My mom died at 96 and I inherited all her Christmas decorations that she had collected over her many years. Even the artificial tree from 1954 which is still in good shape. Remember when things were made to last? I cherish her ornaments, many that I gave her. My favorites are the glass bubble lights . There's no cohesive color story or style just a tree full of happy memories in all it's eclectic glory. I love it. Just wish Mom was here to decorate with me. ❤
Wait -- do you mean the long-ish lights that looked like they were bubbling inside? I ADORED those as a kid, and it broke my heart when I went to do Christmas as an adult for the first time and learned they weren't available anymore. Not ones that looked like my memories, anyhow.
We had old bubble lights growing up in the 90s. My dad was born in 1941, and the bubble lights we had were probably from the 50s or 60s because he told is that he’d had them since he was young. They were mine and my dad’s favorite Christmas decoration. He died the day before my 11th birthday and, while my birthday seems to pass without much thought, Christmas always gets me because I have very distinct memories of decorating for Christmas with him. We had all his childhood ornaments, old glass ornaments from the 40s and 50s. We ended up moving to another state and I don’t know what happened to our decorations after that. (It’s honestly one of the things I can never forgive my mother for. She left the Christmas decorations behind, which was especially heinous since all of mine and my sister’s childhood ornaments were there as well. Like custom gold plated ornaments my dad commissioned with our names and dates of birth on them, for example. It was like she wanted to destroy every memory of my dad, which is ironic because now she can’t stop talking about how much she misses him and how she doesn’t have any pictures of him.)
The only non-gross thing to do with tinsel: Drape/wrap the trunk of the tree with a tinsel garland before you put the lights on. It reflects the lights back from deep inside the tree and it's really beautiful. Doesn't matter how patchy it gets because you don't see it, you just see this reflecting soft sparkle behind all the other decorations. If the garland is gold, it also helps to warm up the light from not-warm-enough LEDs.
💯 agree about the overpowering candles. If the fumes are making you high, and making your head hurt, you’re doing it wrong. It’s something that I have gotten careful about because my husband and son struggle with sensory processing disorder, and too much smell, even if it’s nice, is VERY triggering for them. Plus there are people who are allergic to certain smells and perfumes. Understated truly is underrated.
I just have a more sensitive smell and I cannot even walk through the cande section at Ikea without holding my breath. I stepped into LUSH once with a friend, and just step back out again letting them shop alone because I just can’t handle the smell. Oddly I’m fine with burning insense and walking around in a bulk spice store, so I think it’s just the artificial fragrances that get me. Even if it’s just one candle, it’s just not pleasant at all.
Lol... tinsel from the 80,s?? Tinsel, paper chains and hanging lanterns were our Xmas decorations in the late 50,s and hung around for quite a long time ( uk) . Wouldn't use them now but bring back great childhood memories..dad on a ladder strewing chains across the walls 😅😅❤
Your tinsel review really sparked a lot of comments. I also remember hanging tinsel "just so" (as per my mom's instructions) and then having to take it all off after Christmas and save it for next year. Nothing that even resembles tinsel will ever go on my tree now. I personally love glass ornaments for their shine, and white lights, no twinkle option.
Merry Christmas Nick! I love what you said about building up your decor through the years and having it have meaning. It isn't special to just go out and purchase the newest on trend decor of the current Christmas season. Also, my family saved tinsel to use year after year in the 70's. It would become all wrinkled and kinky. What a chore picking tinsel off the tree!
Fun fact about tinsel per a “How it’s made” (or some similar show). Tinsel is purposefully packed in a way that you can’t easily put it back in the box so you have to buy more next year.
Cats + Christmas Trees are trouble, period. Tinsel or no. Or even an unadorned tree. Ours were having a go at the tree before we even started decorating it. Hm, we do have tinsel garlands :) Never had any problem getting them in and out of the tree or storing them, and they still look like new. I didn't put them in the tree this time, though (and that was before I watched this video :) )
When it comes to Christmas decorating, stick to traditional decorations at a minimal level. Moments in each space will still make your home look cohesive and festive.
Tinsel is straight up life threatening to cats, I don’t have dogs but I’d assume the same risk exists. Things that bug the crap out of me are outside decorations that look like garbage during the day….like deflated blowups. The pvc archway craze that everyone is putting over sidewalks. It looks gross during the day. Second, cords hanging everywhere, I guess more of an outside thing too but like cords hanging loose off of like gutters.
Not tinsel! Tinsel is a classic. As a child of the 70s, tinsel will always have a special place in my heart. And yes - you can store tinsel and re-use it responsibly
I hate tinsel too! It was my job to put the tinsel on the tree when I was a kid, in the 1970s, and that was the start of my hatred. Needless to say, I have never had tinsel on the tree as an adult.
Tinsel can be fatal for pets especially cats. I quit putting it on my tree after my cat ate some. Luckily it came out her butt. I had to pull it out as it was stuck. Thereafter she was called tinsel butt. It can get wrapped up in their intestines and kill them.
