To have a massive boast-up that my Christmas tree looks effing awesome

[ViviPrudolf]

Not very British of me, but frankly, it does.

Aren't these early xmas trees needle-less by xmas? 1 week before xmas is as early as I risk getting one.

I like living life on the edge, rebecca . Seriously though, being away every weekend up to Christmas and working silly hours means I couldn't get the tree any closer to Christmas.

I've also taken precautions in buying the most luxurious, verdant looking Nordmann I could find (on the recommendation of a lovely MNtter whose name I can't remember), and a Cinco water stand. I'm also banning central heating in the living room excluding the hours of 8pm-10.30pm.

The task of tree-prolonging is becoming a bit of an obsession, but this is my first EVER real tree and my first Christmas in this house and its quite poignant as last Christmas was a throughly miserable affair all-round chez 'Pru.

I just added pics of mine to my profile! :o It's so skinny, poor thing. We needed a tall thin one this year to fit the spot we had for it. It looks like it was decorated by a mad four year old...which it was!

Ohhhhhhhhhh CheerfulYank look at all that snow! it looks utterly gorgeous there.

:) Thanks! That's my parents' house. We're five hours south of them so we don't have that much yet, but we're still in Minnesota so snow is a given.

Lucky thing. And fab tree

And at the thought of living 5 hours away yet still in the same state... I think we tend to forget how humongous the US is.

I know, that's my half-hearted argument when people slag us off for not traveling much...we can go over a thousand miles and be about a third of the way across our own country! :) And the regions of the US are so different and have a culture of their own.

Love your pics CY. I've been to Minnesota on the way to Green Bay. I've seen the Vikings play (nfl) but not in MN. Used to trawl all over the US watching football. Funny I thought your dh looked British? and your ds Scottish?

Go Vikings! :)

Nope, we're all American! DH is completely German in heritage, and I'm Finnish with a dash of Blackfoot, Dutch, and Kentucky hillbilly :o, though I think they were Scottish originally.

Wow what a mixture Has dh ever been to Germany? I've been all over Europe but not there. I'd love to though. One of my closest friends is German and my best friend is half German. Her mother's been here in England for years and still has a very strong accent.

Love the bassett with antlers!
I was trying to get a shetland pony to pose in a Father Christmas hat the other day. Surprisingly she wasn't very helpful!

No, neither of us have ever been out of the US, unfortunately. (Well, I've been to Canada few times) In small central-Minnesotan towns most people are either Scandinavian Lutherans or German Catholics. DH and I are a mixed marriage, don'tcha know. There are also Native Americans (the Anishinaabe tribe mostly) and some French-Canadians descended from the fur taders. And it all blends together to form a fairly unique Minnesotan culture. :o We're a funny bunch, but I really wouldn't want to live anywhere else.

My DS finds your pony story hilarious Pixel. :)

Sorry to hijack with my lineage Vivi!

Oh I love Canada been there a few times too. We tend to go to Spain now. Dp's learning Spanish but I'm going to try to get him to go to France seen as ds1's learning french and I love France

That's quite alright CY its actually very interesting

Goorgeous tree Vivi ! Am very jealous of the well balanced-ness of it...in terms of decorations and colour. Mine is fake and coverd in red and silver tinsel and all manner of weird and non matching decorations...and coloured lights! DH loves tack and I indulged his need for tinsel. He's hapy even if I look at it and want sunglasses! Oh and the DDs are v happy.

I may go out and buy a small potted real one for my nice things...then I will put up pics here of both....so people can point and laugh at my skills!

Ooh and I got the cats Christmas collars today! Must position them carefully!

Cheerful the tree & snow are lovely, I spent many childhood years on Wright Patterson followed by one in Florida & we never travelled further than Canada but saw so much.

PS Vivi your photos are b-e-a-u-t-i-f-u-l - but just you wait until you see my tree - going up on Saturday - ohhh yes.

YANBU.Have a