"Though I'm a great one for tradition and would never change this, I often feel a twinge of jealousy for my friends who have more, er, controlled holiday decor. "

I don't. Ornaments we've collected over the years, things made by family members, those MEAN something.

Somewhere in between... I have a white tree I love and lots of bright ornaments, not much traditional red and green to be seen. I like a glitzy Christmas.

But I've decorated the same way for the past three years. I did want to go a little more monochromatic this year, but didn't have enough turquoise ornaments. Clearly there will be post-Christmas sales to peruse to do it next year!

I, too, do the traditional tree. Some of our ornaments have been with us since we got together 20+ years ago. I don't think I would want to change that.

I know what you mean though about some of the more modern trees! My husband was eyeing a few colored fakeys this year. I do like some of them and with the uniform decorations. But I'm afraid they would never fit into our decor.

I'm a traditional tree decorator because I don't want to buy a trendy tree or new ornaments to go with a color scheme and I don't have space to store all of them, either.

I hear you. While I love how nicely constrained holiday decorations look in magazines or at a friend's place, I will never be able to give up my traditions: ornaments my husband's grandma crocheted. And even now, adding new traditions, they are not very decorator friendly.

This year we added superhero themed christmas stockings and are working on a lego village with our son.

But I agree with the above comment. They mean something to us so while I sometimes get a little envious of a more collected look, I wouldn't change it for the world.

Growing up, my family always had a traditional tree and I always complained about it. This year I have a glitter-covered woodland animal theme going. I love when it's time for me to start thinking about how I'm going to decorate.

It's something I've been thinking about this year. I'm not decorating this year (recent death in the family & I'm also renovating my house) but I'm looking forward to Christmas 2013 and the sales after Christmas this year.

Probably do 2 trees, one more modern and one more traditional.

Everywhere we travel we buy an ornament or two. I'm also an artist so I make a a lot of the ornaments on our tree. While not necessarily traditional, I'm hardly a modern Christmas decorator.

Every ten years or so I change the color scheme and start anew (keeping some of the more sentimental things for always). The past 5 years the scheme has been deep purple, lime, and bronze/copper. I recreate mantel garlands, light garlands etc., in the new color scheme. Before this one, our scheme was magenta, aqua, and lime.

I have the exact same twinge looking at some of the design bloggers who have a yearly theme to their tree and stick to it. I would love a "designed" tree but would probably get bored pretty quickly. I'm a traditional decorator with the caveat that I've only had my own tree for 5 years or so and haven't yet accumulated too many meaningful ornaments. I like a lot of ornaments on the tree (no tinsel) so I'm slowly replacing mass manufactured ones with homemade and travel acquired treasures. I get a little obsessive that every side has to have the same distribution of colors too.
Friends with a winter vacation property do a tree with a ski and snow sports themed and they're always on the hunt for new ornaments to fit the theme but it's a big mish-mash of colors and textures, that seems like a good mix of two styles of decorating.

i agree with pi. i don't want to buy and store a new tree and ornaments every year. even if i buy after the season, i don't have anymore space to put everything and most of my ornaments are family pieces, so i won't throw them out or give them away. i also collect ornaments when i go on vacation, and love putting them on the tree and being reminded of my vacation.
the only one not going on my tree is one we got for our engagement, and now we are separated, so i left that one out of the decoration box when i moved out. even though many of my memories with my husband make me happy, i don't want to look at the tree and cry, which seems likely after a few glasses of wine. hahaha.

I don't have a really good spot in my apartment to put a real tree, so I have one waist-high lavender tinsel tree with silver ornaments, and one tabletop iridescent white tinsel tree with jewel-toned ornaments. Some day, when I have the space, I want a forest of tinsel trees and one real one. My belief is that if you are going to have a fake tree, it should look fake and you should celebrate it!

Great comments. I have wished that I could pick the colors that my kids teachers use in their Christmas crafts and ornaments ! This year I am going to try to do a simple tree for about 2 weeks and then week or so before Christmas, let the kids go nuts! I get what I want for awhile. They get what they want for awhile. l)

My family and my own tree are always traditional. I have fond memories of the traditional Christmas tree so I definitely would not substitute a trendy one for the traditional. That said, I live in an NYC apartment right now so space is limited. If I had a larger space, I would probably opt to have one traditional and one trendy tree in my home in different rooms!