I'm old enough to remember REAL tinsel. Made from fine strands of some sort of metal, most likely toxic. You had to handle them soooo delicately, and yes, my Mom taught me how to carefully hang them one strand at a time and remove and save them the same way. Nothing could ever be wasted, it was all considered precious. Whew. Memories! I never use the stuff ever. And the plastic tinsel just looks crappy to me. Little disco balls to it's place.😂
I made the mistake of purchasing a wreath from Balsam Hill - even at half price it was expensive and the item I received to rather t a c k y - the quality is worse that the $40 dollar wreaths that are readily available at Target or Menards - just letting people know
As kids in the 1960s our job was to remove the tinsel from our live Christmas tree, to be reused the next year. Then one year we saw a discarded tree on the curb covered in tinsel. We were amazed at the extravagance!
My mom didn't make us do that. But she was psychotic about how trees needed to be decorated. Her mother taught her that tinsel had to be added one piece at a time, each strand to be laid just so. It took all day just to put the tinsel on. She tried that with me and my siblings, we would never comply to that level of perfectionism so she gave up on it. When she got older she hated Christmas. She quit celebrating it for years because of this perfectionism that he mom drilled into her. She only got over it when she had grandkids. She'd still come over and rearrange my ornaments because they weren't perfectly placed. That was fine with me, I was never offended by it and I just was glad she came to be with my kids. Was my grandmother OCD to instill this in my mom? I don't know.
Ah Nick, you deliver once again. Not even one minute in, "I'm not here to ruin your Christmas. Like, if you love it, if you love your little holiday ugly crap, then you just keep that in your own home. You just go nuts." SLAY, Nick, SLEIGH 🎅
I love it . I watched a guy this week on homeworthy talk about “trashy “ outside Christmas lights and immediately changed the channel. He is not for me. If I want to be classy great. If I want to be cheesy and trashy that’s also great. I am not a fan of pretentious.
Totally get the humor :) My previous neighbor had a mass of HUGE tacky yard inflatables & moved away this year ~ Hallelujah!! 🎶 Unfortunately, he left them all behind for the new resident to use... 😂🙄 (Actually, I could care less - it's Christmas & only for a few weeks. And the stuff makes me smile. Mostly because I don't have to deal with setting it up or storing it! 😉)
My husband and my first Christmas as a married couple many years ago (many) we put the music on, decorated the tree with second hand and home made ornaments, covered the whole tree with tons of tinsel. Then cuuddled with our eggnog happily talking about our first Christmas together. So romantic. Then my cat walked over played and ate and choked on the tinsel. Had to reach in her mouth and pull out the beautiful glittering tinsel from deep down her throat while she (and us) gagged. We spent the rest of the night pulling off every bit of tinsel from the tree and have never used it again. Don't miss it. And neither did the cat
😂😂 I realize it's been many years since then, but for anyone reading this, it can potentially be very dangerous to remove anything from your cat's mouth yourself. Particularly if you don't know exactly how much they've swallowed and how far down it goes, pulling any long strands out of their mouth could fatally injure them by getting stuck or wrapped around something internal. If it's possible, it's best to take them to an emergency vet.
Also my tip…AFTER Christmas when stores are trying to get rid of all the rest of the decor items, you can get some amazing deals and then next year when you unpack your decor you’ll have a bunch of brand new stuff and it’ll feel like you don’t have to go out and buy new stuff!
One year either right before or after Christmas I went on the Macy's website and was amazed at the infinitie variety of trees on there--all marked down. There were probably 200 different trees on their website. I bought some beautiful pre-lit garland that I still use.
As someone who has had to chase a dog around the house because it was dragging a poop garland of tinsel out its rear end, I hate tinsel! Love your channel.
Our first Christmas. We bought a real tree for the kids, but didn't have money for the decorations. So i bought white cotton yarn in Walmart and crocheted leaves, flowers and stars. They looked beautiful against the dark green needles. Very quaint minimal look. :)
One of my favorite things about being in my 30s is understanding ornaments. When I was a kid I HATED that our ornaments were so mismatched and our tree didn't look like the ones in the stores. I really wanted a tree that felt like a store display (my grandma had a cardinal-themed tree). Now, I unpack my ornaments and I see the memories from my own life and marriage and all of the affection that ornaments were gifted to us with over the years from a variety of people. It's really pretty magical.
My daughter and I have a tradition where we buy a new ornament each year, so ALL our ornaments are mismatched, with the exception of a set of simple round colorful ornaments that look like the old fashioned glass ones. I love the memories each year as we trim the tree. 🎄
Our tree ornaments date back to my childhood, and I'm 77. I've built the collection over the years. I told my daughter one day she'll asked why her mother saved all this crap. She said, "Oh Mom. This is the good stuff." Nothing could have made me happier!
So many memories were triggered by this very fun video. As a kid in the very early 60s, we had a real tree and covered it in tinsel. I sound like a cranky old woman saying this, but back then tinsel was made of lead. It hung beautifully because it had weight and didn’t get full of static. Plus you could roll it into balls to throw at your siblings or lay it on the electric train tracks to make sparks. Good times.
Yes! We used to roll it up in balls, I had forgotten that. I thought it was some type of aluminum, not lead, but we were disappointed when it became all plastic.
When I inherited some of my grandmother's Christmas decorations there was a Garland of tensil, it wasn't lead but it was more like tinfoil definitely metal not plastic. The string which was cotton to reinforce the core is starting to break down but the actual metal tensile still in beautiful shape I used it outside for years.
