Cute idea for a thread, Oak!

Fun: seeing all the decorations you forgot you had!

Not so Fun: forgetting where you stuck all the Christmas decorations you bought during the summer.

Fun: definitely seeing the decorating DONE!

Not so Fun: all the aches, pains, and exhaustion of trying to pull it together by yourself. LOL.

hugs, Karen

Ok, I'll jump in.

Fun: being the inspiration in the neighborhood to be the first to put up decorations and getting txt stating the decorations look fab. even w/o being lit up.

Not fun: having to haul most of them from a shed all across the 2 acre yard to set up.

Fun: when the time comes we plug them in and set the timers and see the show of bright lights in all shapes and sizes.

Not fun: when it's time to take down all the beauties and it's freezing out.

Punk

BTW, it's zero here with blowing snow, to cold to do much outside. Not sure we'll be seeing the lights come on Thanksgiving night.

I hope others join in on this topic, you all had me cracking up!

Punk, we get that front today but no snow. Today will be 70, tomorrow will be in the 30's with strong north winds, and sub-freezing during the nights. Yay!

I am SO sore today from working on Christmas decor yesterday and I'm not even close to being finished.

But the Fun part (I guess) is I'm getting a good workout. lol

My turn:

fun: fantasizing about decorating our new house for the first time (it's a 230 year old colonial!)

not fun: trying to find which box the movers put a particular decoration in!!!

fun: 8 yes 8 fireplace mantels to adorn

not fun: climbing 2 flights to the attic where all the boxes are!

fun: hearing a neighbor say how beautiful it was when the previous owners had candles in all the windows at Christmas time

not fun: heard this right after I put up that shrink wrap window stuff to cut down the drafts. Can't put lights in the 5 windows I did that to!!

fun: hanging a collection of large ornaments on a big tree in the backyard

not fun: hoping they don't get water in them and freeze and crack!

fun: stretching to hang a cluster of ornaments in the stairwell

not fun: wondering if I was going to fall 2 stories and crash and burn!!

NOT FUN: hurrying to clear off the dining room table that has been my staging area when I'm not finished decorating yet. Do we really have to have dinner there tomorrow?????

Fun: Opening up my boxes of treasures, and seeing them with a new but yet still familar eye again. Associating many of the ornies (and I have bunches) with fun memories of me going out will my daughter in search for just the right ornies for my home and hers.

For years we decorated and collected the same style of ornies..guess who won when there was only 1 ornie at the store...Ah the love we have for our children, I hope one day she looks back on it and remembers my "surrender" for her pleasure. (P.S. her tree is stunning LOL, much nicer than mine)

Fun: when friends and neighbors appreciate seeing my tree tru the window and the yard decor.

Fun: Just the act of reviving traditions, and all the warm memories that come back to me because of this. My mom and I did not always get along...very different personalites, but she always went all out for our Christmas, a beautiful tree and wonderful dinner. Thanks for the memories MOM!

Not fun: I really hate taking down the tree and ornies, it takes me days and days, the house seems soooooo empty, but yet it does feel good to be "cleaned up".

Great Thread!

FUN - Keeping my four kids home from school on December 1st every year for a whole day of decorating together while listening to christmas music. We love that day so much.

NOT FUN: Wanting to kick myself every year for not putting away my christmas decorations from the previous year in a more organized fashion (i.e. that great big knotted ball of lights).

FUN: Forgetting about the decorations you bought on clearance the year before and opening a box to find new things to decorate with you had not idea you had...love that!

NOT FUN - Living in Canada and leaving putting up the outdoor lights to the last minute....COLD! I learned that lesson the hard way.

FUN: Putting up the decorations that my Mother passed down to me.

NOT FUN - Fatigue - We celebrate Christmas eve till about 2am in the morning with my husbands family - then my kids get me up about 5:30am christmas morning and I need to be super Mom for the day and make turkey dinner for 12 all on a couple hours of sleep...it is pretty brutal.

Haley

Not fun: Putting up outside lights and fluffing garland.
Fun: Coming home from work with the house all lit up.

Not fun: Climbing up and down the attic stairs with box after box.
Fun: Finding things you forgot you bought and time worn treasures.

Not fun: Wrapping present after present( I actually used to like this part)
Fun: Watching everyone open thier gifts.

Fun: Putting up the trees.
Not fun: taking them down.

Fun: Putting out all my Christmas collections.
Not fun: Not having enough places to put everything out.

Frou

The fun part is shopping for the decorations after Christmas when they are half price or less.

The not so fun part is having the weather turn nasty when you want to get it all up outside!!

More not fun, taking it down and packing it away.

This is a fun post! I can sorta relate to everything each of you have said too! ;o)

Not fun: trying to stuff all the Fall decor away when you already used up the empty bins for the new Halloween stuff this year.

