To love Christmas, but LOATHE decorating the tree?

[Blastandbollocks]

Love twinkling lights. Love candles, tinsel, family, wine, song etc.

Hate the Christmas tree decorating. The lights always end in a tangle which DH manfully tries to sort and fails. DS nicks all the good tinsel for "his" tree, the baubles have lost their hooks, the tree sheds all over the floor, and there's a family row to end all fights.

In short, can you pay someone to do it for you?!

Yanbu op I have always found the whole tree thing stressful. Although it's pretty when it's up I think I resent the space it takes up and the fact that it's expected that you have to have a tree even if you don't want one.

I wrapped tbe lights around Pringles tubes last year, it has been a god send!

DH and I are getting ready for our annual row over the Christmas Tree.

Just wouldn't be Christmas with it.

without!

Yes, it’s horrible. I hate putting decorations up. I hate taking them down even more. But I love having the decorations up. You can pay people to do it, I looked into it because I hate it so much. But it would have cost £1-3k! So here I am, wondering how it can be that despite putting the lights away immaculately every year, they come out knotted each December.

It doesn't have be traumatic. One year I had a natural tree ( with non-drop needles ) put a load of lights and birds on it, and left it at that.
Normally I throw everything at it but it made a nice change, and was really easy!

I just let my 6 year old decorate the tree 🤣
She loves doing it and it's looks pretty good when she's finished.

I always hated the actual 'doing' although love decorations. Now we are all adults we have MILs (she died at Christmas 3yrs ago) fibre optic tree and I put decorations around the house instead of on the tree. So much easier.

I'm looking for a slimline fibre optic one which doesn't cost a million pounds. If anyone has bought one recently please send me the link!

Did mine yesterday and while I was looking forward to it being up this year I really couldn’t be arsed, took hours and I’m still fiddling with the lights. Plus my 4 year old kept getting in the way, she was easier when she was a toddler! She even has her own small Frozen tree to decorate but still wanted the main one (mine)
One more tree to go next week, the real one, husband and daughter do that one! I’ll just tweak it at the end.
Baileys here I come! 😃

Anyone else got Balsalm Hill ad popping up on the side bar? :)

My children had their own tree that they could decorate with all the naff stuff and salt dough decorations from school.
I had ownership of the main tree and mostly enjoyed it.
Now they're older, they decorate the main tree and have their own things in their bedrooms (mostly a space issue) which they love.
We've just bought pre-lit stair garlands so 'spread' the decorations out.

In short, can you pay someone to do it for you?!

This really should be a service someone offers! I’d love my house to be tastefully decorated but really can’t be bothered doing it myself, and if I did it would stay up until March. I’d pay someone to decorate it and then take it all down again.

@Belledan1

I dont like doing it. Nor does Dh. DC used to help but a teenager nowadays not interested. I am debating about getting a decorated lit up tree this year. Slightly smaller one as have a bay window and could put it in there.

If none of you like doing it, why are you bothering? We’ve always had decoration-free Christmases and the world carries on turning.

it’s too late to help you this year but when this tree comes down be absolutely military in putting everything away neatly and with the lights wrapped around an old magazine to keep them tangle free.

I came here to say this, it's all in the organisation. I put all the baubles away in their colour groups and am careful of winding lights up so you can unroll with ease.

Because I do love when it's done. It's like packing to go on holiday, loathe it but it's an necessity.

Also, because of allergies, we have to have fake and it is scratchy. Very annoying.

I'm now sitting with a 🥂 enjoying my tree but bloody hell it's a faff. DH sawing off the end. Realising the living room needs a good dust and clearout. Trying to get the bloody thing in the stand. Decorating it is fun. Then hoovering and mopping around it. I'm pleased we did it today though, I'm a teacher and get so tired as the autumn term goes on.

Second year in a row Christmas tree decorating has made me psycho mummy. It's rare I lose my rag and shout so badly but this does it every year. I hate it

One of the best parts of Xmas is decorating the tree! We have 2000 lights on ours all carefully coiled away and no issues with tangles. Don’t mind fake trees in the kids’ rooms but could never have one as a main tree.

I used to get paid to decorate trees.

I was a facilities manager and part of my job description was to go out and buy 3 real trees plus 3 different 'themes' of decorations to go on each one. Then to decorate them. I was given a healthy budget.

I used to hide how much I loved it just in case they decided I was having too much fun and gave the job to someone who would be more miserable about it (which I'm sure was company policy).