Holiday stuff stuff and more stuff

[jeezifonly]

After skipping a holiday season (Christmas at my house) I have been looking forward to doing some decorating and began looking through the big plastic tubs from different sources some labeled some not, filled  with the various trash and treasures gay men accumulate in 30+together, mostly to out-Fab last year. Huzz was in retail display, so we were always a bit OTT. Oy vey. Each of us has our own small collection of childhood baubles as well. Overwhelming amount in total, going thru it to donate a bunch asap.

How about you? 

Do you give good deck?

How important is it to you on average?

Are there mandatory festive decorations or pieces of religious significance to the celebration?

Does the process involve conflict? (I said one strand at a time!!!)
Are you a collector/hoarder of it in a way like no other thing…? 
😱
Have you inherited things? Made your own?

Do it just like Mom?

Do it nothing like Mom?

Say fuckit that’s Mom’s job..?

🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄🎄

[+ Charlie]

One of my female neighbors goes all out decorating the front of their house for every kind of holiday--Halloween has skeletons, ghosts and witches all over the place--so I can only imagine what the inside of the house looks like. I had a couple of female relations who seemed to spend all year just preparing things for Xmas. We used to put up a small tree in the living room when we still had family around, but it's been a few years since we even hung a wreath on the front door.

Edited November 23, 2021 by Charlie
typo

[+ WilliamM]

Growing up the very wealthy Lithuania family across the street decorated their house and the pine trees on the lawns. This was in snowy Massachusetts.

Several  times it snowed on Christmas Eve unexpectedly (well it snowed only twice on Christmas Eve, to be honest, just trying to get in the holiday spirit).

[+ Vegas_Millennial]

I use to enjoy decorating the outside of my house, but have always hated taking the decorations down in January.  Plus, buying and replacing lights are expensive.  For the last several years, I hire someone who decorates the outside of the house and provides his own lights.  It's $300 for a single story house or $450 for a two story house. I get to enjoy the decorations without the hassle of getting on the roof, and I get to change the colors each year.  The guy buys Christmas lights in mass each January and stores them in his warehouse as part of his window washing business.

[Epigonos]

Christmas is totally insane at my place.  Christmas was always “the holiday” that my family celebrated with gusto.  My mother was absolutely nuts about Christmas and my sister and I both inherited her love of it.  My sister’s decorations were based around snowmen and mine around Santa Clauses.   Over the years I have collected dozens of hand carved Santa Clauses from all over the world.  I have so much Christmas “stuff” that I have to rent a storage unit to store it all. On the day I bring all my decorations from the storage unit I rent a pick-up truck to expedite the process.  Once I have all my decorations on site it takes me approximately three weeks to completely decorate my 1200 sq. ft. condo.  Besides decorating a large wall unit and several cupbord tops I put up four six-foot artificial trees each based on a different theme.  I start the second week of October and usually finish at the end of the first week of November.  Once my place is decorated to my satisfaction, I usually take off for Puerto Vallarta to rest and relax before I start cooking for the holidays.  Once home, I bake twenty cakes from an old family recipe which I give to friends and family.  I also start preparing food for the three or four Christmas Party’s I host.  ----- damn – Damn – DAMN I love Christmas.

Last Christmas, 2020, was a total bummer.  My sister had recently passed away and we weren't supposed to have guests in our homes.  In a major funk I didn't put up a single decoration.

Edited November 24, 2021 by Epigonos

[jeezifonly]

Just now realizing that a good handful of my things go all the way back to my earliest memories of Christmas, even a couple things of my folks that go back nearly 100yrs. (Felt stockings) and stuff that was homemade. Can’t put it all out, but whenever I get to visit with it for a bit it’s nice to recall the exquisite agony of anticipation that built to its Christmas Eve crescendo for my sisters and I, being certain we heard something on the roof as we barely slept.