What colors should I use to decorate the Christmas tree?

Hi everyone,

what colors are you using to decorate your Christmas tree this year?
Do you prefer it to be colorful, or just one or two colors?
Do you put candy on the Christmas tree?
Does anyone still use real candles, or do you prefer string lights?
And most importantly, when do you put up the tree?

When I was a kid, our tree was always very colorful with lots of candy on it. It could never be too full. As the oldest, I got to decorate the tree with my dad on the 24th. Days before, we’d already been busy tying and wrapping—and all without snacking.

In recent years, my tree has been decorated in copper tones; there haven’t been any candies on it for a long time, ever since our gluttonous dog knocked the tree over years ago and gorged himself on it, foil and all. It’s a shame because I do miss the little liqueur bottles hanging right off the tree ;-)
These days, the tree doesn’t get knocked over anymore since there’s nothing edible on it.
I think this year my decorations will be silver with lots of pieces I crocheted myself.
I put the tree up a good week in advance, but then it’s taken down again around January 7th.

Now I’m curious—how do you guys do it?

Love, Angi

Dear Angi,

I just vividly imagined what it must have been like at your place at Christmas. A dog sitting next to the knocked-over Christmas tree with a contented look on its face (a little tipsy from the chocolate-liqueur pralines). That’s a one-of-a-kind scene.

I’m 57 now, which means I’ve celebrated Christmas 56 times. Looking back, I have to say it changes every few years. Years ago, when I was a child, we still had real candles and “real tinsel.” People from East Germany know what I mean. After Christmas, it was carefully taken down and packed away for the next year.

We never put candy on the tree. There were four of us kids, and we would have raided it immediately. Instead, we always had a colorful plate for each of us. That was the highlight for us. Every colorful plate had exactly the same things on it: always a big orange, a rosy-cheeked apple, nuts, marzipan potatoes… Ah, those were the days. We weren’t a wealthy family, so for me, that colorful plate was probably always the most special part of Christmas.

Back to the tree. Well, it changed. In my first apartment as a teenager, I didn’t need one—I’d go home to my parents for Christmas anyway. Later, when I had a family of my own, the Christmas tree was celebrated again. In the ’80s and ’90s, it was perfectly fine for it to be colorful and overloaded. After all, there were already colorful string lights.

Now that the kids have left home, the traditional style is coming through again. I like it to be harmonious and in warm colors. In any case, only warm-white glowing string lights go on the tree.

A week before Christmas, we invite all the grandchildren over and decorate the tree together. It usually ends up looking very colorful. And each child and grandchild has their own handmade decorations hanging on it. Decorating the Christmas tree as a family has become a lovely tradition for us. And because it’s so dark outside in January, it usually stays up until the end of January.

Now I’m excited to hear about your Christmas tree memories.

Warm regards, Ina

P.S. Thank you so much, Angi, for this lovely pre-Christmas thread. I love it :-)

Our tree has always been a colorful mix. There are lots of keepsakes hanging on it—many handmade by my kids, as well as lots of ornaments shaped like cows, frogs, and sheep, and plenty of Disney ornaments.

  Ever since we’ve lived in our house, we’ve taken our tree from a large spruce in the garden every year. It’s not pretty, but it’s one-of-a-kind, and I love its uniqueness—others might call it ugly. We’ve been doing this for 10 years now. I’m sure it’ll work out again this year. It’ll be quite an event in the garden. My husband is up in the tree, while the men below lift the ladder and pull on the rope so the tree falls just right.

We don’t hang any candy on our tree, and ever since our grandson arrived, we don’t decorate it until just before Christmas Eve. That’s because he believes that the Christ Child decorates my Christmas tree while we’re all asleep. 

Ours will be decorated in the classic colors red, gold, and silver, and it won’t be very big either, because the two of us old folks * don’t need a big one anymore. We’ll be at our daughter’s on Christmas Eve anyway, that is, if the pandemic allows it.