My father took charge of decorating the tree. He laid tinsel strands across each branch evenly and then trimmed the tinsel with scissors into even waves so it was in perfect harmony. A bit neurotic, but it was quite beautiful.
I work in a history museum and one of our volunteers, who used to run the art museum, decorates our tree. She uses tinsel but lays every strand with intention and basically works with our old 70s decorations to create a light spiral that is something to behold. Takes hours tho. My own tree is purely sentimental, it's all family memory ornaments & just a string of lights added lol...
I think you got to the root of most tinsel issues---being cautious with how much and where vs, 'last thing on the tree, let's toss it on and be done with it'. I actually like a light tinsel appliation with the lights in terms of reflection and glow. To each his/her own.
@@montananerd8244 I have not put up a Christmas tree for a few years. A wreath, table decorations, and my fireplace mantle are more than enough for me!
You're so kind in describing your father. A "little bit neurotic"?? Oh my! Taking away the fun of decorating the tree from the children is one thing. As I read I realized it's obvious that he was completely OCD about the tinsel...but, to then "trim the tinsel with scissors"??! I'm sure he loved you all very much, but I can't imagine what life with him was like! He obviously couldn't bear a single thing out of place, at the "wrong" angle, anything not done "correctly". He must've have been extremely stressed out in the messy and haphazard world. Seriously, he had a mental health disorder called Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. You probably know that by now, but it can be extremely debilitating to the person and everyone in their family. I'm sorry. PS I'm sure it was beautiful though. So often when my kids were small they'd decorate the tree and it'd be a mess! I'd wait until later and move some ornaments up where they could 't reach or move the tinsel a bit. ;-)
I don’t have a problem with tinsel garland. I roll them around empty rapping paper tubes when I put them away. I’ve been using the same tinsel garland for years and years.
Oh interesting! I didn't know that tinsel was different in Canada. In the UK tinsel is long strands of sparkly plastic stuff (the tinsel garlands you show next) - the stuff you show we called lametta. My parents loved both and covered the tree and every surface with it, it was such a pain to take all the strands of lametta off everything every year to re-use. I haven't seen lametta for years, but tinsel is still popular. I don't have lametta or tinsel, I guess it put me off for life! Even funnier, auto-correct changed lametta to laments throughout this comment!
I got some lametta from Ryman's a year or two ago. I can remember when it was made of foil. It was textured and very thin, so draped much better than the plastic stuff. The textured pattern made it sparkle!
Suggestion for another video - Teach people how to properly "fluff" their artificial christmas tree. Years ago, as a merchandiser, fluffing the display trees at Home Depot and Walmart was my job. It's not as easy as just taking the tree out of the box and standing it up.
My mother trained me from a young age to make sure the tree was properly fluffed. I absolutely hated how scratchy it was to have to bend and spread all those branches, but it really makes a difference 😄
years ago my cat ate some tinsel and was walking around with half a string hanging out of her booty so as she walked by I held on to it and she ran off… I will never forget how she howled and I still feel bad about it. That was the end of tinsel for me!
That happened to our cat too in the 1970s. We brought her to the vet and he told us to just trim it off as it came out of her butt! Which we did. No tinsel for me.
I never experienced this myself, but when I was a kid we had an old box of tinsel icicles in the bottom of the Christmas decoration box and when I asked my mother why we never used them, she told me a story just like this.
That's actually a really dangerous thing to do. The tinsel can be caught up the other end around the base of the cat's tongue. Pull on that bit coming out the butt and you risk bunching up the intestine and the tinsel cutting through the folds.
“Squid Game Holiday Edition” made me howl laughing and as I was sitting in a waiting room at the Emergency Vet at the time, I wouldn’t have thought that possible. Thank you, Nick! (P.S. She’s going to be okay.)
The trick to tinsel on the tree is "less is more". I have re-used my tinsel for the last 15 years. That's right. And before vacuuming, I make sure to pick up any pieces off the carpet -- it's easy to spot. And my tree is gorgeous!! Thank you.
Agree with Christmas decor being a journey. I’ve been collecting decorations for years and I try to buy elegant things that last. It’s like pulling old friends out of the box.
We are trying out “Victorian Christmas Tree Tinsel” from Lee Valley this year. It is made out of metal just hooks onto the branches. Should be easy to put on and easy to remove. I picked up some of their stars a few years ago and love the old fashioned look they add to the tree. I’m not fond of the look of the plastic tinsel, and with a pup roaming around it feels like an expensive vet bill waiting to happen.
THANK YOU for recommending these!! I've been trying to recreate an 80's/90's style Christmas tree, but without tinsel strands it didn't feel right (and it was out of the question due to pets). After reading this comment, I rushed out to our nearest Lee Valley store this morning and grabbed two bottles! The tree looks like it blasted out of my childhood and I'm obsessed! Thank you again and Merry Christmas!
@@skulker1983 I had a couple elves come over and help put up the tree this afternoon and the tinsel worked out beautifully. Ours is mostly wood and felt ornaments, with the tin stars and tinsel for sparkle. Every year it gets better. You’re welcome and Merry Christmas to you too!
