Reply
Honored Contributor
Posts: 38,159
Registered: ‎03-09-2010

Re: What was your childhood Christmas decor like?


@lucymo wrote:

@Spurt wrote:

@Buck-i-Nana wrote:

@Spurt @lucymo @Mominohio - I'm game...  I will admit, while I'm putting everything up I'm paying attention and working to get everything "just so" but I'm also one of those people who can't help but tweek throughout the holidays as I notice different things every time I walk into a room or past the trees or mantel.

 


@Buck-i-Nana  Me too....tweeking and re-tweeking---LOL!!! 


 

 

@Buck-i-Nana. I'm also one of those people who may completely change a vignette during the season.  I'm always looking at Christmas decor when I'm out and about and if I find something I love I'll do a whole new setting to accommodate it.  Since I start in early November it is refreshing to change things up a bit sometimes, even if just moving from one area to another.

 

We are all obsessed Christmas people, I guess.  I've always loved the season and will decorate as long as I am physically able to put it up.


 

@lucymo  That's what happened to me last year with the red room, cost me a small fortune to create my display, lol, so I completely understand.  If I could just stop getting new ideas all of the time, for inside and in the garden, but my mind is always thinking, lol, so I am doomed.

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,901
Registered: ‎05-27-2015

Re: What was your childhood Christmas decor like?

@Mominohio Yes, I noticed that real and personally chosen Christmas cards are not showing up as often. Does it bother you that you get photo cards from people you barely know? What happened to a beautiful card and a photo inside? I love the photo cards from family and close friends, but my husband's co-workers families???

Honored Contributor
Posts: 8,197
Registered: ‎12-13-2010

Re: What was your childhood Christmas decor like?


@mousiegirl wrote:

@lucymo wrote:

@Spurt wrote:

@Buck-i-Nana wrote:

@Spurt @lucymo @Mominohio - I'm game...  I will admit, while I'm putting everything up I'm paying attention and working to get everything "just so" but I'm also one of those people who can't help but tweek throughout the holidays as I notice different things every time I walk into a room or past the trees or mantel.

 


@Buck-i-Nana  Me too....tweeking and re-tweeking---LOL!!! 


 

 

@Buck-i-Nana. I'm also one of those people who may completely change a vignette during the season.  I'm always looking at Christmas decor when I'm out and about and if I find something I love I'll do a whole new setting to accommodate it.  Since I start in early November it is refreshing to change things up a bit sometimes, even if just moving from one area to another.

 

We are all obsessed Christmas people, I guess.  I've always loved the season and will decorate as long as I am physically able to put it up.


 

@lucymo  That's what happened to me last year with the red room, cost me a small fortune to create my display, lol, so I completely understand.  If I could just stop getting new ideas all of the time, for inside and in the garden, but my mind is always thinking, lol, so I am doomed.


@mousiegirl  I have always believed when you stop thinking and planning things to do, you are letting yourself grow old.  Do what you can afford to do to enjoy life is the way I think.  I was into that red room too as you went along.  It turned out great, the tree was beautiful.

Honored Contributor
Posts: 20,019
Registered: ‎08-08-2010

Re: What was your childhood Christmas decor like?


@PA Mom-mom wrote:

@Mominohio Yes, I noticed that real and personally chosen Christmas cards are not showing up as often. Does it bother you that you get photo cards from people you barely know? What happened to a beautiful card and a photo inside? I love the photo cards from family and close friends, but my husband's co-workers families???


 

I also love the photo cards from family and close friends (and keep them forever), but for those people on what I refer to as 'the fringe' of my life, I don't really care for them, and they end up getting tossed after the holiday. 

 

I collect a few vintage Christmas cards from the 1940's and I love the churches and other themes that we don't see on cards these days. The ones from WW II that had military themes are interesting ones as well

 

@PA Mom-mom

 

 

Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,394
Registered: ‎04-19-2010

Re: What was your childhood Christmas decor like?

