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[anthroid]

Well, I seem to start this thread every year too in addition to the music and turkey day threads.  I don't care about doing a poll, but spill: 

Are you:

White lights and simple holiday decorations?  If so, describe.

Colored lights and garish holiday decorations?  If so, describe.

Some combination of the above?  If so, describe.

Inside?  Outside?  Both?

And when will you put your decorations/trees/inflatable outside penguins/wire white light deer/molded plastic Santas up, and when will you light up?

I think I'm hanging my colored lights up this weekend and doing the outside decoration.  I bought a bunch of great crap today--waving snowmen, sidewalk lollipops, very pretty lights to outline the gutters in front--that I believe I will hang in the next day or two.  I decided against colored icicle lights--that seemed counterintuitive--but I do like to be as garish as possible.  I expect I will be adding more action figures to the front lawn as the holiday period wears on.

My tree will go up Thanksgiving weekend.

You?

[marigolds]

Tree is up.  Has been for 5 days.  (The Sprout insisted - as soon as the Halloween decorations came down, he spun around in the living room with his arms akimbo - not unlike Julie Andrews singing on top of the Alp - and said breathlessly, "Let's make the house all Christmassy!"  And proceeded to bug everybody - including his babysitter - mercilessly until we got the damn tree down from the attic.) 

Colored lights.  Bright green/silver retro Charlie-Brown-style 60s tree.  LOTS of colored sparkly balls on the tree, and ridiculous ornaments all over.  Colored lights outside - as many as I can convince my husband to put up.  On trees, gutters, around windows, wrapped around porches - I even took a wire wreath frame and wrapped it with about 5 strands of lights and made a light wreath! 

We don't have any lawn stuff yet, but that's because we have no storage.  Just wait till I live in a house with a basement and you betcha I'm getting garish with it!

[barred_owl]

We're in the multi-colored lights and simpler, mostly vintage, decorations camp.  We go to a local tree farm and get a fresh-cut tree about 2 weeks before Christmas--hubby sets it up in a front window, then lets me have at it with the remaining decorations.  I turn on the holiday music station and go to town...I've also made some (lovely, in my opinion) floral arrangements and matching wreaths for the living room, and put a garland over the French doors in the dining room, and other little touches here and there.  Outside, we're still undecided about lights (have to consider the effects on the electric bill this year, sadly), but I retrieved from my cousin's house a large, vintage plastic Santa head that lights up--we might hang it on the house, just above our front porch steps where there otherwise would be insufficient light for guests to see the steps.

I'm also working on a wreath for the door of my mom's room at the assisted living facility.  I found 6 small picture-frame ornaments, and filled them with individual pictures of me and my sister when we were younger, my niece and nephew, and my grand-niece and grand-nephew, and will wire them onto the wreath with lots of other floral, sparkly embellishments.  Mom should like that.

[systeme_d_]

We don't really decorate much at all, but about ten years ago Dear SO made a door wreath out of Christmas lights.  It was a green letter L surrounded by that red circle and diagonal bar that serve as the international symbol for "No."

We hung that up on our front door for about five years running.

[luvstowrite]

We will be getting a tree next weekend and cover it with a million lights (or however many I can scrounge up that work before making a trip to Big Box Store for more). We also put those white lights over the shrubs out in the front yard which really glisten in the fog and rain. I personally put up the stockings and decor around the house, including several for the pets. Our pets always get goodies from Santa!

I used to put two strands of red and white lights around the lamp post to mimic a candy cane but they always slipped down halfway through the season and looked funky. I can't wait for the Christmas holiday!

[bud04]

WOW your homes sound beautiful! I wish I could see them!

We are going to put up three trees this year to make up for the last few years when we couldn't decorate as much as we wanted because of problems. We are going to get a live Frasier fur tree for the family room and then put all of our ornaments on it. Then we will put the artificial tree with colored lights in the living room with a few ornaments on it. I think this weekend I am going to buy a second artificial tree with lots of white twinkling lights on it for our bedroom. I just love going to bed and looking at the tree so it will be fun having it in there with us at night. I'm really excited to start decorating since I have missed it the last few years.

We don't usually put anything on the outside except a wreath on the door. However I really like driving around the neighborhoods looking at the decorations. 

[london1]

The tree goes up this weekend with carols playing in the background and hot chocolate being served.  Colored lights, a wreath over the garage and a wreath on the front door complete the decorations outside.

[promovenda]

We celebrate Christmas, but often travel and work on the 25th and have for years. So sometimes we don't have a tree. (I'd rather have none than artificial - just my preference, no offense intended). But when we do decorate, it is blue white, gold and silver. From the chandeliers, on the doors. On the table. My SO is red-green colorblind.

