Igloochic, thank goodness you were gifted with a sense of humor. I have a friend with two-year-old twins and a pair of German shepherd puppies. She is putting her Christmas tree OUTSIDE this year in an area that is inaccessible to both babies and dogs, but visible to the family room windows. It will have outdoor lights and plastic ornaments. All gifts will remain locked in the trunk of the car until Christmas eve. All other decor must be more than five feet from the floor and not next to anything that can be climbed. I rather thought her solution was genius.

Put those vintage ornaments away for a few years and make it an unbreakable holiday (or at least use things that if they break there's no heartache!) so your boy can have the thrill of decorating with you. I know.... the trees won't be up to your usual standards but you'll take pictures and look back on them with tears in your eyes - trust me.

There's a family near here that hangs the tree upside down from the ceiling in front of the picture window.

when my kids were very little, I was out and my dh was trapped on a conference call (before we had a cordless phone) and the cherubs were bringing him the ornaments from the tree, one by one. After that the tree was up on a table for a few years.

:)

Our tree was outside last year. I just couldn't deal with supervising the then-almost two year old and the tree. You could see it through the living room window. :)

LOL . . . I've missed your great sense of humor and observations of the absurd, Igloo!
Lynn

My daughter came home from work only to find two of her four cats inside the fully decorated tree which was lying on it's side on the floor. The other two spectators were sitting there just staring at the debris everywhere, they were cats too lol.

Oh my goodness what great stories and visions :)

Now to be clear, DS has a tree in his room and the play room so we do decorate trees together. And I let him put on the train ornaments on the big tree...but I prefer to have that done before he gets to do that heh heh

My vintage ornaments are all from the goodwill. Fabulous and such a shame someone didn't want them, but if they break it does not hurt my heart, aside from some special ones which I protect (and hang far up on the tree). We had dinner tonight and I came home to find one kitten crawling up the stairs with an ornament in her mouth :) It's a 1940's thing but it's actually plastic so she didn't damage anything. Cracked me up!

Fun...I left a ladder by the mantle when we went to dinner...I found two kitties on the mantle when I was locking up for bed. All of the garland I had put there was on the floor...note to self....no ladders by cat exploration zones!

Dlm...I was hanging ornaments with DS on his tree and came across one from a couple of years ago...horrific preschool thing with a picture of him smiling when he lost his first tooth. I know what you mean by tears :)

Kathy I always wondered who those upside down tree people were LOL My ceilings are twelve feet though....I am not sure I could hang a big enough tree!!! And how does one keep a finial on???? heh heh

Bee....I love the picture of DH with the ornaments coming in slowly. When things like that happen here I try to tell DH not to do business at home. My favorite story is when DS came running in during a meeting we had at the house for a business we were thinking of buying. He ran into the parlor after school and announced....."Good News Dad! I Pooped and wiped my own butt!!!" Nothing says serious business guy like a kiddo who can not only poop but wipe as well :p

Crl...I love the outside idea...but I don't have any trees outside the house :P I suppose I could make a triangle on the fence...but I don't think the family will fall for it!

Lynn :) Smooches. Life is sometimes just a ball of fun..sometimes it's poop in the parlor. If you can't laugh it's just not worth living!

yaya...I was telling DS about my first tree in Alaska. I kept coming home to find my kittens half to two thirds up stuck. They'd be meowing like nuts, with their heads stuck out and nothing more :) At least they didn't knock it over!

No little ones at my house, but I do have one cat who likes to perch deep inside the branches and pop his head out when someone walks by. He also prefers to knock off as many balls as he can reach so the dogs can play with them.

I had a bright idea of using stuffed animals on a tree, I have a lot of holiday moose, deer, bears, etc and it made a really cute 'rustic' tree with plastic apples and pinecone garlands. Well, the Labs were just sure those were toys for them-they can't resist a stuffed animal. One of the other dogs systematically picked the fake fruit off as far up as she could reach.

I have switched to pretty much all plastic balls for the trees and use the glass bulbs in vases & wreaths instead.

No, it never happens. Ever.

"When things like that happen here I try to tell DH not to do business at home."

--ahhh, the main reason I was behind him when he took early retirement from that job to start a new career....last one was global, calls all times of the day. If he didn't take them at home we never would have seen him. Now, the company he works for is strictly East Coast based, no overnight emails even!!

oak--omg, love that.

I showed this to the Great Pyrenees this morning.

Here is a link that might be useful: Not like this at my house!

This is a really old site, but I love to read it every year.

They got a new pup this year!

Here is a link that might be useful: Cats and Christmas

This post was edited by Fun2BHere on Thu, Dec 6, 12 at 11:55

igloo, yep been there done that, but only one tree at a time! it would be fun to have so many trees!
We found peace by choosing a corner and DH put a sturdy eyehook in the corner. Then tied the tree near the top to the wall.The sturdy string never showed.Yep, we tied our tree to the corner every year, starting with the cat and dog years, to kidlet years and big wagging dog tail years. our ceilings are 8 1/2 so the tree is always 8 ish. We decided to risk it last year and no tie down! no problems.
We have always put unbreakables- usally cloth or wooden ornaments I made in the danger zone- especially since kidlets do love to bring them to you one at a time(they must just feel so BIG doing that)
Cooper and Bailey do like to take an ornament down on occasion.
I am jealous of your luck finding vintage ornaments at GW- I have been looking in all of my favorite ones. do you get them at the online GW? and its good to hear all is well with you guys!

Kitchendetective, I am envious - one of my favorite dogs ever was a Great Pyrenees who belonged to my cousins. True to the breed, she came up and leaned on you.

I don't know why I've been so lucky, but none of our cats has ever done damage to the tree, although one used to like to drink the water in the stand until we covered it.

At tree-trimming in our house, the littlest ones are in charge of the wooden toys, the walnuts, the paper snowflakes, and the candy canes, one of which is their prize for doing such a good job. Funny how the lower hanging canes tend to disappear mysteriously from time to time...

The upside down trees are a Polish custom.

I've never heard of anyone having trouble keeping a child from bothering a Christmas tree. Dogs and cats sure, but not a normal child.

Igloochic I always let the kids decorate the tree, I take a picture of their work, and when they are not around I redo the whole thing. If they have ever noticed the changes they have never mentioned it. But my favorite thing is when the youngest ones decorate in "cluster style". They hang as many ornaments as they can possibly fit, on the end of each branch and it does seem to be a universal behavior!

A friend had dozens of vintage and "family" ornaments, enough for several trees. Her preferred style of decorating was to bring them all out and develop a theme as she went.

Well, she was called away with a minor farm vet emergency right after she got the lights on and her two daughters, ages 6 and 4, decided to help mommy because daddy was coming back from a cruise and the tree had to be ready.

They used all of the decorations, placing them as high as they could reach on the 10-foot tree, hanging them from trunk to tip on the branches. The lower part of the tree was encrusted with ornaments, solidly beaded with them like a Vegas club singer's dress ... and the upper part was bare except for a few strands of tiny lights.

It was wonderful!