Oh, Christmas Trees

 The three trees at our house are all lit up and sparkly but bare underneath.  Most years I have all the Christmas gifts practically finished by Thanksgiving.  This year, however, I haven't even gone seriously shopping yet.  Yikes!

 My tabletop tree has graduated to it's own planter this year.  You may have recognized it from my post on the Halloween tree.  I found the urn at Goodwill a few months ago and gave it a new paint job.  The vintage ornaments were found at a tiny thrift store in Abilene, Texas last year.  The two different shades of green and the tiny white are glass.  The larger white are the satin type of ball ornaments that are no longer made.  (Gee, I wonder why...)

The family tree is usually put up in the piano (dining) room.  It has colored lights, handmade and school ornaments as well as ornaments given to us as gifts.  This tree is very homey and holds a lot of memories.  It especially looks great at night.

 I alternate the trees in the living room each year between the large full tree and the medium sized one.  This year is the medium.  The large tree requires each individual branch to be hand placed together and takes the better part of the day just to set it up.  (And that is before any lights or decor is added.)  Lights still need to be added to the medium tree but it is so much faster to put up--just pop the three sections together and fluff out the branches.  It doesn't look nearly as real (or awesome) as the large tree but sometimes shaving off five hours of time is worth it.

The tree in the living room usually has white lights and is a little more showy.  I change the design of the tree and mantel from year to year but have liked the color combo of blue, red and silver for about the last three years.  I usually wrap the presents to match, too.

I realize that the simple burlap Christmas decor is quite popular right now but we have always gone for the bling.  Sparkle and shine at our home.  I guess it's one of our traditions.

What about your family Christmas tree?  Trendy or traditional?  Simple or spectacular?