As a vet I can tell you that it's mostly cats that get into trouble with tinsel. They just love to chew it. Mostly it passes through (so they do festive poop for days!), but it can get caught around the base of the tongue while the rest passes to the intestine, causing the intestine to bunch up and become necrotic. Not good and yes, a very expensive surgery, often made more expensive because it's happened on the holidays.
We have christmas tree decorations that are over 100 year to maybe 70 years old. We inherited most of them, and if we see some old ones, we buy them, but very carefully and not a lot. We use them every year, it's a beautiful collection of multicoloured decorations, baskets and baubles and pearls and birds etc. Every year the tree looks the same and still so different. I watch it with the eyes of a child. 😊
I must admit that when I started to decorate for Christmas this year I put some candles in cylinder vases etc up the stairs. It looked beautiful. I imagined people walking into the house with the stairs looking lovely and welcoming….and then I pictured all of those people trying to walk past them with their bags and gifts and dogs 😜. I immediately took it all away.
I LOVE beaded garland! We have a couple different colors of it. One of my favorite Christmas gifts was from a few years ago. I was given (handmade with love) beaded crocheted garland. It doesn't tangle (it literally CAN'T) and because it's white, it looks like someone drizzled frosting on the tree. I can't wait until I have enough ornaments to do a gingerbread tree, a peppermint tree, and a sweets tree. (I do a different theme every year...see my other comment lol)
I got twinkling lights for my tree this year from watching her videos. Wow what a difference it made. I look forward to watching them and I notice she uses alot of her same stuff year to year but changes how she uses it and maybe adding a new color so it always looks different.
I still feel rather nostalgic about tinsel. We always had a very tall tree and finished it off with tinsel (the metalic kind). It certainly doesn't work on today's artifical trees. Also, we carefuly removed it and kept it to reuse. So, I really don't mind it if it is used on the right kind of tree. Plus....(sorry)...you got the "pleasure" of pulling it out of the dog's butt after they ate some!
My mom always told me, don't have fake greenery in your house unless you think it's real the first time you see it. And if you have some that doesn't look great, just use it on a high shelf!
If you have tinsel and then put the tree out later the strands will kill the birds who will be attracted to it. Also, putting a garland around your stair rails will make them useless for anyone who actually needs to use them, like your grandma.
Maybe not the best tree ever, but there was a certain army base hospital unit that put a tree up in their Medical Inspection Room and decorated it with samples of every known body fluid all in their own little kind of glass sample bottles. Cheerful - in a 'Dr Adams' family sort of a way.
When I was in chemistry grad school we had a tree that was decorated with little vials of chemicals, including also a the skeleton of a goldfish that had accidentally been brominated during a lab accident. Weird stuff, 0/10 do not recommend
My aunt had a tree like that. They'd get a yearly Hallmark ornament with the year on it. Each kid would get an ornament each year. My uncle would buy one for my aunt each year from my cousins. It was quite something. They'd get ornaments representing the special interest of the child that year. If a kid did ballet they'd get a ballet ornament. If my cousin did football that year they'd get a football ornament. So each year they were adding to the story of their family, like an ornamental history. Really quite personal
I love ya Nick ! Your humor tickles me . The shout out to Rebecca should make her proud….. I’m a senior, my decor is sentimental! Old crap to my grandkids I’m sure but they seem to like the stories attached. Thank you for being you ❗️ & your great content too ! Happy Holidays
I’m so glad you gave a shout out to crazy town Rebecca! She’s completely over the top and somehow it all just works beautifully. I have to admit my heart skips a beat when I see her first Christmas videos come into my TH-cam feed 🎄❤️💫
I love your videos, so much common sense and straight talk. Antidote to everything being hyped everywhere, thanks for your work on behalf of good design and less trash.
my mom is a xmass freak. she has a collection of ornaments build over 25 years, since I started to gift her a coulpe of ornaments every year. she has glass, wooden, textile rich decorative things for her xmass extravaganza. this year she will get a black peacock made of velour with silver stiching and pearls :D
Nick, for a retro-loving girl like me, your tinsel talk stung a little! That being said, I keep a box of it in my decorations, but I don't ever use it! 😂 It's all about the nostalgia for me, as we would use it now and then when we were growing up. I take one look at the box and it makes my heart happy, but I don't have to deal with the mess, haha!
I second the plea to not use scented candles and essential oils. So many of us react to scented things (they're triggers for migraines, asthma attacks, etc). The pot on the stove or something in the oven are also good. Hanging up oranages studded with whole cloves are also delightful.
The thing I've found that looks beautiful and gives sparkle in lieu of tinsel is clear plastic icicles. They're easy to find inexpensively at the Target bargain bin or even the dollar store, you get a whole bunch for like $3. They just make my tree twinkle in the light while not making a mess or being a hazard to pets like mylar tinsel strands are.
We only have tinsel garlands in Australia and I also hate them on the outside of a tree, but recently a friend recommended that if you have an artificial tree you should wrap the middle of the tree in the tinsel to reflect light and give it fullness. And you know what, she was right. It definitely adds to a cheap or dodgy tree. But never on the outside where you can see it!!
