Christmas Ornaments - Pittsburgh,PA

We get 1 new ornament every year to represent the year past (each person).

Going through ornaments is so much FUN, remembering what this one was for, or that one. I have 32 of my own, my son has 9, my mum has (mumble), etc. Especially for when before someone was born, those ornaments are fun to share the stories attached (like my "lobster" ornament, or the jetski, or whatever).

Putting them away is even more nostalgic, because we're a little too excited while putting them up to go into all the stories, but in taking them down... it's definitely story time.

The only ornaments I don't like are the random ones that were picked up at some store before we had enough personal ones for the tree. Those have been tossed. Except 1 of them. To remember the half naked tree.

I don't know how old you are or how old your kids are. But when I started feeling like this I got a second tree. The first tree is the big tree in the family room. It has all the family ornaments. stuff the kids have made and or collected. the second tree is mine. I get a new angel each year and put on it. I don't let anyone else help decorate it. Its mine and yes it helps with the being unhappy with the tree lol

Riley and I definitely went to the same Christmas decorating tree class!!

This is my first year of looking through my ornaments and I felt that it was time for me to 'plan' a themed Christmas tree. I've always wanted a musical themed tree representing the 12 days of Christmas characters as well as a nativity tree, with all the nativity characters and lots and lots of angels on that one.

And if not now, then when? I have been happy for a very long time with my hodge-podge collection of collected ornaments. They are a wonderful way to tell your family stories to the children. Next year, I think I'll quizz them to see how much they have listened to me over the years.

I decorate many, many trees for the holidays.

There are ways that we decorate them so that the family trees look a little more cohesive. The secret is to pick one or 2 colors of solid colored ornaments and place them on the tree first.. a little further into the tree.. This will give you a color palette. Then take your family ornaments and hang them on the outer tips of the branches.. It will make a HUGE difference.

Also consider new ribbon. Consider all one color lights.

Many homes we decorate are "Dream Homes" the ones you always dreamed of living in, but once you are old enough to own them, you are not as energetic to climb the ladders and put them up yourself.

Also the family ornaments can look a little dated, worn out or loved on so much, they do not fit in these homes decors or grandeur.

And so we do as suggested below.. We design a beautiful tree that is current and fits your taste..

The family collections we set up on a pretty tree in the family room, kitchens or entertainment rooms..

We have even designed big Wreaths with the family ornaments covering them, so they can be hung on bedroom doors or in the hallways of the bedrooms. Once the children move out, they can then take these "memory wreaths with them."

I'm at the stage in my life where I'm really thinking hard on my possessions. Both my Dad & my MIL passed away in 2009. Going thru their estates & adding them to ours....has been a learning process. Lots of junk to toss, lots of treasures to honor. I guess this would be part of "normal maturation".....although I think a mid-life crisis might be more fun!

& that's how I feel about my Christmas collection. The basic decorating elements are getting tired, they're becoming dated. I find that I am drawn to the more unique & unusual pieces....& I want to trash the rest. But, my sons are headed towards lives of their own, & they've asked me to keep everything until they're independent. I can do that!

Sooo, how I feel about my ornaments is a very different situation. My ornaments consist of a Snowbaby Collection....we buy one each year in memory of our dearly-departed daughter. Her ornaments are the 1st on the tree. I have a collection of memory keepsakes....both from my childhood & thru our marriage. This collection is small, but very dear to me. I always hang my sons' 1st Christmas ornaments....& a few other milestones for them. I have a collection of Santa ornaments which I still enjoy.

AND the crowning piece of my ornament collection....would be my antique ornaments. Some are from my childhood....some are from my Dad's childhood....but the best pieces were my Great Grandfathers' glass ornaments from World War II & before. Some of the ornaments are almost 100 years old....& I treasure them! This year I had two trees in our great room....a vintage 60's silver tree,complete with color wheel - for my childhd ornaments/glass balls, & a full-sized tree for the all of the rest. Loved our trees this year....even tho' it was our 1st year with fake trees (allergy-free & so much better than being sick each Christmas!).

As others have mentioned, part of decorating the tree is sharing the life stories which go with the ornaments. A huge tradition in our family!

OMG! I forgot about my sons' ornament collections: each year, my Mom gives them a memory ornament....something which relates to the past year. I also give them an ornament. This year, my 24yo toured the East Coast w/ my Mom. She bought a blown-glass ornament....a ferry at Boston Harbor. My 15yo received an acrylic vintage car w/ Santa driving - in honor of his driving permit/1st car. Oh, & I gave them each a glass ornament ...a baseball commemorating the StL Cardinals win! They each have their own storage box of treasured ornaments. Sometimes they hang them, sometimes they remained stored. :)

I, too, have lost interest in decorating a tree. My granddaughter decorated a Norfolk Is. pine this year. Most of my ornaments never made it out of the box.

I collected ornaments over the first 20 years of my adult life and many have stories attached. Seeing them makes me feel nostalgic for the "old" days when I still looked forward to a good marriage and a happy family. It didn't happen. Not quite a pleasant feeling.

Therefore, I feel that I've moved on and don't want those memories. I save the ornaments for my grandchildren when they're on their own. My granddaughter will love them.

It sounds like a good time to begin storing away special ornaments to give your girls for their own trees when they move away from home. I have a couple of handmade ornaments that I cringe every year when they are pulled out, but at least once or twice during the season they put a smile on my face.

