I love Christmas.
I love to decorate the tree. Here's my Tree Decorating Theory: there is no such thing as too many ornaments. When the tree crashes through the floor, you're getting pretty close.
I don't have anything against that minimalist look. It's clean and sleek and easy to put away when the season is over. I just love me some Christmas ornaments! I've been collecting for over 35 years. I love them all - the cheesy stuff the kids made in kindergarten, hand blown delicate glass from Germany, shiny, sparkly, gaudy, classic, hell - I even have one of those crazy elf on the shelf guys. My goal every year to completely cover the tree - I don't want to see any green branches.
I'm getting pretty close. One of the best things I did was to get rid of all the old lights and put LED's on the tree. They're amazing, very bright, not hot, last forever and use hardly and electricity! Saving money is good - I can buy more ornaments!
Another thing that makes me happy is finding ornaments that aren't 'traditional' - not everything has to be a red and\or green sphere. I have clowns, trains, pickles, houses, martini glasses, bells, giant bulbs, shoes (lots of shoes), birds, fish (many fish, including the Trout Treetopper!) - you name it, I probably have at least one on the tree.
It makes me so happy to walk into the house and see this mass of color and lights. I spend the entire season grinning like an idiot ~ and thats what it's all about, right? The Christmas spirit is all about happiness.
Next year.... NO Branches! .... and.... I will work on taking better pictures.... my photography skills - *sigh*