This video is hilarious! I'm sending it out, as a Christmas card, to everybody on my list for 2023!! Especially "There is such a thing as too much." May I quote you forever?!!
Great video! 100% agree with all of these, especially the yucky cheap xmas candles. -oof. The other stinky XMAS decor I loathe are those wretched fake-cinnamon scented pine cones. OMG whenever I walk in a store selling them it's an instant migraine. Also prefer trees featuring ornaments collected over time, ornaments with sentimental value, etc. Trees that are too "new" or matchy-matchy make one's living room look like the restroom lounge area at a Macy's.
I’m 65. I have been collecting Christmas ornaments since junior high school. One for occasions, one on vacations, one for each year, each pet, book club annual ornament exchange, etc. I love bringing out decorations we’ve collected over the years, even if they’re not as nice as things we would buy now.
1000% support the anti-candles segment. Light unscented candles for the ambiance and leave the scent of the fresh Christmas tree, food and all othe cologne/perfume the attendees will be wearing. Don't even have unlit smelly candles in the common areas because some of them (looking at you Scentsy brand) are so obnoxiously strong that it's impossible to avoid getting a headache.
Most of the popular brand candles do this!, they smell extremely strong while unlit, and then you light them and the scent is just underwhelming and off. Like they just create the fragrance and approve it without testing how it will behave with heat/wax/smoke. A couple of years ago, i found a small brand that makes the most amazing soy candles, no obnoxious scents, and smell beautiful while lit. I suggest checking local stores, farmers markets, etsy and stuff like that, if you really want candles.
And candles are sooooo often involved in very traumatizing holiday fires...just not worth the risk when there's so much extra ephemera around. Except for unscented table candles, candlelight meals are a favorite of mine in December, I grew up observing religious Advent.
@@alepolait8951totally agree, esp with scented products, local producers are so much better and often less expensive or much higher value at the same price point. They def tend to use higher quality fragrance!
I was so mad at Target, they had a lovely smaller, less dense greenery wreath then stuck a big spray of cheap faux pale green new growth. Why 🎯? You could have made it perfectly classy ! I had to buy it, it was the only one that fit a particular door at work, but it drives me crazy how cheap tacky ickkkk it looks up close
I cannot do most brands of scented candles. I can barely do scented candles as it is. I own 3 scented candles out of the (probably) 4 dozen candles in my house. Two of said scented candles have lids, while the third is a predominantly sandalwood scent, but very mild, which stays on a shelf far away from everyone. I totally agree about scented candles giving people headaches. I have an animal nose, like my sense of smell is very hyperactive. So I have to be very very careful about scented candles or I’ll be angry and in pain constantly. 😂
You truly make me laugh! We used to throw literally throw the tinsel on the tree in the 70’s …I think there is Kids Christmas and adult Christmas…I appreciate you!
I love tinsel, the antique german tinsel, it is so lovely, especially tinsel garland. It was not plastic (way back when) and I have some that is about 100 years old. Originally, tinsel was made of extruded silver. It was a super high-end item!
Love this! I beg to differ with tinsel, but I get it. I don’t use it on my tree because we have four cats and would rather not have Santa bring an expensive vet bill. I think the biggest problem with tinsel is that most people weren’t taught by my mom how to use it properly. 😂
Yes! Or my Dad. He took tinsel very seriously. I used to hate it as a kid but now that he isn't around I love it and I teach my kids how to properly put it on the tree 😂
Ok. Yes. I distinctly remember decorating our tree back in the day with some sort of metal tinsel. You had to be careful or it would break. That must have been what it was.
I have been collecting Hallmark ornaments for almost 50 years. Each year, the day after Christmas, I would get up at the crack of dawn of dawn to go to the after Christmas sales. I was a college student and very poor. Now, every year when I open up my tubs of Christmas decorations, it is like visiting with old friends. I love it. (This year, my first since retiring from teaching, I was able to decorate my house before Thanksgiving and get to enjoy the festive look much longer. ) Merry Christmas 🎄🎁
My house is a mixture of mcm Christmas (I am in my 50s and I have a bunch of original hand me downs that I love) and elegant new things. The only thing I ABHOR is that the yuppies are driving the price of vintage Christmas decor THROUGH THE ROOF! And in 10 years when the bubble bursts, it's all going to be trashed in a landfill. Meanwhile, if we want that piece that we remember grandma or auntie having, that we loved, if we find it , it's totally unaffordable for most of us non- collectors. Sad fad.
Nick, our neighborhood has gone bonkers with inflatables up and down the street! We have a lighted wreath and white lights with lighted garland around out front door. Simple and elegant.
Great video! So agree about the tinsel. My grandma put up tinsel every year. She actually saved it from year to year by taking it off the tree and laying it flat in folded newspaper.
I remember being in a very posh friends house back in the 1970's in Ireland and seeing that kind of droppy-down tinsel for the first time and thinking it was so faaancy! Our family only had the regular stuff that was years old and that was the swathe type. When I finally had my own tree in the 1990's and found the tinsel for sale I bought it in bulk to re-create the 'posh' look I had always envied - OMG, what a disaster. I'm with you Nick - hate tinsel now. Thanks for the video and for a great year. Have a very happy Christmas and hope 2024 is a better and brighter year for you all round Nick
According to my parents, tinsel looked beautiful when it was made of lead. According to my cousin, hanging icicle ornaments look phallic. Thought I'd share.
