I've just bought some special decorations that show the Rose Window from the damaged cathedral here (in Christchurch, NZ) - the window itself was destroyed in the June aftershocks. I was very pleased to find them - laser cut lightweight wooden items.
I will buy my (real) tree this week, and take down the box of decorations; they go right back to early 50s when my parents first came to NZ and set up their home, and had their first tree in it.

we have a string of lightbulbs on our front porch and another string in our living room
the only other thing that's getting decorated in my house is the bedroom I share with my sister but it doesn't take much because we have white Christmas lights in our room year round so I'm hanging little glittery plastic snowflakes and tiny round plastic gold and blue ornaments
and they will probably stay up forever in our room, once it's up, it stays up I'm just adding to the crazy decor we have in our room
I should post a picture of my side of the room when I can

My family has a fake six foot tree. We have home-made Christmas ornaments on it. For several years, my siblings and I made beaded ornaments and sold them at a local craft fair. My mom loved them so she bought a bunch and that's what we use on our tree. We also have white lights and red garland. I don't know what we'll have for a star this year because my mom bought a new one and I haven't seen it.

We also have white lights and red garland around our windows and doors on the inside. I love colored lights but my mom hates them so we don't have them.

We always tried to do Advent but we didn't last year. We just procrastinated and never got around to it. This year, my family is doing it though but I won't be there for most of it. So we usually have an Advent wreath. We also have a nativity scene that's some type of white glass/porcelain/ceramic/clay type material. It doesn't have any markings like colored clothing, faces, etc. so it looks really cool especially with our other decorations.

I won't be doing any decorating here at college. I'm flying home for Christmas on the 18th so I really don't care if my apartment looks Christmasy because I won't be here. All three of my roommates are leaving for Christmas as well.

Our Christmas trees (one at my parents' place and one at our apartment are decorated with a large variety of ornaments. We have ornaments my mom made, ornaments my sister and I made, and ornaments other people made and gave to us, as well as ornaments we bought or were given as gifts. We have the lights my mom used growing up and some of her family's decorations. When my tree is finished I'll take a picture and post it. I'm not sure what we did with the angel for the top.

Now on the topic of tacky decorations. There is nothing tackier than giant inflatable yard decorators, although some of the gifts my aunt has given us are a close second. I like houses decorated with lights, preferably in different colors.

Digs, I want to see a picture of your Nativity set. We have an Avon one. It isn't painted though. We only have the holy family and the angel. My mom tried to get the other ones but they were sold out. Joesph has been glued back together a couple of times. I know his staff broke, but I think something else did too.

Now on the topic of tacky decorations. There is nothing tackier than giant inflatable yard decorators, although some of the gifts my aunt has given us are a close second.

Heeeeeeeey!!!

My tree isn't up yet, something I'm trying to remedy. There's some work to get done in the room we set it up in before I can get the tree going. It's just a standard made-in-China cheap plastic tree with lights already in the fake branches. Unless it's done right and covered completely in ornaments it's fairly hideous, but it gets the job done. And I prefer colored, festive lights over the cold, clinical white lighting that seems to be so popular these days.

Now on the topic of tacky decorations. There is nothing tackier than giant inflatable yard decorators, although some of the gifts my aunt has given us are a close second.

Heeeeeeeey!!!

I just couldn't resist. By the way, I thought you were joking when you said you got permission for inflatable ornaments at my apartment complex. One of the tenants squeezed an inflatable Santa on a tiny patch of grass between there patio and the sidewalk. You put them up to it didn't you? At first glance I thought Santa was saluting, but he was just waving. Here, I thought I was safe from inflatables in my neighborhood because people don't have yards.

And I prefer colored, festive lights over the cold, clinical white lighting that seems to be so popular these days.

There's something we can agree on.

Yeah, but inflatables are so...eye-catching! Everyone's looking at your lawn when you have one of these things there!

Why it'd take 3 Twigs standing on each others shoulders to reach the height of this one inflatable Santa. And if that happens please take pictures so I can witness it.

Some people in my neighborhood go crazy. There is a house entirely decked out with yellow lights. Last year my dad and I were joking that they are trying to be seen by aliens in space.

We don't have a lot of decorations on the outside. They just go along the roof and some lights on the bushes. Inside, we have a lot of random decorations, like stuffed animals, bells, candy canes, books, etc. Some of the ornaments on our tree are broken or messed up though, so it's kind of funny. We have about a million nativity scenes, but in 2 of them we are missing baby Jesus. We used to hide them and take out the Jesuses on Christmas, but we lost some of them so... not gunna do that this year. On another ornament from the movie It's a Wonderful Life, Zuzu's head is missing. We think it broke off and got vaccummed up a few years ago.

Some people in my neighborhood go crazy. There is a house entirely decked out with yellow lights. Last year my dad and I were joking that they are trying to be seen by aliens in space. .

