We got the tree up and have mostly decorated. It is a good size artificial, bought many years ago. It sits in front of the smaller window in the living room and faces the side yard. We never decorate the back of the tree--it is hard to reach and no one can see it. (The window is high from ground and you would need a ladder to see it.) We do put lights all the way around the tree because you can see the glow from the window.

I am just curious, does anyone else skip the back of the tree?

we skimp on the back of the tree, but I put so many lights on it no-one can really tell from the outside.

I decorate all the way around just to distribute the weight evenly. When you see all of the trees fall over on the funniest home videos you will notice that all of them only have the front and bottom decorated. If you do just decorate 3/4 of the way make sure you put some weight on the stand to ensure that it doesn't fall over.

I went to hubby shop I have a room off his shop were we keep the Christmas tree. He had the floor full of his stuff and the door block so I just gave up. I want be putting up a tree this year. O' well maybe next year. We do not have little one's. :roll:

We bought a cut Christmas tree from my daughter's fiance. He has a nursery. The tree is on the back porch and the smell is wonderful. I was told that they had them shipped in from North or South Carolina. We'll bring it into the livingroom soon. Last year we bought a new, tall artificial tree, but this year we're keeping it in the attic. Some years I decorated both trees, but this year we're keeping it simple and trying to keep off ladders. I've got the Christmas music on and now all I need to do is straighten up the house for decorating.

The ornaments we are using came from QVC's Valerie Parr Hill. They are adorable light-weight plastic made to look like candy, cookies, fruit and ginger bread men/women. I love how they look but also love that they are plastic. That way if Gabe pulls them off or the cats knock one off, they won't break.

I would love to have a real tree but DH firmly says no. I have been playing Christmas music since the day before Thanksgiving. We have one radio station that only plays Christmas music/songs all through the holidays and even streams the music on the computer.

BAH HUMBUG!...... We have SNOW.... thats mY decorations!

Last time, I tried to skip the back, but my DH laughed so hard I went ahead and did a skimpy job back there. Our kids aren't coming this year...going to Romania for 10 days to visit her folks. I think I'm skipping it this year. May do the lights outside, but maybe not even that. DH doesn't care either way if our grandson isn't coming.

We decorate our tree so people can see it outside:

Oh wow!!! If we got that much snow, people here would panic!!! If we get a light dusting, they mob the stores. LOL!! I grew up in Ohio and lots and lots of snow was the normal for us. I kind of miss it here.

I skimp on the back - simple ugly ornaments go there.

This year I don't even care to put up a tree... and I usually have it up the day after Thanksgiving.

Bahhh humbug! :(

I'm late on putting my tree up. It's usually up right now and I'm waiting until the weekend. I put mine up in my livingroom and it's right infront of one of the big windows so I decorate the back, but I put all the ugly ornaments on the back. The people driving by can't see how ugly they are....lol. I wouldn't decorate the back if it's not exposed.

Yep,tree is up and decorated all the way around...Amandasgramma oh that is so pretty "The snow covered tree"..Raining something aweful here and will turn to snow by Thurday. GD and DIL helped put the tree up Saturday i love to go out for a drive and look at all the pretty Christmas decorating around where i live(:)

Hehehehe checking.......the kids decorated last night. No lights, no tinsel but yes there are some ornaments. Funny never thought about it. Ours faces our back porch and nobody but us will be out there.

Oooohhhh just noticed on the picture my top woven star is not up yet. LOL

Anna...I think your tree is just perfect!

I had to laugh at the snow tree outside...I'm just thankful we don't get that much snow.

I decorate the tree all the way around. I want it balanced out for the cats.:lol: I have it out from the wall while I work..then I shove it into a corner. Its not up yet, but DH wants all the decos to come out soon. I love them when they are up, but dread the process. It takes me a week to decorate the house!

Gorgeous, amanda's grandma!

