Friday Fun: Christmas tree traditions
Ok, a little background history here. I am from Iceland and my mom would only put up the Christmas tree on December 21st or so when I was growing up. I think it was mainly because we had a live (well, dead by that point) tree and she wanted the needles to stay on as long as possible (you see, Christmas in Iceland isn't over until January 6th when the last Jule Lad leaves town to go back to the mountains).
Is there any particular tradition in your family regarding your Christmas tree - like when you put it up or who gets to put the star on top (my wife and I would allow our kids to do it, rotate between then each year)?
Also please do share a picture of it, if you have already put it up (correct, I am not honoring my mother's rule...).
16 comments
Great topic @Kristján Geir Mathiesen!
Our family tradition is less about putting up the Christmas tree and more about the ornaments that go on the tree. My wife and I collect ornaments whenever we go somewhere (or we used to do this...) and also for major life milestones. So when we are decorating the tree year year we are reminded of a number of the places we have been or the important events that have happened.
We also have another Christmas tree just for our Three year old that we have had for him for two years now:
What beautiful trees!
I don't know if it's due to movies and everything, but, Christmas looks more like Christmas outside of Brazil LOL
We don't have a tradition, usually, my mom decorates it and I have a little one in my room because I love fairy lights. This year, I added some random things that I found here:
We only started doing trees after our daughter was born, and we have ramped up slowly over the years. We got the tall purple tinsel tree at Target when she was a tiny baby, and this was our first tree! Kind of amazing that this tree (which I think was like $10) has now lasted 9 years.
In the background you can see our "main" tree, a little four-and-a-half foot thing with many beloved ornaments on it, including a depressed gingerbread man, a depressed Santa, and a depressed snowman. (My child's homemade ornaments have a theme, I guess.)
I suggested getting a new, slightly bigger tree this year, and my family was appalled. Appalled! So instead I am pondering a stand, to give it a little more stature.
Also about 10 minutes ago I went and hung giant holiday ornaments on our fig tree and I am delighted. I may need to get some more of these giant things.
We got a baby tree this year and decided to get creative with our tree topper. :)
I normally don't do holiday decorations in my apartment since it's tiny and I don't like clutter. The pandemic has changed that since I've had to turn my bedroom into an office, and my living room into a gym (peep the weight bench next to the Christmas tree, at least it's red right)
Another reason that I don't decorate is that I usually head to my parent's home for a massive celebration with my extended family (sometimes 40+ people). So I save all my decorating energy for their house. Of course this year we aren't doing that due to the pandemic.
However, that also means my roommate, who has family in Minnesota won't be able to visit her family either. So I wanted to keep the holiday special and this year we got a little (real) tree. And have been making an effort to decorate and go and see some lights.
Gillete Stadium (where the New England Patriots play) offered up an incredibly commercialized light show that you can drive through and my roomate and I took advantage of that. (Only $50/Car 🙃
Here's some photos:
I suppose that's a long winded way of saying this year is all about new/different traditions! I'm grateful to have family, friends, and my health to enjoy it as much as possible when so many people are struggling in so many ways. Sending love and good vibes for the new year!
Best,
Kate
We usually have a tree like this:
With some very special ornaments like these:
We're putting up the tree on the 24th in the morning, so we don't have it yet. But it is already waiting in the carport.
Ah, this is a perfect opportunity to combine last week's topic with the wonderful atmosphere of Christmas ...
Our Christmas tree is a DIY construction set which we carefully unbox and build up every year. Our cat goes nuts every single time, as it is a complete overhaul of his indoor territory.
For safety reasons, during build-up and even the first couple of days after, the Christmas decoration is live and fluffy
Despite the fluffiness, a handle with care sign comes along with it as well. While adding the rest of the decoration, there's a serious hazard of getting injured, not (only) from the needles, but from overexcited cat :-)
The Christmas tree in the company lobby, um... the Christmas tree built by colorful balloons🎄
So many wonderful pictures! Wow!
Although we do not have so very special traditions when it comes to decorating the tree (despite you can see we find blue and silver are absolutely pretty colors) it is a nice tradition for itself.
Decorating the tree is fun and we are really enjoying this special time of the year.
Wow! from 2020,
Thank you for for the wonderful pictures!