[oseph]

There will be a red bow on the fake magnolia wreath outside and probably a small rosemary tree for the sideboard in our dining room.  This is the Christmas of spending no money.  Baby Oseph is too young to care, and our cats would shred decorations anyway.  Am putting all effort and funds into the food instead.  Were I to decorate, I go with white lights, candles, mirrored surfaces, fresh greenery, and very simple decorations like bows and silver bells.

Went in Jo-Ann yesterday (scary enough) to get some thread for sewing buttons back on, and I was assaulted by noxious odors.  Turned out to be bags of cinnamon-scented pine cones.  Cinnamon is one of those things that should not be overdone.  Yuck.  I hate those nasty, overdone smells.  The only thing worse than the aggressive cinnamon spice scent is the Country Apple fragrance at Bath and Body Works stores.  I used to get a headache just walking past them.

[anthroid]

The mission:  Christmasfy Anthroidville, at least on the outside.
The circumstances:  cloudy, 55, light breeze from the south.
The materiel:  colored lights, caroling snowpeople, lit up presents, dancing penguins, swirling tree o' lights, lollipop sidewalk lights, extension cords and other eletrical paraphenalia, gutter light hangers, ladder.
The challenges:  sincere and crippling fear of heights, uneven ground, complete lack of experience hanging Christmas lights from gutters, not enough electric paraphenalia (e.g., extension cords).


The result:  After one quick trip to the local K-Mart, Anthroidville is Christmasfied, and I did it all by myself, fear of heights, PMS <inthreaduality>, and all.

[prof_smartypants]

We'll get a tree next weekend. We do white lights and garish decorations.

I've got a 3 foot tall lighted penguin that goes in the front yard;
The front porch will be covered with white lights; traditional wreath on the door;
Inside, we'll have a garland on the mantle, stockings, some large ornament balls and stars hanging from the ceiling, the tree (White lights, cranberry garlands, tons of ornaments, snowflake on top), and lots of other crap I've picked up over the years that will be strewn about the house.

Last week, we were at Lowe's, and they had all these ridiculous dancing animals singing Christmas carols. We didn't buy any, but I have a feeling one will end up in my house before the New Year...

The best part about Christmas decorating is opening up the boxes and finding all that stuff you bought years past and forgot about. Hubby and I always buy a Christmas tree ornament when we travel, so most of our ornaments are little souvenirs from all sorts of places.

[paddington_bear]

If I have a party, I'll decorate. Otherwise, probably not. Especially since I'm leaving the 19th.  Last year I had a party. I had two stars - or maybe they were globes - with white lights hanging  from hooks on my front porch. I had a lighted (lit?) wreath hanging on my front door, but I think the lights shorted out or something.  I had a 2- or 3-feet tall imitation tree that I stand on a box and put in my front window. The trees have white lights, and there are red and gold ornaments, with a gold star. I hung Xmas cards on ribbons around two door frames downstairs. I had lighted (lit?) garland going up my staircase, with red felt ribbons. And fake cranberry garland hanging from the  ceiling light in the entryway. In the den, on the fireplace mantle I laid out some white garland and interspersed it with white lights. I strung white lights  on the cafe curtain rod in the window in the den. I also have random various Christmas things on tables around the house.

paddington

[verbena]

Over here: no tree, no seasonal decorations, no family gatherings, no "holidays," maybe some pseudo-ironic candles if the right person reminds me at the right time, and some delicious time off that I'm very, very much looking forward to.

[antiphon1]

The kids put up the tree last weekend complete with every light, decoration and strand of tinsel in the house.  We finished putting up the outdoor lights and various over the top animated yard decorations yesterday.  (Yes.  Frosty is doing the macarena as I type.)  No tasteful reindeer grazing in the winter grass. No carefully arranged luminarias marching down the walk. No color coordinated thematic symbolism gently greeting the season.  Our house is one big ol' flashy, tacky extravaganza. 

[prof_smartypants]

The kids put up the tree last weekend complete with every light, decoration and strand of tinsel in the house.  We finished putting up the outdoor lights and various over the top animated yard decorations yesterday.  (Yes.  Frosty is doing the macarena as I type.)  No tasteful reindeer grazing in the winter grass. No carefully arranged luminarias marching down the walk. No color coordinated thematic symbolism gently greeting the season.  Our house is one big ol' flashy, tacky extravaganza. 

I want something that requires an air compressor SO BADLY.