I'm not sure what I will do this year. This will be my furbabies' first Christmas, and I just know they will want to touch EVERYTHING on the tree!!! :roll: I'm considering putting one on top of the television cabinet so it is out of their reach.

How do those of you with kitty furbabies deal with putting up a tree? Do you skip it altogether? I absolutely LOVE this time of year, and I want to have a tree -- even if it is just a small one. I just don't want to find my tree laying on the floor and the ornaments chewed to bits! :| :lol:

I used fishing line to tie it to the wall (after my kitties knocked the treee down 3 times the first year) and only NON BREAKABLE ornaments until kitty got trained ( she would go up in the inside middle of the tree and all you would see was her paw coming out to bat an ornament lol it was too cute

Never before have I decorated before December, but tonight I am listening to holiday music in the living room where a slender tree is filled with handmade ornaments, family photos and saved memories (like the origami rooster made in 1968 -- when money was scare ). The dining room has glass Santas, poinsettias and snowflakes. The kitchen tree has flamingos. Tiny l tree for granddaughter's room has mini ornaments. (Living room tree also has half a dozen pug ornaments and a dozen or so dragonflies.) Yes, I decorated the backs. My friend says it looks like the bird of Christmas flew over, had an accident and out popped a hodge-podge or ornaments. Around the rooms are scores of Santas, angels, several creche sets and who knows what else. What tickles my fancy is a neon flamingo in front of kitchen tree (husband's idea.). Tippi the pug is ignoring it all. Excessive but fun.

Oh your grinch stocking is so funny!

We cannot ignore the back of our tree. It sits in the livingroom picture window facing the street and people can see it walking up or driving by.

There are three other close homes doing the same copy cat thing now after we have done it eight years. LOL! I actually love that. I have something to look at now too.
ps I just found a pic of my tree last year. It looks like this the whole eight feet... Scroll down past the reindeer... LOL!

http://www.quiltingboard.com/t-31685-1.htm

I decorate all the way around, but I use my least favorite ornaments for the back.

I do tend to put the less attractive ones in the back, also ones my girls made for us when the were young. If I put them in the front they would probably try to take them. I told them that the ornaments belong to us since they were gifts. I have a bad habit of keeping nearly every decoration we ever got. It's my way of recalling so many good times. My mother loved to decorate for Christmas and created many fun displays. I think I miss her most at this time of year, but I feel a little like she's with me when I am putting up each decoration.....So, yes I have to use the entire tree.

here is the little tree I put up in the living room, my MIL still can't get up the stairs so we are putting the big tree downstairs for her, (in the sewing room) I am putting that one up today. My neighbors boyfriend wont let her put up a tree, but her house faces my window so i leave the blinds and curtains open so she can still sorta have a tree lol

I can't decide whether to put up the artificial tree this year or get a fresh one. My son is working at a Christmas tree farm on weekends before Christmas. Maybe I should have him bring home a small one. I also have one of those aluminum trees that I bought on eBay one year...color wheel and all! That one is fun for the antique ornaments. Right now, I'm just wishing I had more time before Christmas. It hasn't been a good year for us. My husband lost his job last year and has been out of work. I'm kind of scared about spending money on Christmas and worried about what lies ahead for us in this awful economy. I know alot of people in the same boat as we are and that makes it even more scary!

I always decorate my tree Dec, 24th, when Xmas is reallly around,

Reminds me of when my daughter was a toddler...she wanted to "pretty the tree". We tied it up, to prevent tipping over, decorated the upper part our way....then she made paper chains & decorated the bottom...I let her do this any time she wanted to...not to many needles left by Christmas day...but one happy little girl.

One year, many years ago, I bought a tree for almost "FREE" because it had no back. It was one sided and man could not understand why I wanted it. It was going against a way. J J

We put ours up in an archway so all sides are exposed. I need a lot of ornaments. The first year I was married I made a lot of my own beaded ornaments from kits from Lee Wards. Then they were going out of business and I bought more of the kits. These are my favorites. My one requirement for my husband was that I wanted a dated ornament every year. He forgot 2 different years and I still went out and got one for myself, but I want him to pick it out. Now the kids make sure he gets one for me. I have 2 glass ornaments from my mother that were from her first tree during WWII. They couldn't use metal then because all metal was used for the war efforts.