LOL

our decorations are usually pretty simple, I'm not a fan of tons of decor, simple, neat and with taste is the best in my opinion. We've got three nativity scenes, one that Narnian_Archer, De and myself put in our room, a smaller one that my older sister usually takes and the nicest one that we put in the living room. Their a little beat up though and glued together, the one in the living room got the worst of it, one of the wise men broke in half, the angel lost her hand and mary also lost her hand and part of her head piece and her nose. We glued them back together, except for poor Mary's nose, which we lost . The one in our room, Mary also lost her hand and the donkey lost a hoof, and we lost both pieces so they had to remain invalids. We put the tree up yesterday, I'll post some pictures as soon as I take some We never decorate the front of our house, I dunno why, it's just something we don't do, but we do string lights on our kitchen window

Now that it is after Thanksgiving, I can look at this thread and post in it.

I laughed when I saw this, I'll admit it. I guess, because I did the same thing. I saw it ages ago, but waited for that same reason. I meant to post in here sooner, but got side-tracked and such. Anyway...

I don't quite know how to answer this, because it's not like it's just one room that gets decorated. Also, I think pictures would be easier. But, until I can get some, I'll try my best to stumble through a rundown of how our house looks come Christmastime.

Oh, and we usually start decorating the day after Thanksgiving.

1) Outside
a) The way people can find my house in winter: We have this big nativity set in the yard, that, if I'm not mistaken, used to be at my grandparents house (mom's side). The main part is a star, over Mary, Joseph, and Jesus in the manger. But it also has the wisemen and camels and shepherds and sheep. (I think. I mean, I'm not exactly outside at the moment, to make sure )
c) On the door hangs a wreath, and our old sled is on the stoop (with ice skates hanging from it)

2) Living Room
a) Our old, beloved, artificial tree... which we've had as far back as I can recall. It has an angel on top, and is covered in coloured lights, and ornaments. Some of the ornaments are homemade/made at school. Some, are from when my parents were growing up... some were given to us as gifts. Some were from friends. But the majority are ones that we get each year for st nick night... they usually have something to do with something that happened that year. The idea is, once my sister and I grow up and move away, we'll have some of our own to start our own trees with. I can explain more about some of mine later, if you wish.
b) The "christmon (sp?) tree": It's an artificial tree, that has christmons that my mom has made, on it. Some years it was in the study or somewhere else. The last few years, it's been in the corner between the fishtank and the grandmother clock.

Umm, what else? Ohh!!!! Under our regular tree, we have our train that blows smoke!!! It goes around and around this little "village" that my sister likes setting up each time.

3) Other things in or near the living room
a) Stockings- We have homemade (by my momma!) ones, hanging on the staircase to the basement. I think there are lights and garland wrapped around this too.
b) Nutcrackers- Every year, for what feels like ages, I've been giving my sister one of these (per her request). She has tons of them, now. The ones I gave her in recent years, were Wizard of Oz ones (Dorothy, Scarecrow, Tin Man and Lion).
c) The Mantle- A long time ago, this lady that my dad knew, had made a nativity set. He always complimented her on it when he'd visit. So, when we moved here (in 1996) she gave it to him. And ever since, it sits on top of our fireplace. But only Dad or Mom can put it up there... we're not allowed to touch it.

4) The Kitchen
a) Dad's Budweiser/Clydestale (sp?) Mugs- Every year, as far back as I can think of, my sister has given one to Daddy for Christmas. They sit up on this shelf in above the kitchen cabinets.
b) The Homemade stuff- Covering the wall behind the mugs, are all these crafts and pictures my sister and I made when we were growing up.
c) Stuff on the table- In the middle of the table, we have... ACK! I can't think of how to describe it. I'll have to get a picture.
d) We also have stuff on this other shelf, and MAYBE some other stuff? I forget.

5) The Hallway
a) We take down the pic of me and my sis, and put up a christmasy one.
b) and there is stuff on the... I call it a cabinet, but I don't know what to call it, or how to describe what's on it. again, I'll have to get a picture for you.

6) Other
a) Stuff in our rooms, and the bathrooms.
b) This is included in part A, but... last year (or the year before) my sister got this hot pink tree for her room. It's neat... VERY "her". I like it, but wouldn't put it in MY room... but it looks cool in hers! I can ask if I can show you, if you want.

Hope I didn't forget anything! Now do you see why I wanted to leave it to just showing you pictures?

...And I prefer colored, festive lights over the cold, clinical white lighting that seems to be so popular these days.

I was out the other evening, making the traditional drive through the neighborhood to look at the lights (though it seemed strange, not having any snow at all on the ground!). Lots of houses were decked out in lights, and I noticed that while the white icicle lights remain popular, there were more multi-colored light displays this year.

Please note that our Christmas Countdown threads will be closing on Monday, January 9...but never fear! We look forward to having them again next December.

* avoids looking at the monstrosity SL posted * And no I did not try to stack myself up to reach that height.
I think I said I'd post a picture of my Christmas tree. The quality isn't very good because I used my phone.

That's a cute little tree, Pattertwigs Pal. If you don't like the one Shadowlander posted, you should see the one my Dad bought to put in my grandparents' yard next year.

Some pictures of our Christmas decorations.

Our Christmas village:

Boyd's bear on bookshelf:

Kitchen window sill:

Click on pictures to enlarge.

I was going to post a picture of our Christmas tree, but I forgot to upload the pictures to Photobucket and they're on the other computer.

SnowAngel