Decorating or Trimming a Christmas Tree - A Tutorial

A Christmas tree is generally a pine tree, however I can't explain why the pine tree got chosen to represent, since I'm not sure they have pine trees where Jesus was born.

My tree is an artificial tree, made from plastic and metal wire. It's very convenient. I store it upstairs in my house and carry it downstairs to decorate for our Christmas celebration with our family.

Some people purchase a real tree from a tree sales lot and some just have pine trees that they chop down for the purpose, but since I have had a real tree in the past and they become quite messy with fallen needles on the floor, I prefer artificial. The real pine trees smell very nice, but the sap is quite sticky and my last real tree was a challenge. Yes. Houses are dry this time of year, and with the length of time one leaves them up, they have a tendency to dry and become brittle. They are even harder to remove from your home once Christmas is past. The dry branches become quite pokey and are sharp to try to carry.

In my house, I decorate mine with two strings of lights. The lights are colored. I also have a length of gold colored tinsel cord. It's been my standby for 34 years of this. The kids made ornaments when they were small and those ornaments are hung each year. The kids are now 29 and 31, so it's special. My mother made ornaments for me before my kids were born, and she has since passed, so I think of her when I place them on my tree.

A friend of mine made little angels for my tree and I have a larger angel that perches on the top point. There are numerous colored balls that get hung as well. It gets to be quite an assortment.

By the time it is decorate and done, it's quite exciting to look at, and when you turn the lights off, the tree glows with all the different colored bulbs.

I think the skirt under the tree was to catch pine needles, originally. I put mine under the tree to cover the metal legs.

The presents get stacked around the tree and the recipients name is on each one. I have grandchildren, and we purchase $200 dollars worth of gifts for each one and then, carefully wrap them, add their name and place under the tree.

Our children and their spouses get a cash gift and a gift card to Red Lobster. Then, they can go out for supper, on us, and spend some quality time together.

I discovered that some of my lightbulbs did not illuminate, but, since I have quite a few feet of them, I'm going to tuck the unlit ones under the tree. They'll be covered so no one will have to worry about them.

First I strung my lights around the tree. Then, I draped my tinsel garland around. It's supposed to look like a zig zag drapey look, but, it's really becoming a Charlie Brown's Christmas look.

I added the angel to to the top and added a few decorations here and there. Perhaps I'll feel more motivated tomorrow night to add more, but right now, I'm satisfied with what I've placed around.