Its really cute and lots of ornaments. Merry Christmas to all.

I moved into the home I am still in on November 28th, twelve years ago. We were remodeling and living at the same time in this house. When I found the box with my new pre-lit tree I decided to just put the tree up in the living room window and we could enjoy the lights at night, no decorations what ever, even though we were neck high in boxes. Everyone in the neighborhood gave me fits because they thought we had out done them by moving in and having a tree up three days later. We laughed every year afterwards right up until my love passed away. To this day I always light up this tree for a few nights before decorating it because it brings back beautiful memories. My husband always said if we moved again he wanted to do it just before Christmas so we could repeat this experience. It's your tree and you should enjoy it with or with out decorations on one side. I usually don't put much on the back of my tree either because no one sees anything below the window and then I have lots and lots of decorations for the sides and front. Enjoy

My tree will go in the corner of the room this year. The back will not be decorated at the bottom. That way the tree can get closer to the wall.

I wasn't going to put a tree up, but my mother asked me to make sure we do an old fashioned Christmas like always. It's just dh and myself and Christmas day we will go get mom from the nursing home and bring her here for the day. She wants to smell the turkey cooking and all the other stuff too. NO money to buy gifts this year to many medical bills.

I have to decorate the back, it does face the window, but the main reason is most of my ornaments are either gifts, or were homemade and I have so many, some have to go on the back or they would not all go on the tree. I have 17 large totes of Christmas stuff to put out, and love doing it each and every year.

I am not a huge fan of Christmas, but my husband LOVES it...with the kitchen renos. underway he hasn't mentioned the tree yet, but it will be up within a week I imagine. We have a large potted pine that gets brought in every year, decorated to within an inch of it's life and dragged back out again on 12th night. This year my husband even did Christmas in July and we had the smaller potted silver green pine tree set up. I am hoping the kitchen will be up and running a week before Christmas Day, otherwise it will be a total nightmare catering for everyone he has invited. Don't mean to be a bah humbugging type....but it does get a bit exhausting (and I'd rather be quilting).

How delightful to hear about your tree. I find it very comforting to know another Sherri B. decorated a tree after Thanksgiving. My daughter in law, Sherri B, came up with our son and family the day after Thanksgiving and got our Christmas stuff out of the shed (where it has been for the past 20 or so years) and decorated our home for the Christmas festivities. I, too, have neglected putting up a tree, decorating etc. for the last 20 years because we were never home for Christmas anyway. Always going to the 'kids' homes, taking turns, etc. They never came "home" for Christmas until this year and they all 3 and their families will be here at least for the day. Lots of work to get everything ready. Looking forward to the day and hope I'll not be too let down when it is over. Pray for us all.

I put my ugly decorations in the back. They are the ones that have sentimental value so I can't get rid of them.

I just have to tell my little story. Last year, we were working at a high elevation, and since I couldn't be with my family for Christmas, I asked God to at least give me a white Christmas to enjoy. By three o'clock on Christmas day, we had 8 feet of snow, and it was still coming down. needless to say, I am a bit more selective about what I ask for now, This year, I just hope I can get DH home and felling better

We decorate the whole tree. I have so many ornaments we still have extras left over after we decorate. I am going to do two trees this year. One in the living room as usual and one in my new sewing room when I get it done. Just for me.

I skip the whole darned tree!

I decorate all the way around the tree. Too anal about that. Other than our annual Christmas party, no one comes during the holidays. DH's son has Christmas at his house. Nice with the kids, but DIL won't say two words to us. I get tired sometimes of all the work for just a few hours of a party. But I don't ever want to be a humbug...my mother was and I hated that!