I do the traditional (live) tree with the family ornaments, too. The way we change it up is by only putting on perhaps half the ornaments each year.

I love looking at those designer trees with themes or monochromatic color schemes, but the anti-waste voice in my head will prevent me from ever following suit.

Until recently, I always spent Christmas at my parents' house (recent college grad). They have had the same Christmas decorations for as long as I can remember, and pulling them out and seeing the house decorated in the same familiar way every year was part of what made Christmas special for me.
I'm spending this Christmas in the apartment that I share with my significant other, and our very small collection of decorations is a mix of traditional and modern. But the tree is a live one, decorated with colored lights, sparkly silver balls, candy canes, and a few novelty ornaments. And a star on top. I don't think I'd ever have the heart to abandon the traditional Christmas tree and all the nostalgia that comes with it.

We always have a real tree, though we've switched up Douglas vs. Fraser, etc. I also have the same keepsakes that are always out. Stockings (my MIL quilts them for us and all babies and they're beautiful!), ornaments (we also buy one when we travel), and these beautiful pewter Wilhelm Schweizer ornaments. But I switch up the mantle every year (last year there was lots of garland, this year not so much) and I try to do one new design element a year. This year I made tons of paper snowflakes for the windows and they're gorgeous together! I also bought more sparkly ornaments for the tree to add a little more glitter (especially since we have a one year old in the house this year!). So yes, we're more traditional, but tradition doesn't have to mean "same". You can get new tree skirts, plants, play with wreaths (I made my own this year).

Somewhere along the line we switched from colored lights to white, and next year I'm thinking about switching back to colored. My family always always always did colored lights.

Honestly, I feel sort of mixed about all the social media sharing. For a variety of reason we had to put off decorating our tree for a week, and it was hard to not feel a sense of anxiety about it - I saw everyone else's trees go up and wanted to have my own! I know that's really my problem, but sometimes I think it's better to look at what you have an appreciate it than spend too much time being jealous of what others choose to do. That said, there's no harm in looking and enjoying what my friends are doing!

Well said, cdeaton!

I fell on the "pragmatic" side of things.

When I was on my own "for real" (coming to my family's home only for a few days of Christmas), I bought my first tree. I had no decorations, so I went to IKEA and bought a bunch of traditional red and gold to cover the whole tree.

Then I got to be a little older, and received ornaments as gifts, so I added those.

Then I got married, had kids, and vioala! Family ornaments appeared, as did many child-proof, safe ornaments for the lower quadrant, then third of the tree. :)

So over time it's become something of a mishmash. But the red and gold still predominate. Two years ago we got an artificial tree: an acknowledgment that we travel often for Christmas now, and don't want to come back to a big ol' mess of dead needles. That, and I like to keep the tree up through the first and maybe even second week of January, which runs beyond the deadline for curbside pickup of natural trees.

So:
Artificial, but traditional red and gold with a solid dose of "family pragmatism" thrown in. :)

I hate designed trees like some people hate the karate chopped pillow. That being said, my sister does a hilarious tree every year. One year was doll heads, another year it was circus themed.

When we were kids we used to hide this horribly ugly ornament in the back of the tree every year, but a few years ago when we went home and looked for the ornament, we were both devastated that my parents had thrown out the ornament. It would have been the one thing we fought over when my parents eventually pass.

So I embrace the odd, eclectic, full of memory trees. As for the rest of the decor, design away.

You don't have to choose between the 2! We have a silver tree that is more fun and trendy, and then we buy a real one in which I use all our favorite ornaments that are more vintage. It's fun each year to cater to my love of both styles!

We don't have a real tree, as my finacee and stepdaughter are both allergic (which is a real shame as I love the smell of a real Christmas tree!), but we have actually managed to find a gorgeous, full, almost-real-looking fake tree which we've had for 3 years now. We always have the same theme: gold and white. We have started a new tradition (important I think in building a 'new family life') of going to London's Liberty one day in December every year, and buy a maximum of 2 new tree decorations from their mind-blowing Christmas departme, usually choosing something representing the year just passed! They are not inexpensive decorations, so 2 is still a bit of a splurge. This tradition has left us with a tree full of white and gold ornaments - but only one of each and they all mean something to us! I love it! :)

Traditional as all get-out. I love the sense of coziness, continuity and comfort that comes from sticking to the same things that I love every single year. I add ornaments, buying them on trips I take, or as gifts from friends, and revisiting those memories is part of the pleasure.