To "get you excited about decorating the tree"?
You might want to go to the store (now before it's too late & they're gone)
and get some on 50% clearance!
Ditch the ones you hate that have no meaning (donate them).
I love my tree ornaments that I have collected over the years that have
a story or a memory (bought this one in Hawaii etc).
So either buy some new fun ones (even at a Christmas store that's open
all year) or let your kids decorate the tree if you hate doing it anymore.
It's okay to be tired. ;) (We've been doing it for a long time). :)

Oh, surely you're not getting old! Not any more than the rest of us, anyhow.

Why not go get the retired items and look through them? You might be pleasantly surprised. Sometimes it's a good idea to put things away for a while because then they seem new, or they give you new decorating ideas. Since your girls are into decorating, ask them to come up with ideas, too. Let them think outside the box - sort of a brainstorm session; no idea too crazy. Write the ideas down, save them in a box, and talk them over in the fall. I'm imagining this annual project becoming a great mother-daughter collaboration.

I don't know how old your girls are, but maybe it's time to start putting their names on some of the ornaments you have, so when they have homes of their own they'll have memorable collections for their trees.

Here are some ideas when you start thinking about what you would like for your own tree. What do you like about other peoples' trees? Stores' trees? Trees you see in magazines? Do you like theme trees or classic family trees? Would a different set of lights light you up (lights aren't expensive)? What about selecting a color or two to focus on, and using the ornaments from your collection that go with that color plan?

I have a standard procedure. My husband doesn't like garlands or ribbons so I don't do that - much - but I have ornaments enough for two or three trees so I can pick out what I want every year; it's like having my own little Christmas store in my home. That makes it fun.

You have eleven - well, ten - months to think, plan, and dream. Have fun!

For the past two years I have weeded out a lot of the stuff! I don't blame you-next year, maybe do something different!

That's kind of sad? Perhaps it's time to get a 2nd tree? My mom got like that when I was in high school, so she got her "own" tree (an adult tree with only white lights, red bows or ribbons or whatever, and crystal ornaments from Mikasa. There was a pretty angel that matched on her tree, and it was in the den where she watched TV and cross stitched. We had the old family tree and all the old family ornaments and multicolored lights, with a star on top, in the family room where we hung out. In the kitchen, we had a norfolk pine all year long and that was a Cajun Christmas tree during Christmas, but changed decorations for different holidays throughout the year (instead of garland we had dried Spanish moss, and little crawfish ornaments, a crawfish dressed as an angel on top, little "bags" of red beans, rice, or whatever wrapped in toile, hot pepper lights, little tiny tobasco bottles that we made into ornaments, etc).

The way I think now is that Christmas, while you have the kids around, is really more "for" the kids. We have a big, lovely tree in the main room of our house now, and it is for the FAMILY, as the kids would see it. I, too, have an ornament box for each child, and a couple for mom and dad. I write the initials and year for each ornament, and we put the tree up, get the lights just perfect, and then just wait. Have a snack, drink some warm punch, go through the ornaments a little at a time, tell stories of when we got an ornament and why (can be short, not long stories but more like "Aw! This puppy ornament is for the first year we had a dog---doesn't she look like Sally? This yoda--yes! For your first party with friends, a Star Wars birthday party!" We giggle a little at the handmade ornaments that they made in Sunday School, we measure their hands and feet now (I have a handprint from my 1st son, a footprint from my 2nd from when they were just 1 month old, and this year we made hand-shaped santas out of salt dough, so it's fun to compare tiny hands to their current hands). Those things are nice. They are our story. The boys love hearing it, and seeing ornaments from mom and dad's first Christmas together, the poker chips ornament from when my mil said I must be quite a gambler taking a chance on her son when we announced we were getting married, the airplane ornament that is a secret joke that we always laugh about, etc. The tree doesn't look like something in a magazine, but it's our life, and it's beautiful! Perhaps thinking on it like that could help?

We do get 1 ornament a year for each person. It adds up, yes. I'll keep them all anyway. As they get into highschool, IF we think the tree has too much, perhaps we may let the boys choose which of their ornaments they hang up. Who knows? The doofy angel made out of a styrofoam cup with yarn, glitter, pipecleaner halo, and paper wings might be sentimental to him more than something nicer. No way of knowing. But I'll let the kids choose: "Ok, we can put 20 ornaments from each person's box on, you choose what 20 of yours to put on, and why?" Something like that. Because it is about them, and I want to celebrate them and our time together while they're still with me. At some point, they're going to grow up, get married, and do their own thing, and I will miss the silly styrofoam cup angel.

If you don't have "personal" ornaments, and it's just a set of balls or whatever (that's what we call filler), perhaps you can just donate them? There are ALWAYS people to donate the generic things to. We had filler ornaments when we were a new family and hadn't "collected" enough personal ornaments to fill the tree, and again last year when we were in a temporary apartment and our real stuff was in storage. This year we donated that tree, lights, and ornaments to family that was in need. Then while leaving Walgreens one day, I heard a lady asking if ALL the trees in the parking lot were $35, and then saying no thanks, it's dumb, I'd still have to buy ornaments too. She had a very young child with her (almost 1). I had to chase her down after putting my kids in their seatbelts. There's lots of people who could use the filler ornaments you don't want, (balls, garland, whatever), and maybe you could start working on a tradition where you buy or make SPECIAL ornaments, just one at a time, for you guys?