Your parents were right. I was a child in the 40’s and 50’s (I was born in 1940. ) The lead tinsel did look great. It had to be spaced out just so on every branch. Be sure not to miss the inner branches and the backside. Our tree wasn’t against the wall until decorating was done. Always ONE strand at a time. It was gorgeous’
We neatly layered a strand at a time, and then removed it the same way. We used the same tinsel through my entire childhood. One trick to using it is to have an old fashioned tree with open branches so it can be layered without laying on the branch below. I prefer that kind of tree even though I don't bother with tinsel anymore. I love love love the ability to hang ornaments inside the tree and not just laying them on the outside.
Cannot agree with you about the tinsel. Years ago, when I used to have real trees, I would take days to put on single strands of tinsel all over the tree. Loved the shimmer. And I actually did try to take off as much as I could before I put the tree out for recycling....and yes, it was the 90's 😁
Nick, you are such a hoot. I love watching your videos. i was laughing so hard when you showed the clip of that lady with the Christmas room in February. I never even heard of her
Love your sense of humor and yet common sense. I especially liked what you said about adding a bit each year. Too many people just toss stuff because it wasn't trendy this year. I still use the old ornaments my parents had that date back to the 30s and 40s. Truly as you said, Christmas means so much more than having the over the top in decor. Thank you Nick and Happy Holidays to you. Look forward to all of your videos!
My mom died at 96 and I inherited all her Christmas decorations that she had collected over her many years. Even the artificial tree from 1954 which is still in good shape. Remember when things were made to last? I cherish her ornaments, many that I gave her. My favorites are the glass bubble lights . There's no cohesive color story or style just a tree full of happy memories in all it's eclectic glory. I love it. Just wish Mom was here to decorate with me. ❤
Wait -- do you mean the long-ish lights that looked like they were bubbling inside? I ADORED those as a kid, and it broke my heart when I went to do Christmas as an adult for the first time and learned they weren't available anymore. Not ones that looked like my memories, anyhow.
We had old bubble lights growing up in the 90s. My dad was born in 1941, and the bubble lights we had were probably from the 50s or 60s because he told is that he’d had them since he was young. They were mine and my dad’s favorite Christmas decoration.
He died the day before my 11th birthday and, while my birthday seems to pass without much thought, Christmas always gets me because I have very distinct memories of decorating for Christmas with him. We had all his childhood ornaments, old glass ornaments from the 40s and 50s. We ended up moving to another state and I don’t know what happened to our decorations after that.
(It’s honestly one of the things I can never forgive my mother for. She left the Christmas decorations behind, which was especially heinous since all of mine and my sister’s childhood ornaments were there as well. Like custom gold plated ornaments my dad commissioned with our names and dates of birth on them, for example. It was like she wanted to destroy every memory of my dad, which is ironic because now she can’t stop talking about how much she misses him and how she doesn’t have any pictures of him.)
This is wonderful! Carry of her traditions if it fills your heart!
Glass bubble lights are iconic.
Loved bubble lights
The only non-gross thing to do with tinsel: Drape/wrap the trunk of the tree with a tinsel garland before you put the lights on. It reflects the lights back from deep inside the tree and it's really beautiful. Doesn't matter how patchy it gets because you don't see it, you just see this reflecting soft sparkle behind all the other decorations. If the garland is gold, it also helps to warm up the light from not-warm-enough LEDs.
What a cool idea for the tinsel ropes!
Got to love how Rebecca Robeson does Christmas. She goes ALL in!
Her style is beautiful, but it’s all waaay too much for me and way too impersonal.
I’m so excited Nick is a fan. I would never go that maximalist but I love the chaotic Christmas spirit.
💯 agree about the overpowering candles. If the fumes are making you high, and making your head hurt, you’re doing it wrong.
It’s something that I have gotten careful about because my husband and son struggle with sensory processing disorder, and too much smell, even if it’s nice, is VERY triggering for them. Plus there are people who are allergic to certain smells and perfumes.
Understated truly is underrated.
I just have a more sensitive smell and I cannot even walk through the cande section at Ikea without holding my breath. I stepped into LUSH once with a friend, and just step back out again letting them shop alone because I just can’t handle the smell. Oddly I’m fine with burning insense and walking around in a bulk spice store, so I think it’s just the artificial fragrances that get me. Even if it’s just one candle, it’s just not pleasant at all.
Yes and you don't even have to have any of those issues to get a headache from them. Part of it is what they use to make those.
Yes to decorating throughout the house!
Lol... tinsel from the 80,s?? Tinsel, paper chains and hanging lanterns were our Xmas decorations in the late 50,s and hung around for quite a long time ( uk) . Wouldn't use them now but bring back great childhood memories..dad on a ladder strewing chains across the walls 😅😅❤
Sooo agree with you on the tinsel. Just awful.
Your tinsel review really sparked a lot of comments. I also remember hanging tinsel "just so" (as per my mom's instructions) and then having to take it all off after Christmas and save it for next year. Nothing that even resembles tinsel will ever go on my tree now. I personally love glass ornaments for their shine, and white lights, no twinkle option.