I grew up with a traditional real flocked tree covered in the ornaments made from school and the wooden ornaments Mom handpainted as childproof and cat proof. After a a post-holiday cleanup Dad discovered scorch marks through the flocking and burned needles, my parents invested in a fake tree, still flocked the next season. Still flocked to add fire protection and keep the needles on the tree, that tree lasted for 15 years before being replaced. Dad figured up the savings on real trees and was quite impressed on total savings. I do remember the snotty guest who never caught on the tree was fake and carried on about people buying fake trashy trees. Mom made sure to have seasonal candles around the tree with fir and pine scents. They were never burned, just scented the room to fool people.
Husband and I do the fake trees, we are expected to travel hither and yon over the holidays. Our tree has had a candy theme and then a music/bird theme across the years with multi-colored lights. What ornaments we find in the theme stay on the tree, with our other childhood ornaments, plus those from our travels and so on. I experimented this year with craft paint in craft ornaments in 5 colors for extra glitz in a bathroom, the tree room curtains and the dining room chandelier. I like the effect, the craft, and the colors I chose (navy blue, garnet red, copper penny, milk chocolate, and a foliage green).
Of the theme trees, the white fake tree across the internet dressed as a snowman- white lights, hat, scarf, coal buttons, and face cracks me up. I could see me doing a small table top tree like that, but I think I'd be more likely to cover a green tabletop tree in white lights and all our bird ornaments first.

I still decorate my family tree with my parents and that one is the same fake tree we've had since I was about 3 years old. We probably have enough ornaments for 3 trees though, because my relatives just can't stop buying them for us! But each year we decide how we want to decorate the tree, white lights or multi color, garland or no garland, traditional or color scheme dependent. It involves more storage, but honestly, we can't throw out a lot of those personal decorations and it gives us flexibility to change it up if we want!

I do a combination. I have several old family candles, nativity, nutcrackers, etc... When it came time to get my first tree, I didn't have any ornaments. I then went out and did all white lights with gold, silver and copper decorations. I find that I really like the old meets new, especially because I just bought my frist house and it's 1950s retro meets loft apartment.

I change what I do every year, and it doesn't have to be cost-prohibitive. My usual formula is one or two colors plus one metallic, so I can reuse ornaments different ways. Also, I collect twigs and pinecones; for the price of spray paint they can be customized to any scheme. I've also put things like wineglasses, grapevine balls, postcards, and jewelry on the tree that can be reused in a non-Christmas setting.

There are special ornaments with meaing that come out every year; when the rest of the color scheme is strong, they will blend right in.

I do the same as the author. Growing up, we'd get to each pick our own ornament each year and add it to the tree. There's also an assortment of glass balls and gift ornaments and baby's firsts and what not. I love the tree like this, it's so personal and warm and when we decorate together there are a lot of memories. I'm not a fan of theme trees-they're so impersonal.

We have a tree full of vintage German glass ornaments (husband's side of family) , a door garland full of vintage German hand-carved wooden ornaments (my side of the family) and a small children's tree full of the ornaments they have received from St. Nicholas on Dec. 6th each year, and the ones they have crafted themselves. Grouping the ornaments by type helps them look co-ordinated, but not too trendy. One year, I'd like to craft everything on a tree with natural stuff, maybe when I'm too rickety to get up to the attic! lol

My family did a traditional tree for a really, really long time, when my mom decided to try and change it up one year. We got a bunch of black/white/silver ornaments, and also different patterns of black/white wrapping paper. When she told our aunt about this, she thought it was a great idea and they bought a bunch of funky turquoise/green/blue ornaments and decorations. The next year, instead of buying all new things, we traded! It was really fun, because it was still meaningful, since we all chose something we liked (I was really into houndstooth at the time and got a houndstooth stocking) and then got to share it with our relatives.

I'm a newlywed (almost) and being the christmas freak that I am I was super excited to have my own christmas tree.
My family always have a traditional one so I go for a funky one: silver tree with magenta, turquoise and blue ornaments with a bird theme!
I made almost all the ornaments myself like 3 months ago and have a great time doing it!

