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Let's talk Christmas decoration expenses

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  • #16
    If I decorate at all, it is pretty minimal. One of my favorite decorations was a a small, multiply forked sycamore branch hung horizontally over the sofa. I suspended a few 3/4 inch glass balls from it with skinny red ribbon. Minimal but festive. And so easy to clean up later.

    When our son was young (5 years), he asked that we not buy a cut tree, as he did not want to participate in killing a tree. So, we bought a very small dwarf Alberta spruce (they can probably live in Alaska, kork13) from a nursery, put it into a nice pot, brought it indoors to decorate it. We actually carried it back outside some days to get sun and winter chill. When the holidays were over, we kept the tree on our patio. This was our Christmas tree for several years, as the species grows very slowly, so I could still carry it in and out.




    In college, I worked two years at a museum that had a very large grounds with all the makings for southern or Williamsburg style decorating. For the holidays we collected from the grounds green magnolia leaves and cones, holly branches, pyrethrum berries, pine twigs, boxwood, etc and worked them up in a fashion worthy of a high end florist. That was a style I very much like, but I could not repeat it in my home home without spending a lot to obtain the plant material.

    I do appreciate the outdoor decorating people do. What a lot of work goes into that! The more outrageous the better, ha-ha. Well, no, I actually really love the simple candles in windows, tasteful green wreaths, and pine roping. These seem like quiet, peaceful, homey ways of decorating.
    "There is some ontological doubt as to whether it may even be possible in principle to nail down these things in the universe we're given to study." --text msg from my kid

    "It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men." --Frederick Douglass

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    • #17
      We decorate the tree and put a wreath on the door and that's all the decorating we do. I bought window clings on clearance after Christmas last year so I'll be putting those up after thanksgiving.

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      • #18
        Xmas deco

        Lights are a real pain my mom has one of those light projector things you just stick it in the ground and you're all done. Easier on the pocket too especially with the holidays coming up.

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        • #19
          GoVegetaGo, I heard of so many of those projectors being stolen last year. Here in the urban core, yards are so small that they had to be placed near the sidewalk in order to get any coverage on the house. A person walking by could pick it up and be gone in a flash.
          "There is some ontological doubt as to whether it may even be possible in principle to nail down these things in the universe we're given to study." --text msg from my kid

          "It is easier to build strong children than to repair broken men." --Frederick Douglass

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          • #20
            i'm poor this christmas so nothing is going good.

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            • #21
              We've went through the trash to get discarded Christmas decorations the stores throw out.
              They gently place them on top of the bins. We've gotten many household plants in nice containers that appeared close to their death.

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              • #22
                Originally posted by linhtop View Post
                i'm poor this christmas so nothing is going good.
                Yes that is not fun

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                • #23
                  Originally posted by GoVegetaGo View Post
                  Lights are a real pain my mom has one of those light projector things you just stick it in the ground and you're all done. Easier on the pocket too especially with the holidays coming up.
                  I'm strongly considering getting one of those as well. I'm lazy about decorating (as I said above), and living in Alaska, Christmas lights are next to impossible to delay putting up until after Thanksgiving. Between the 0°-20° cold & the snow, currently ~6-7 inches on the ground... most folks put them up in September or October. So the laser projection lights seem like a great option for me.

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