How do you decorate for Christmas?

[EightFingers]

We have to live vicariously since I'm remodeling our living room and therefore no decorating! Anyway, it might be interesting to see what people in Hawai'i do. How do you "get in the mood" for Christmas? What decorations do you put up? Am I stupid for asking this? [:I]

[Guest]

Grinch Warning[!]

With the cost of Electricity these days, I truly feel that outdoor Christmas lights are a stupid expense.

Here we are as a society trying to teach me people about saving electricity and we light up the outside of our houses like circuses for a month out of the year in hopes that Saint Nick might come down our chimneys... very few of us even have chimneys to hang our stockings from.

And of course last year... I spent about $30-$40 bucks on a Damn Santa Picture (1 picture) at the mall.

-------
My Blog

[EightFingers]

http://www.holidayleds.com/multi_color_christmas_lights I bet these would be cheap to operate. As I get older, I get less and less excited to install outside lights.

[janeadams]

No grinch here, but it's surely best to be aware of things we do for the sake of Christmas that don't make any sense. Additionally, it allows me an opening to talk about christmas tree issues.

We live completely off-grid, so no lights. I have an array of hand-crafted and antique ornaments, and love Christmas trees. I do not approve of purchasing mainland trees due to the invasive species that can and do arrive with them -- garter snakes, yellow jackets, other insects plus they are carrier species for Sudden Oak Death (phytopthera rumorum). The tree industry has been under a self-inspection requirement, and I just don't trust them to do the right thing. By the time they get here, they've been cut for at least a month, and are very dry! Watch out for fires...

Support your local Christmas Tree grower -- Norfolk Island pines are self-renewing (sprouting below the cut), and display ornaments beautifully. Better yet, plant a couple of them, and you'll be in christmas trees perpetually. Locally produced live trees can be purchased at Paradise Plants, Walmart and probably Rozettes.

When Christmas is over, the tree (unflocked -- what's with this fake snow thing anyway?) will go into the chipper to return its mulch to the planting beds, and we'll shortly see new buds on the old tree for next year's tree.

Mele Kalikimaka!

Jane

[Hotzcatz]

Well, we are off the grid, too, so we have loads of LED Christmas lights. We hang a wreath on the front of the house as well as a big lit star (more LED lights).

The potted Norfolk Island pine gets dragged inside. It's going on year #3 for this particular tree, it will need a replacement tree started sometime this year so the replacement will be big enough in a year or two when this tree retires to our friend's pasture. There is a small Norfolk seedling under the big one in the back yard so that will probably be potted up for the next tree.

There will be several wreaths made from the rosemary bush. That almost smells like pine, too. After it dries folks can use it to make pizza and spaghetti sauce with. We usually give those wreaths away.

We put several candles around the house so it will be a bit warmer inside as well as seem more holiday like.

---

"I like yard sales," he said. "All true survivalists like yard sales."
Kurt Wilson