I have so much fun that I think I'll change the theme every christmas. I'm planning to buy a red or black christmas tree next year :)

I think that my parents' Christmas tree - filled with 3 decades worth of random ornaments and stuff that my brother and I made growing up - is the most beautiful tree in the world.

We always had real or realistic trees growing up and for the first few years on my own I had a faux green tree from IKEA (which actually looks pretty good for $20), but last year I got a bright white tree and I'm using it again this year. I love the way it glows and the ornaments pop out against it.

I've always found "decorated" trees leave me quite cold. They are the sort of trees stores use to decorate for the holidays, but any personal meaning to them is non-existent.

I guess that for me, Christmas and Christmas trees are inextricably woven with the traditional. In our 23 years together though, my husband and I have had many different personal circumstances (unemployment and poverty!, travel plans, visiting family...) and so haven't always had a christmas tree, or even a traditional one. Last year, we were on our way with our kids (only 5 and 8) to his parents' home for Christmas, when our car broke down on Christmas Eve. We got a ride back home (dined at Wal-Mart on Big Macs because that was all that was open). Fortunately, the friend who rescued us also provided us with a wild-caught ;-D whispy Charlie Brown tree. Since it was late, we only managed to get some white lights on, but it was lovely nonetheless. So, you don't need much.

But, my ideal tree is a treasure trove. Where I come from, trees not only have glass balls, but these ornaments that are almost like jewelry -- glass beads wired into all sorts of shapes, from kites, carts and dragon flies to bicycles, airplanes, spider webs and abstract shapes. There were always decorated gingerbread cookies hanging on the tree, as well as beautiful foil-wrapped chocolates and candies (the kids got to start eating down the tree after Christmas Eve dinner). There were also felt figurines, and of course, the ornaments made by children.

I've started a tradition that each year, the kids get special ornaments in their stockings, and so our tree is becomingly quite rich and layered in the history and traditions it represents. I think that is much more interesting, and interactive, than a decorated tree.

I collect (for many years, now) snowflakes and stars (five pointed and multi-pointed.) So those predominate my decorations.

I started collecting peacocks a couple of years ago, and I have decided I'm already kind of over them, so next year those go away.

I have regular glass balls (some "Martha Stewart" colors that go with my decor.) I enhanced some of these with glued on star-shaped rhinestones and other details, and I often use them, but not always.

I'm at a point where the two or three different trees I have been known to set up and overload with ornaments are just too much hassle. So New Year's day when I take stuff (now only one tree) down, I am planning to seriously think about and sort my decorations into "keep" and "donate" piles. (With maybe a thrid pile for "probably donate but reconsider next year"!) I'm thinking of eliminating everything but the stars and snowflakes for an icy tree... but there are a few keepsakes involved I might not want to let go of, even if I only store them ongoing... Time for me to simplify, which (to a minimalist) might STILL seem overdone!

We have very traditional decorations, red, green and silver on the tree (excepting a few ornaments from our childhoods) and our red and green monogrammed stockings / tree skirt. It's funny because I love funky eclectic decor in general for my home, but something about the red and green makes it feel like Christmas to me. Plus we move every one to two years, so having the same things every year is a nice change of pace. Gotta have a real tree, I love going and picking it out every year even though it bums me out to kill a live tree.

I'm so glad you wrote this post, as it's been very much on my mind this year.

I cannot completely understand the allure of designer trees. They too remind me of those that you see at banks and department stores. We recently moved back to my home town, and with that came the ornaments that I grew up with. We now have five generations of handmade, antique, and commemorative ornaments, and I wouldn't trade those memories for the world.

spot on. I love pulling out all the boxes of ornaments(20+ yrs) & remembering times past or who gave me a certain ornament. At heart I guess I'm just a sentimentalist!

My family has always had a more traditional tree, and I know exactly what you mean with feeling a teeny bit jealous. I feel like when I have the space, I will have both! Perhaps a more traditional tree in a family room and a fancy tree that is more "on show" for guests.

We do both a family tree in the family room as it's pretty casual and comfortable, and a "showy" or fancy tree in the formal living room, that's particularly great when entertaining. For the higher end, Polish ornaments, most of them we get at RadkoOrnaments.com and the fun ones that are personalized for all of us we get at FamilyChristmasOrnaments.net, but make sure and do a thorough coupon search when buying Radko. You can save as much as $20 and sometimes $30 per ornament.