AIBU or is decorating the Christmas tree excruciating?

[slippersandfleece]

All the furniture being moved around and the mess it reveals. All the tangled lights and mess of stuff everywhere. Clutter. So much clutter. My kids suggesting frankly ugly arrangements that I just have to suck up and allow for the sake of Christmas spirit, it's all so triggering. Every year I feel claustrophobic and panicky. Is it just me?

We're just putting Christmas tree pictures up on the walls and windows this year.

Opening the bloody branches up gets on my nerves!

Awful I make my adult DD do it and my DH to take it down again!

I have to confess that I love decorating the tree. I usually get a small living tree (I've had no success with keeping them alive) and put it in a pot of gravel so it stays upright. I have tree ornaments from throughout my life, some from my parents, others gifted to me, and others that I have bought, and it's lovely to put them on the tree and think about where they came from.

I don't have kids, but have often visited friends who do have them to dress the tree together; we book an afternoon to do it, and bake cookies as well and sing carols, so it becomes a special event. Maybe you could do that with your kids? It might feel less stressful if you moved the furniture, put away/threw away junk, and vacuumed one evening when the kids are in bed, and also detangled the lights and sorted out the tree ornaments. Next morning, maybe before the kids are up or when they are at school or daycare, put up the tree and drape the lights on it. When it's time to decorate the tree, each person puts on one ornament at a time. Maybe your kids could make one or more ornaments, or go shopping with them to buy them each one of their choice?

All I will say is I hate putting on the lights!!! They are in the naughty corner for the night and I shall try again tomorrow.
Once the lights are on the rest is fine and I love it, but that initial bit just drives me a little insane.

I feel exactly the same. It makes me almost panicky. I love taking the decorations down.

That said I put mine up today and it didn't induce the same level of 'fuck no' that it usually does.

I love the final but of putting the decorations on, but everything else you need to do to get to this point is a pain in the arse.

I put 2000 lights on the fucking thing yesterday only for the plug to snap off. I literally cut them all off in temper. Tree is bare in the living room waiting for new lights to be delivered.

🫢😂

I'm cross because all the nice decorations at IKEA have been sold.

I don't mind putting the final touches - but I wouldn't mind having Dudley the angel for the rest of it

When I was still at the family home and a willing Christmas participant, I usually decorated the tree alongside my sister and we made a good fist of it (provided we had a decent quality tree in the first place). I was already responsible for the lights and took great care to make sure there were no blown bulbs and I packed all the sets (several) in a stout cardboard box with a layer of newspaper separating each set. No tangles and they all worked! Our spaniels and cat would often sit and observe - helping, some might say!