Fun: Remembering what a wonderful Fall/Halloween it was this year--wish it could last longer.

Not fun: Climbing on the ladder to pull the bins off the top shelf in the storage shed.

Fun: Opening the bins and seeing all the pretty colors and anticipating how nice they look when arranged all over the house.

Luvs

Fun: hanging ornaments from the chandelier over the dining room table.

Not fun: miscounting the arms on the chandelier and realizing that I need 6 glass balls. Had 6, but the movers broke one so now down to 5 and that doesn't work!!!

Fun - coming in here everyday and seeing all the wonderful decorations and fantastic ideas you all come up with

Not fun - realizing my house is only so large and I can't possibly use all the ideas that I get from you all

there will be more as I go along I am sure :D .....

Lynne

Fun-Seeing my grandson's face as I get the decorations up and turn all the lights on

Not fun-removing all the strings of colored lights from my prelit tree so I can replace them with clear ones..

Oak, I want to thank you for starting this thread. Not only has it been 'fun' to read, it has helped me tremendously! I just got all the Fall decor packed away yesterday, and was in shock how much I now have, and was wondering why it I suddenly needed more bins! Then Luvs made me realize I'd gotten so much Halloween this year, and it got packed where a lot of my Fall stuff was. Ackkkkk. So now I've had to use of my Xmas bins for Fall stuff. My DH happened to be here (shock, he didn't play golf Thanksgiving Day!) and asked me if I wanted him to go buy me more bins. Then he laughed and said he didn't know where in the world I could put them. I told him I'd worry about it when I go to take the Christmas down...NEXT YEAR.
LOL. Anyway, I wasn't able to do anything last week, and had so much on my List that needed doing. Ao I threw a Pity Party and felt totally overwhelmed and wondered if I should even bother hauling out the Christmas stuff. It just seemed more than I could deal with right now.
But you started this thread and I know that everyone has similar problems. The work of getting all the Christmas stuff out, then figuring where to put things, the unpleasant tasks of stringing lights and fluffing garlands which seem to take forever! The exhaustion, and pain, that accompanies trying to get everything done. And I know some of you have Fibro too, and some have bad backs,
and other problems that make decorating difficult at times.
So suddenly I knew I was surrounded by friends who are plugging away just as I must do. So I've perked up and began climbing that Christmas Mtn today.

Thank you...all of you...for just being here when needed.
I love you guys.

hugs, Karen

I like this thread!

Fun: handling all the wonderful decorations and ornaments we've collected over the years. They all have wonderful memories associated with them.
Not fun: grieving a little every year because some ornaments remind me of people who are gone now. Sigh.

Fun: LIGHTS! Color!
Not fun: the blandness after Christmas

Fun: getting it all out
Not fun: putting it all up. lol

Fun: Decorating with lots of lights outside
Not fun: figuring out how and where to PLUG in all the outside lights

Hi All! Am back for just a minute before we need to start painting, but had to tell you how much I'm enjoying this new thread, Oakley. It's comforting to know that I'm in such good company . . . especially today!

FUN: to know that DH is finally going to get the living and dining rooms painted.
NOT FUN: when he decides that the only time he has free to do it is the weekend after Thanksgiving!

. . . which is where we are at the moment. DD & I spent most of yesterday taking everything down from the walls, which are now piled up on both sofas. And, taking everything off of every shelf, tabletop,etc . . . which are now piled up on our 9 1/2 ft dining room table . . . along with all our Autumn and Thanksgiving decs. And then we blue taped around a million feet of window frames, mantels, door frames, etc. All this while DH patched our always-cracking, real adobe walls.
Sooooo, today we paint, him with his new automatic paint roller machine, and me around all the above mentioned blue taped areas. And, hopefully, tomorrow (Sunday), we'll somehow get all the mess put back or packed away so that we can at least put up our main living room tree for DD. Bless her heart, she LOVES Christmas and is about ready to pop with this wait to get the decs up this year!
Lynn

Lynn, I feel your pain!!
NanaKaren

Fun: thinking about how pretty the house is going to be in it's Christmas raiment
not fun: remembering the first Christmas party is next Sunday afternoon.......yikes!!
fun: finding just the right gift for a particular person
not fun: wrapping all the gifts....not my favorite thing to do!
fun: reading about all the work you all are doing
not fun.....Oh my goodness........... I better get busy myself!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Purplemoon,your comment "Not so Fun: forgetting where you stuck all the Christmas decorations you bought during the summer" is exactly mine! Actually, I just found a bin filled with Green Bay Packer ornaments and all my green & gold stuff for a Packer tree that I couldn't find last year!

But I guess the Fun part for last Christmas then was using all the old ornaments from my childhood that I received from my mother who passed away last year. It was nice to reminisce while decorating.

Fun-getting it all done

not fun-having the toddler redecorating the bottom half of the tree every time you turn around.