decided to destroy it just after we finished decorating it and broke the base. This is what it looked like for the entire time it was up.

lol i relate to this. i'm surprised my cats haven't knocked my tree over yet this year! they keep trying to use it as a scratching post today 

[Melooon]

This is not a Christmas tree, but it is our Christmas TV this year, and I wanted to talk about it! 



When I went to bed last night I was thinking about nostalgia, and how people long for past times; and the sense of loss that comes with happy times you know are past, and the fear that happier times may never come again. I wasn't really sure if nostalgia was a good thing... I suppose good and bad don't really exist, they are both ideas.

However when I look out at the Christmas TV, I realise now I don't just see a relic of years passed; I see parts of each year, and their road to today! I see a TV my parents got when they were married in 1988, I remember all the old friends they talked about who must have seen it before my time; I remember when it was relegated to my room, and I remember my school friends and the games we played at sleepovers, and I think of who they are now. I remember the christmases when that TV was left in the shed, and the ones when we set it up, and who was there and who they were at that time... this Christmas was the first in 7 years to have the TV, and the people that were here, I didn't even know 7 years ago ~ but now they are part of the TVs memory too!

What we plugged into it this time was also different. A new VHS player I got last year with my mum to archive old family movies; the Atari is from when I worked in Dublin, I remember playing it with people at work! For DVDs a PS2 is connected, I remember modding it on the floor of an old girlfirend's apartment and she walked in, looked at the mess, and said I love you. I remember one of my friends giving me the Dark Crystal on VHS for my 7th birthday, and I remember years later hearing she might have died; and I remember all the times Iv watched that movie since. Mixed into all of that is stuff from today, some of it might stick, some wont; but the things that do will go on to acquire their own futures.

All of these things are passing, and they change each year and what they add up to is today; and they will keep on changing and adding, and its nice to look at them and see all those moments collected together. I know these objects are just objects made of plastic and circuit boards; but Im just flesh and bone.. In the end we are all light floating in a void. This TV wont stop time, it wont stop people from coming and going, nor will it provide happy days or sad days; but it is, and has always been, a quiet physicality of life. It's real and it's here!

It is beautiful to have it as a focal point; an emitter of light and memories that has been with me all my life. If its not too cheesy to say.. but I do look up to it; I want to be an emitter of light and happy memories for people too! As a human I do that in my own way; but if tools are extensions of the human soul (as I believe they are), then I'm happy that this clunky box has been a part of me and those who have passed by.

[candycanearter07]

I really like the look of that TV stand!! What we usually do is decorate a tree blue and white and call it a "Channukah Tree".