What do you have underneath/ next to your Christmas tree?

[Amerimoon]

I’ve seen lots of trees already this year on social media and am noticing a trend for giant figures or decorations under the tree including Santa, reindeers, fake presents etc etc Does anyone bother with a throw these days? We have a real tree so usually just have it in a pot. What does everyone have under/ next to their tree?

Presents

Someone I know over wrapped presents with her own colour coordinated paper so everything matched.

She looked at my mess of presents and thought I was mad for not taking pride in my tree and I looked at her like she had gone stark raving bonkers for caring so much what people would think.

Books! We put all our Christmas-themed books under there, started doing it a few years ago. It seemed such a shame to have them in a box/on a shelf while underneath the tree stayed empty. It's become a bit of a tradition, and now I have gold elastics with Christmas ribbon that I put round them all so they look really festive but are still easy for the kids to pick up and read. Then presents go under the tree on Christmas Eve night ready for the morning.

I understand the presents but the majority of ours go under Christmas Eve! Hmmm books sounds good but I imagine the bows wouldn’t last with our kids very well - they’d be knocking the tree over getting to the books all the time too!

I wrap the pot in some Christmas fabric. I add presents as we get them from other people.

I put wrapping paper over the foot of the tree as it’s a fake one and the skirt thing I bought was too small. Then presents to be given out with under the tree and presents that arrive from friends and family also go under there as they arrive. Our presents to the kids (we don’t do Santa) and the stockings are laid out in a certain way on Christmas Eve not under the tree. On Xmas day the tree presents are done later on after initial presents and breakfast and a spot of tidying from the first present blast!

Oh but I do have fake wrapped empty boxes in the fireplace wrapped in ebays genuine 1970s paper for the nostalgia value. Which is very outing for anyone who knows me. 😬🙈

We have a skirt around the bottom which doesn't look that great and a load of Christmas soft toys which have been collected over the years.
The children are in their 20s now but they still like them!

Gifts and soft toys until Christmas Eve when we open presents, the tradition of where I’m from. After Christmas Day, an electric train, for the fun really, it tends to take over any available floor space in the living room.

I desperately want a Christmas tree train set that goes around the base.

Nothing. It’s next to the fire place and on the other side of it there is a large log Basket

The other living room one, again nothing,

I have some fake presents with holes cut in them so that our Lego Christmas train can go around the tree. Real presents can be put on top of the fake ones. We also have a birch tree skirt (like a big lampshade really) to cover the ugly bottom of the fake tree.

God I love the books idea and the train set too. Might copy those!

We used to have a wicker thing that went round the tree stand and put presents around that as they arrived. But this year we have a potted tree and the pot doesn't fit in the wicker thing, so ready for a new tradition.

Tree skirt and the Hornby Christmas train goes around it. I love it.

The kids usually set up the wooden trains around it, we have a set with a snow theme that started the tradition but now they are older the layouts get quite complex.

The cat, usually.

We get real tree and there is often a bit of needle dropping so I keep mine clear to vac.

We've got a christmas blanket wrapped around the bottom with Santa, Rudolph and a snowman with extendable legs to the side, a few already wrapped pressies, very early this year!
Oh and always a cat hidden at the back, hence the blanket

The telly! It's a wall mounted one because my crazy elderly dog doesn't like change or new things and actively headbutts them so safer to have it up out the way. He's also on 2 medicines that make him think he's hungry 24 7 so best not to have new things he can try to eat near mouth level

@Mol1628 Is the Hornby set worth getting?
They have some on Amazon and I'm thinking of buying one.

Lego Christmas train goes around the bottom of the tree. And frequently gets kicked over.

Tree skirt which looks shit
Light up snowman
Light up santa
Ho ho ho sign
Snow sign
Light up presents
Baubles which have been knocked off
2 cats
Dog
Toddler

Lots of tinsel which the cats sleep in.

Presents as I wrap them, or as we receive them.

@ZeldaPrincessOfHyrule that's a great idea. I'm going to do that

@Ihopeyourcakeisshit yes it is! We all love it. Very durable compared to cheaper versions too.