Best, Inge

I’ll use the ornaments I have at home. It’ll be colorful, with plastic ornaments; the glass ones will stay in the basement, since I don’t know if they’ll survive my cats. As wild as those two can be,

I have such fond memories of Christmas from my childhood. On Christmas Eve, we’d set off for Grandma’s house—my dad and my siblings and I. Mom would always come later. What we didn’t know as little kids was that she’d transformed our living room into a Christmas room. When we came home that evening, we were so amazed and were sure Santa had done it.
The tree wasn’t the prettiest, by today’s standards. But we didn’t have an eye for that sort of thing. It was our Christmas tree, with tinsel and real candles. The presents were under the tree. It was wonderful!!!

Today, I prefer a classic Christmas tree. I haven’t changed my decorations in years either.
The colors are mostly red, gold, and natural tones. The tree is put up at the beginning of Advent and stays up until early January.

Thank you all for your posts and the lovely memories.
That also brings back experiences I’d already forgotten.

@ Ina, thanks for the compliment :-) 

Does anyone else want to say anything about this?

Well, every year I have the same colorful tree with some very old ornaments and lots of homemade ones. It brings back so many wonderful memories every year...

Our tree (now more of a little tree) is decorated with white candles and a colorful assortment of ornaments that we’ve collected over the years. But on the top tier, at my request, there are only glass baubles—nothing colorful. Sweets were never put on the tree in my family, and we’re continuing that tradition. We can’t yet predict how our cat will react to the tree this year—she’s very curious and quite the acrobat!
In South America, we used to bring a real little potted fir tree into the living room for Christmas. The wax candles, however, didn’t hold up well in the summer heat and warped, and when we once hung chocolate on the tree, the ants came… 

Due to space constraints, there’s no Christmas tree here.
Instead, there are Christmas plates and a glass bowl, each filled with different items.

Two colors stand out, though: green and silver.

We used to always go with classic red and gold. I think that’s really beautiful, too!

Once I had my own household, I got black and white ornaments and clear glass ones. I really like those, too!

  But since Leo’s been here, we’ve gone back to plastic ornaments—in this case, red and gold again :)

We don’t put candy on our tree. Just some straw decorations and other little trinkets that accumulate over time :)
What I absolutely can’t stand is tinsel. That will never, ever, ever go on our tree :D

This was our tree last year:

How are you doing it this year?

Just like every year :-))

I moved out of my parents’ house when I was 18, and with my first paycheck, I bought a Laura Ashley couch, Christmas ornaments, and two strings of lights. That was 32 years ago, and the couch is long gone ;-)

But the ornaments and the strings of lights (with red candles) are still here. Since then, I’ve been adding one or two really beautiful ornaments every year, and I also get some as gifts. They always have a touch of red and/or gold. They’re not always just ornaments—sometimes they’re birds, pinecones, or a Santa Claus.

My friend often spends Christmas with her family in the Ore Mountains and likes to bring back beautiful wooden ornaments—but they have to match the color scheme (I’m stubborn about that).

@Ina: Tinsel was on every tree in the West back when I was a kid, too. We’d iron it afterward, and the next year it went back on the tree :-))

So all in all, I guess I’m pretty traditional, and it’s never even occurred to me to decorate my Christmas tree in pink, blue, or any other color. All my cats have been well-behaved so far (except for one half-crazy tomcat, but he only knocked one ornament off the tree).

Until a few years ago, I also didn’t put up and decorate the tree until Christmas Eve (with my kid), but since the tree was always up for such a short time (until January 6), I switched to decorating during Advent.
And since I’m the only one in our household who’s into “trees,” I can do whatever I want here :-)))

By the way, the tree is also the only Christmas decoration—just the tree and a few more candles than usual… nothing else ♥

Just like in past years. My sweetheart is already sneaking around the big fir tree, thinking about which branches he’ll saw off this year.

And it’ll be decorated again with the ornaments we’ve collected over the years. 

We’re also using the same decorations from previous years again this year.
I’ll definitely be sorting out a few things—some of them have teeth marks ;-)
I’ll also be adding a few beautiful ornaments from my late mother-in-law as a memento.