Love your humor and sarcasm ! Great video
Tinsel Lover here. You make me laugh on every video- you Tinsel Hater! You are fun and joyful and festive!
Merry Christmas Nick! I love what you said about building up your decor through the years and having it have meaning. It isn't special to just go out and purchase the newest on trend decor of the current Christmas season. Also, my family saved tinsel to use year after year in the 70's. It would become all wrinkled and kinky. What a chore picking tinsel off the tree!
0:44 "if you like your little holiday ugly crap ..." lolz
I love your videos and your style. Can you please tell us where we can get that cute little snowman sculpture on your media console?
You are THE BEST! Accurate and hilarious!
Fun fact about tinsel per a “How it’s made” (or some similar show). Tinsel is purposefully packed in a way that you can’t easily put it back in the box so you have to buy more next year.
LOL, you’re so funny, god bless you, have a happy holiday ❤
I had a wood stove growing up and we would always have a pot of water with orange peel, cinnamon sticks and things like that on it around Christmas.
Being a vet tech. Tinsel is the most common reason for foreign obstructions in cats during the Holiday season.
Cats + Christmas Trees are trouble, period. Tinsel or no. Or even an unadorned tree. Ours were having a go at the tree before we even started decorating it.
Hm, we do have tinsel garlands :) Never had any problem getting them in and out of the tree or storing them, and they still look like new. I didn't put them in the tree this time, though (and that was before I watched this video :) )
Love you…love my candles. 😘🤭
In the olden day tensile was made by aluminum. The tensile is fly away plastic. It is not the same.
When it comes to Christmas decorating, stick to traditional decorations at a minimal level. Moments in each space will still make your home look cohesive and festive.
Tinsel is straight up life threatening to cats, I don’t have dogs but I’d assume the same risk exists.
Things that bug the crap out of me are outside decorations that look like garbage during the day….like deflated blowups. The pvc archway craze that everyone is putting over sidewalks. It looks gross during the day. Second, cords hanging everywhere, I guess more of an outside thing too but like cords hanging loose off of like gutters.
Sassy Nick is sassy this holiday season.
Not tinsel! Tinsel is a classic. As a child of the 70s, tinsel will always have a special place in my heart. And yes - you can store tinsel and re-use it responsibly
I hate tinsel too! It was my job to put the tinsel on the tree when I was a kid, in the 1970s, and that was the start of my hatred. Needless to say, I have never had tinsel on the tree as an adult.
What the heck are you doing to your tinsel? I’ve never had it get tangled… although mine isn’t the metallic stuff so maybe that’s why.
Tinsel can be fatal for pets especially cats. I quit putting it on my tree after my cat ate some. Luckily it came out her butt. I had to pull it out as it was stuck. Thereafter she was called tinsel butt. It can get wrapped up in their intestines and kill them.
Nick, you are a mess, but I love the way you tell it the way it is! Keep it going, you are great!!
3:32 That extremely tinseled tree says Spooky Ghost Tree to me.
YES. Like Christmas Spanish Moss!
I'm old enough to remember REAL tinsel. Made from fine strands of some sort of metal, most likely toxic. You had to handle them soooo delicately, and yes, my Mom taught me how to carefully hang them one strand at a time and remove and save them the same way. Nothing could ever be wasted, it was all considered precious. Whew. Memories! I never use the stuff ever. And the plastic tinsel just looks crappy to me. Little disco balls to it's place.😂
Yes, not a fan of tinsel either. To me it looks like when spiders, or those worms, take over and encase a tree. 😱
I made the mistake of purchasing a wreath from Balsam Hill - even at half price it was expensive and the item I received to rather t a c k y - the quality is worse that the $40 dollar wreaths that are readily available at Target or Menards - just letting people know
So you real raw wood will burn but bunch of plastic wont, according to what you just said?
As kids in the 1960s our job was to remove the tinsel from our live Christmas tree, to be reused the next year. Then one year we saw a discarded tree on the curb covered in tinsel. We were amazed at the extravagance!
Like you I keep my tinsel, which I really like, from year to year.
My mom didn't make us do that. But she was psychotic about how trees needed to be decorated. Her mother taught her that tinsel had to be added one piece at a time, each strand to be laid just so. It took all day just to put the tinsel on. She tried that with me and my siblings, we would never comply to that level of perfectionism so she gave up on it. When she got older she hated Christmas. She quit celebrating it for years because of this perfectionism that he mom drilled into her. She only got over it when she had grandkids. She'd still come over and rearrange my ornaments because they weren't perfectly placed. That was fine with me, I was never offended by it and I just was glad she came to be with my kids. Was my grandmother OCD to instill this in my mom? I don't know.
Yeah, I remember collecting every strand for next year as a child. I prefer the garlands these days.
Same. Saved the tinsel! When I was a little kid, tinsel was made of lead, not plastic.
Us, too!
Ah Nick, you deliver once again. Not even one minute in, "I'm not here to ruin your Christmas. Like, if you love it, if you love your little holiday ugly crap, then you just keep that in your own home. You just go nuts." SLAY, Nick, SLEIGH 🎅
Omg I snort-laughed when he said that. 😂 Nick, you’re a treasure!
