Christmas in your neck of the woods ?

[lugg]

I cannot find a thread about Christmas on here in relation to home turf etc. . So is your tree up yet , will you even have one or decorate in another way? What are your plans ?

My tree is not up , I have no decorations at all yet. I plan to do something vaguely festive towards the end of the week.

[bixaorellana]

I think there are some old threads about that, Lugg, but I also think they were year-specific so I am delighted to see this new one.

There are no Christmas decorations in my house -- I don't even own any. It's not that I'm against them, just that I'm hardly ever motivated to decorate for Christmas. I was on the phone with an old friend today & was telling her how I've been instrumental in setting up a gala Christmas day meal for a group here that has kindly included me. As part of the setting up, the leader of the group said to me, "We must get some decorations!" I thought to myself, "Wow -- you really haven't known me very long."

(But yes, of course I helped with getting the decorations and successfully feigned enthusiasm.)

All that aside, I do enjoy seeing the private and municipal efforts made by others & am looking forward to how Coatepec celebrates, which I will certainly share here.

🌟 🎅 🎄 🔔 🌟

[cheerypeabrain]

We have a pile of cards from friends, family and neighbours. Jeff will put strings up so that we can hang the cards up out of the way.

No tree, but the dog would only knock it over. I used to cover our (artificial) tree in red glass balls but they're staying in the loft for now (the dog again). I have bought a white tree thing..its about 3ft tall and looks like a little silver birch...the branches are wire so that they can be posed artfully If I can get Jeff to go up in the loft I'll find some little red glass balls to hang on the branches. It will stay on the kitchen island out of the way. Aside from that we have a few things that we set out around the place, a snow globe...a few dinosaurs and daleks in santa hats etc....

I've got fruit soaking in brandy for a quick Christmas cake, not going to ice it because its lovely as it is, especially with a chunk of Wensleydale.

[kerouac2]

I like Christmas lights, but I confess that I have put up two strings in my upstairs room that do not match, just lengthwise along the walls. One is the usual multicolour that looks fine but doesn't do anything. The other is a more elegant all blue thing that twinkles through a few cycles that I cannot control.

In a day or so, I will sift through my Christmas balls and hang a few on a wire that runs along another wall. I confess that since I have no local family left, it has taken a lot of the pleasure out of Christmas and it seems a bit stupid when I put up items just for myself. On the other hand, I like keeping the tradition alive in various ways.

[htmb]

I have a hand made plaque I painted in the ‘80s. It sits on my piano all year with a ”WELCOME” sign for all who enter. About two weeks ago I turned it around so now it says "Merry Christmas." That’s pretty much it for decorations at my house this year, but next ChristmasI I may be getting out all the decorations for a planned family visit.

[Kimby]

I’m a grinch when it comes to doing Christmas, though I do love strings of lights. Especially white lights wrapped around palm trees!

[bjd]

We won't be doing anything at our house this year for Christmas so I don't have to do make even my usual minimal effort.

[mickthecactus]

Sounds perfect to me!

[cheerypeabrain]

I've gone for low key



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I love my new astronaut bauble







A much loved and much mended old figure...bought in an art shop in the early 90s (the Santa not the man in the photo...had him since the 70s...)

[Kimby]

We are spending only our 2nd Christmas on Sanibel Island. The hurricane spoiled all the Christmas stuff we inherited from Mr. Kimby’s parents that we had stored in our lower level shop which was flooded, so we have only the four strings of colored lights that we kept upstairs, above the flood. One outlining the front door, one around the bookcases and TV in the living room and two strings decorating the lanai (screened porch).

But my mother-in-law’s crystal bird and angel ornaments were salvageable from the muck. Since we have no Christmas tree to hang them on, I went to a fishing shop and got leaders in 3 lengths and created a mobile of sorts hanging from the wire hoop that once was part of a lampshade.

I rather like it.




Sorry the photo uploads sideways. Don’t know how to fix that.

[bixaorellana]

I thought you had conquered gravity, Kimby! That is so pretty & quite clever.

Your decorations couldn't be more >>you<<, Cheery -- I love them!

[Kimby]

Since it doesn’t snow in Florida, they have to make their snowmen inflatable. And Santas, too. I really don’t like inflatables, but it is a fact of life here. One year I counted all the modes of transportation the inflatable Santa’s used: sleigh, of course, but also jet ski, kayak, locomotive, alligator, dolphin, tractor…. I’m sure I’m forgetting something.

[whatagain]

We have lots of decoration.
But since we went from one to 3 Xmas trees it is ok.
One in the main room. One 1️⃣ n each of the girls’ rooms.
Nothing outside.

What I simply hate are :
- Xmas songs !
- Xmas movies.

[cheerypeabrain]

[bixaorellana]

I don't remember the last time I heard or read the whole poem, so I listened all the way through.

Judi Dench and Charles have the nicest voices.

[Kimby]

Some Holiday decorations on Sanibel:

[bixaorellana]

Wow ~~ after all Sanibel has been through, it really went all out to create a festive Christmas look. It's really colorful, fun, & imaginative.

I apologize for not having posted any pictures yet of the downtown square here with its very pretty white light display. I've only seen it from a vehicle so far. I've been sick for a week, so very unmotivated to trot downtown at dark. It will happen.

[kerouac2]

I'm glad they didn't overdo the 'snowman' theme. During trips to both Australia and Egypt in December, I was aghast at the use of fake snow everywhere. Warm places should not do this.

[bixaorellana]

My favorite use of fake snow is when it's used to write some happy sales notice on the window of a store in one of those semi-empty strip malls with an unswept parking lot. Kind of takes depression to a new level.

[Kimby]

Dec 26, 2023 1:44:11 GMT bixaorellana said:

Wow ~~ after all Sanibel has been through, it really went all out to create a festive Christmas look.

All of these - except the shells one - were taken at one shopping center, and most are NOT the inflatables I detest. Plenty of those elsewhere on the island though.
My favorites are the light-wrapped palm trees. But I don’t go out at night, so no photos to share.

[mich64]

We have 2 trees decorated. A large one in front of the patio door on our main floor in the living room and a small one on the bar in the basement living room. I buy something new every year for decorating and this year it was a garland with lights for across the mantle of the fireplace. My husband loves Christmas decorations. We keep them up until after my birthday on January 2nd.

When in Florida we seen many inflatables and lights. I too enjoyed the lights on the palm trees Kimby.

[kerouac2]

After mentioning Egypt and Australia, I realised that of course I have also been to Florida lots of times in December. But the "snow" themes never bothered me as much because 1) the United States is a big blob of holiday unity (that is not at all an insult, but I could possibly have a differing opinion if I spent the holiday season in Hawaii.) and 2) there were so many Canadian snowbirds and other northern Americans in the area (New England, New York but also Michigan, etc.) that it would have been abnormal not to cater to their ideas of Christmas.

[Kimby]

It didn’t happen last year because of the hurricane damage and this year it was very scaled back, but one of the Sanibel holiday traditions we really enjoy is the Luminaria. (Cultural appropriation alert!)
Candles in sand-filled paper bags line the shared use path that parallels the main drag - “Periwinkle Parkway” - and lights are strung in the tree branches that form archways over the path. Enchanting!
Each business along the way has their own decorations and free refreshments to pass out, sandwiches, cookies, chocolate and even small glasses of wine. There is live music and it’s a lovely community gathering.
We are looking forward to its official return next December, when the hurricane recovery should finally be more complete.