To love glittery tat Christmas decs and not two colour trees and tastefulness?

[CowboyJoeFromMexico]

It's not just me, surely? My friends and family all have beautiful tasteful matching decorations and colour schemes and I'm the only one who loves tat and tinsel and coloured lights. It's colourful and sparkly and Christmassy. Where are my people?

My DH said he couldn't find a 'hole' to replace a bauble the cat knocked off the other day.

That's a properly decc'd tree

Not only do we have a chaotic tree (kids do it) but last year we had one of those ghastly Santa on the outside wall things. My mum bought him for us which I was at as she hates tack. DH tied him to the chimney stack and he ended up staying up there for months as DH hurt his knee and had to have an operation so wasn't allowed up ladders and on roofs for a while and I didn't want to get up there.

We live in a very windy place in the country and Santa became quite a saga - sometimes he was blown up and hiding behind the chimney, sometimes he would be blown back down again and would hang down looking suicidal. Then the wind blew his trousers down so he started to look like a flasher/peeping tom at which point I braved my fear of the Very High Ladder and got him down (this was mid February IIRC).

YANBU. If you can't get in touch with your inner magpie at Christmas, then when can you?

I adore my beautiful, coordinated and stylish Christmas theme (silver, black and white)

The kids can have a shit, tacky one in their room next year but mine is staying!

I've tried to embrace tinsel and flashing lights but I just can't do it

Our tree is kind of co-ordinated and we have white lights, but is still just a load of random decorations slung at it. They're just all similar colours

We go shopping every year and the kids choose a new decoration each, there are a load of handmade ones the kids have made at school over the years, albeit slightly tatty now, we usually spend a Sunday afternoon watching Christmas movies while making paper chains and stringing popcorn to wrap round it instead of tinsel, there's candy canes, we made a whole load of felt robins, reindeers and stockings one year.

We used to have a nice set of matching and co-ordinating baubles, but as the years have gone by and we've bought more and more of the ornament type stuff, we've chucked them out.

I made the kids long strung advent calendars one year and they get bought out every year. A couple of years ago I was watching a Christmas film and loved this garland they had in it made from red and white rags, so I made one and that gets brought out every year (a bit like this, but long and goes all the way round the living room)

It's very Christmassy, but I can't do anything that flashes

Flashing Christmas tree lights are about as relaxing as going for a long country drive with a serial killer.

I went to The Range today and they had a Purple Tree with Purple lights and purple decs. It looked SHIT.

I prefer my Santa Puke tree :)

Christmas is the time of excess! By the time I'm finished, there is not one square inch of our Christmas tree unadorned - its branches are groaning with lights, baubles and sparkle! There is also an embarrassingly large pile of presents under it for our small family...

I prefer warm white lights, no tinsel and no tat. But on our main tree decorations and baubles are all colours and types. Collected over the years. We've got all sorts on there. Traditional Santas, flamingoes, flying pigs, dogs, frog princes, robots, as well as shiny baubles, glass ones, ones drenched in glitter. There's a lot of gold and red baubles and red ribbons for cohesion. It looks brilliant.

The smaller tree in the dining room is coordinated. All decorations are white, silver and glass. They are all different though and have been collected over the years so still have meaning and memories attached to them.

In the kitchen there's a strong of coloured lights and a coloured paper chain around the window. The coloured lights are really cheering actually.

(No DCs)

Real trees too. I can't decorate a perfect conical faux tree.

This year I've got a really tacky Statue of Liberty tree dec. she's wearing shades and carrying shopping bags. Also a glittery ice skate, a new pig with wings and a white bauble with two glittery purple owls on it.

White lights on outdoor trees.
Multi coloured lights on indoor trees.

We've also had the same fairy at the top of our tree for the past 15 years. Tradition rules at Christmas!

I remember my horror (and bafflement), when one Christmas we visited my brother-in-law and his young family and they had a decorated branch instead of a tree! It almost ruined the festive season!

Gotta be coloured lights, foul-coloured tinsel and 2 glittery ornaments on every branch. I don't do matt at Christmas, it doesn't cut the mustard.

We used to have balloons hanging from the ceiling when I was a child. I loved those balloons. Especially one year when we went all modern and had marbled coloured balloons.

Someone I know redecorates her house at every two years (!) and buys a whole new set of Christmas decorations to match. No idea what she does with the old ones. I'm not against matchy decs but that's pretty ridiculous.

*at least every two years

Colour scheme Christmas trees are really dull and corporate, like something you'd see in a chain pub.

Not keen on metallic tinsel but I do have a white, fluffy version that looks like snow

Oh yes, balloons hanging from the ceiling - I remember them! I wonder if my children would enjoy them (when they return from Uni!)

I am inspired by this thread to do popcorn garlands.

My favourite homemade tree decorations were made 15+ years ago using one of those big multi bags of party-size Smarties treat boxes. We ate all the Smarties, then wrapped the boxes in nice shiny Christmas paper and did the curling ribbon wraparound thing with shiny curling ribbon curls on top. They lie on the branches (or fall off when the children knock the tree) and look very pretty. When they got a bit tatty a couple of years ago, I took off the tatty paper and rewrapped them. We enjoyed eating the Smarties too.

Tacky tat here. The kids decorate, everything looks messy and no colour co-ordination at all.

How it is meant to be!

I do not like flashing lights.

Or blue ones.

I love tinsel though.

With you!

I even love the word tinsel...

YANBU. I love tinsel and coloured lights, and those drapey strands that you hang over the branches (lametta??) and baubles in every colour.

DD has made loads of handmade decorations this year, most liberally smothered in glitter. It has taken her hours.

And I took the DC to the garden centre for them to choose a length of tinsel for the tree each - one chose stripey red and gold, with stars in, the other chose pink!

I let them put all the baubles and decorations up themselves. I love how it looks - all Christmassy, and the DC are so proud of themselves.

Christmassy to me means glittery, colourful, and sparkly.

Inspired, I'm buying red, gold and green balloons, streamers and paper chains from Tesco party I DCs will love it!