We decided on a live tree this year....

CalamityJane
I love the colors in your house, did you do that all yourself? (from other pictures as weel)

husker,
the idea was mine, but I had painters do the job.

After Husker's comments I had to go back and take another look at Jane's photos. I was particularly impressed with this one...



That would make a nice Christmas card.

Good job, Jane.

I agree with Gus. That's a beautiful photo, CJ!

Beautiful CJane! Thank you for sharing your tree. The color of your walls makes the whole thing more festive!

Gus, it is pronounced "Ore-uh-ghun". People only really laugh if you say "Orey-gun".

The lift cost $150 for the weekend. I thought that was pretty good. There is some debate as to whether we have enough lights. We aren't putting up anything other than lights - maybe some stuff on the lower branches that will be easy to take down. You can walk under the tree without ducking so it might be fun to do something crazy on the underside.

My neighborhood is not exactly devoid of trees for birds to make their home!

I'd better head over to the studio and pick up a tripod - that's the ticket!

WOW!
that is a great idea boom!

Thank you!

boomer, I can't wait to see your tree lit up. I bet the
entire neighborhood will come and gaze at your tree,
and before you know it, you'll make the local papers.

Do you know how many strands of light your neighbor
is using?

We bought every light left at the display house - 35 strands, each about 30 feet or so. Say.... 100 lights per strand, 3500 lights, or there about.

They are trying to figure out how to get some more and how to go about the decorating with what we have so that more can be added with only the aid of a very long ladder.

Boys!

I have these gargantuan ornaments that I might hang underneath, they're about as big as globes. They are made of glass though so....

My "hang them on the tree" idea was nixed because nobody wanted to have to take them down and frankly, even though they're huge they'd probably be invisible on the scale of that tree.

Everyone in my neighborhood decorates in their own wacky way. It is most certainly not a fancy neighborhood. Last night there ended up being an impromptu party under the tree. My neighborhood is kind of big on impromptu parties though -- any excuse will do.

Now that's what I call a big tree, boomerang! Like everybody else, I can't wait to see it with all the lights. I think it is bigger than our official town tree here in Balingen in front of our main church... You Americans... Everything has to be bigger than in Europe... ;-)

Yeah it's a big tree alright! There are actually many bigger trees in the neighborhood but none that have the presence of this one.

The lift actually does not go as high as the tree. The "boys" have McGuivered this contraption using a fishing pole over the tree top blah blah blah to get the lights to the top.

Hilarious.

At least the weather is cooperating with a flawless day:

I agree with Gus, Jane. That would make a lovely card. Beautiful!

Phase one is complete.

Best of all we got the big trees in our front yard pruned as part of the deal! We talked to an arborist several years ago and the estimate was $800 so this was a steal!

For better or worse (I didn't go get the tripod yet) here are some photos of the Christmas tree:

Mo takes a tour (angles are deceiving, before anyone gets upset about him being so high):



I'm, like, seeing tracers, man:



After dark. This is a terrible photo but I thought it was cool because Mo's second year Christmas present, the wagon, and his third year present, the tractor, are both under the tree!



We still have some work to do but I think it will look great!

Oh how beautiful is that! It's a lot of work but the result
is just breathtaking boomer. I love it!!!



(J_B, thank you, this year I have already cards made of
little Jane, but next year, I probably use that picture)

That would be a great photo to use, CJane but I imagine everyone wants a card with little Jane!

Honestly the tree looks a little bit dorky right now. Who knew that 3500 lights were so few!?

By the time we get it finished it should look really wonderful. It has been really fun and Mo thinks it is terrific so it is worth it.

Our yard is a complete disaster from all the tree limbs cut down. Neighbor is supposed to work on the Christmas tree tomorrow but I fear I have a LOT of clean up to do before I'll get to start tree decorating.

One of the things I love about our house is the trees. We really have some amazing trees. When we first bought this house many people recommended that we cut down some of our trees before they started tearing up the driveway and paths. We decided we'd rather live without a driveway and paths before we cut down any of our trees. So far everything is still in good shape.

cool cool cool

I'm sorry, but does anyone else have this problem? Everytime I read the title to this thread I see "We decided to live in a tree this year".

Only you, littlek. Only you.

Station Mo on the sidewalk with a "Greenery For Sale" sign. "Pick up your own."

I was going to put the lights on the tree yesterday,
but I got the rum-and-eggnog going
and I was lit before the tree was.

The tree looks very good, boomerang. That are 3500 lights? Wow!