My parents just weren't into holidays. Part of it was the lack of money and part of it was that they were first-generation Americans from families that did not decorate or understand American traditions. We did have a tree with a few ornaments and Mom made us remove the tinsel and reuse it for years. It looked pretty awful. But I loved the smell of the fresh tree and still felt the magic of the lit tree. Any decorations we had were hand-me-downs, most from a dead dentist (true!), and fit in one box. I truly never saw my mother buy an ornament or decoration, just the tree. And Santa was firmly put in the realm of fantasy. We did decorate a paper lunch bag for our Christmas sock and always had an orange and ribbon candy in it. Christmas was centered around religious services and we had a turkey dinner. I think my folks were relieved to see January.

 

But this minimal celebration in no way diminished my love of the holiday. I enjoyed seeing all the trees in front windows, singing carols, learning my Christmas piece, and just the celebration around me. I was then a "Christmas girl" and still am today. I made sure my children had a festive holiday, not overboard, but not bare bones either. And I enjoy decorating my home--and I do not save and reuse tinsel! Lol

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,958
Registered: ‎09-28-2010

Re: What was your childhood Christmas decor like?


@SunValley wrote:

My parents just weren't into holidays. Part of it was the lack of money and part of it was that they were first-generation Americans from families that did not decorate or understand American traditions. We did have a tree with a few ornaments and Mom made us remove the tinsel and reuse it for years. It looked pretty awful. But I loved the smell of the fresh tree and still felt the magic of the lit tree. Any decorations we had were hand-me-downs, most from a dead dentist (true!), and fit in one box. I truly never saw my mother buy an ornament or decoration, just the tree. And Santa was firmly put in the realm of fantasy. We did decorate a paper lunch bag for our Christmas sock and always had an orange and ribbon candy in it. Christmas was centered around religious services and we had a turkey dinner. I think my folks were relieved to see January.

 

But this minimal celebration in no way diminished my love of the holiday. I enjoyed seeing all the trees in front windows, singing carols, learning my Christmas piece, and just the celebration around me. I was then a "Christmas girl" and still am today. I made sure my children had a festive holiday, not overboard, but not bare bones either. And I enjoy decorating my home--and I do not save and reuse tinsel! Lol


I don't know your age, so this may or may not be relevant to your post!  When I was a kid, back in the 50s, tinsel was made of lead.  It was heavier and hung beautifully and I think most folks carefully took it off their tree and reused it year after year.  Of course, being lead based it was banned after it was discovered how damaging exposure to it was.

 

We had an electric train under our tree (forgot about that in my original post here), and once in a while a strand of tinsel would fall onto the track and it would spark and give off a scent that smelled like soy sauce cooking!

 

The replacement product was awful and most everyone I knew quit using tinsel on their trees.

 

Respected Contributor
Posts: 4,394
Registered: ‎04-19-2010

Re: What was your childhood Christmas decor like?

@Buck-i-Nana interesting about the tinsel lead content. Same timeframe for me, but the stuff we used was very thin foil and definitely not easily reused. It was not more than 10¢ a package. I can remember some friend's trees that were so draped you couldn't see the green. Maybe that's where the idea of the aluminum tree came from!

 

 

Respected Contributor
Posts: 3,958
Registered: ‎09-28-2010

Re: What was your childhood Christmas decor like?


@SunValley wrote:

@Buck-i-Nana interesting about the tinsel lead content. Same timeframe for me, but the stuff we used was very thin foil and definitely not easily reused. It was not more than 10¢ a package. I can remember some friend's trees that were so draped you couldn't see the green. Maybe that's where the idea of the aluminum tree came from!

 

 


Oh, it was very thin, but it draped perfectly and didn't "waft" like the replacement cellophane based tinsel taht replaced it.

 

I'd seen trees totally covered in the tinsel.  In fact, one of my all time favorite Christmas movies, "The Bishops Wife" the angel (Cary Grant) decorates the Bishop's tree and between the silver tinsel and garland, you can barely see tree!

 

Esteemed Contributor
Posts: 5,901
Registered: ‎05-27-2015

Re: What was your childhood Christmas decor like?

@Buck-i-Nana  The Bishop's Wife!! Yes! I think that's my favorite movie Christmas tree ever! Whenever it comes on, I make everyone come to the TV and watch the tree decorating scene. We had the lead based tinsel and saved it from year to year. We stopped using tinsel when we got a cat that ate the tinsel and "exported" it out the back end, only to have it trailing behind him all over the house!