😂 hilarious! 🤣
😅😅 nick you made us laugh. I love your disclaimers then u go on to be your true self. 😊😊 another lovely video.
Yep, this is the line that got me...🤣
I love it . I watched a guy this week on homeworthy talk about “trashy “ outside Christmas lights and immediately changed the channel. He is not for me. If I want to be classy great. If I want to be cheesy and trashy that’s also great. I am not a fan of pretentious.
Nick definitely keep us informed about the inflatable arms race. 😂
Weapons-grade Santas!!!! 🤣🤣
Nick would hate my ever-growing family of inflatable Christmas dragons! 😂 Love ya, Nick!
Totally get the humor :) My previous neighbor had a mass of HUGE tacky yard inflatables & moved away this year ~ Hallelujah!! 🎶 Unfortunately, he left them all behind for the new resident to use... 😂🙄
(Actually, I could care less - it's Christmas & only for a few weeks. And the stuff makes me smile. Mostly because I don't have to deal with setting it up or storing it! 😉)
In early March those inflatables will still be in people's yards mostly deflated.
There was a drive-by shooting of an inflatable Santa recently. The war is on!
My husband and my first Christmas as a married couple many years ago (many) we put the music on, decorated the tree with second hand and home made ornaments, covered the whole tree with tons of tinsel. Then cuuddled with our eggnog happily talking about our first Christmas together. So romantic.
Then my cat walked over played and ate and choked on the tinsel. Had to reach in her mouth and pull out the beautiful glittering tinsel from deep down her throat while she (and us) gagged. We spent the rest of the night pulling off every bit of tinsel from the tree and have never used it again. Don't miss it. And neither did the cat
😂😂 I realize it's been many years since then, but for anyone reading this, it can potentially be very dangerous to remove anything from your cat's mouth yourself. Particularly if you don't know exactly how much they've swallowed and how far down it goes, pulling any long strands out of their mouth could fatally injure them by getting stuck or wrapped around something internal. If it's possible, it's best to take them to an emergency vet.
🤣🤣🤣
@@theprousteffect9717 That makes sence.
Oh my goodness, poor cat. I’m glad she was ok. Sounds like a lovely Christmas before that though!
Tinsel is so bad for the environment.
Also my tip…AFTER Christmas when stores are trying to get rid of all the rest of the decor items, you can get some amazing deals and then next year when you unpack your decor you’ll have a bunch of brand new stuff and it’ll feel like you don’t have to go out and buy new stuff!
In the Netherlands the prices go down in the days leading up to christmas! Allways try to find some nice trinkets then
One year either right before or after Christmas I went on the Macy's website and was amazed at the infinitie variety of trees on there--all marked down. There were probably 200 different trees on their website. I bought some beautiful pre-lit garland that I still use.
Very true. I always buy my gift wrap after Christmas.
I'm a big fan of 3rd christmas day. When all the chocolate and decorations are on sale😂
That’s how I’ve accused a plethora of stuff!!
As someone who has had to chase a dog around the house because it was dragging a poop garland of tinsel out its rear end, I hate tinsel! Love your channel.
😮😂🐶
Been there!
You just made my day! 😂😂
mine was a cat, no more tinsel
Been there, done that with my cat (more than once) 😅
Our first Christmas. We bought a real tree for the kids, but didn't have money for the decorations. So i bought white cotton yarn in Walmart and crocheted leaves, flowers and stars. They looked beautiful against the dark green needles. Very quaint minimal look. :)
I bet it was beautiful ❤
I agree. I treasure the white crocheted snowflakes Mom Harrison made for us. They look great as you say on the dark green and truly with everything.
One of my favorite things about being in my 30s is understanding ornaments. When I was a kid I HATED that our ornaments were so mismatched and our tree didn't look like the ones in the stores. I really wanted a tree that felt like a store display (my grandma had a cardinal-themed tree). Now, I unpack my ornaments and I see the memories from my own life and marriage and all of the affection that ornaments were gifted to us with over the years from a variety of people. It's really pretty magical.
I've feathered cardinals on my tree too. Glad I'm not alone.
@@ah5721 they're lovely birds for a Christmas tree 🥰
YES
My daughter and I have a tradition where we buy a new ornament each year, so ALL our ornaments are mismatched, with the exception of a set of simple round colorful ornaments that look like the old fashioned glass ones. I love the memories each year as we trim the tree. 🎄
Our tree ornaments date back to my childhood, and I'm 77. I've built the collection over the years. I told my daughter one day she'll asked why her mother saved all this crap. She said, "Oh Mom. This is the good stuff." Nothing could have made me happier!
So many memories were triggered by this very fun video. As a kid in the very early 60s, we had a real tree and covered it in tinsel. I sound like a cranky old woman saying this, but back then tinsel was made of lead. It hung beautifully because it had weight and didn’t get full of static. Plus you could roll it into balls to throw at your siblings or lay it on the electric train tracks to make sparks. Good times.
I totally forgot about the tinsel spark😂😂😂
Yes! We used to roll it up in balls, I had forgotten that. I thought it was some type of aluminum, not lead, but we were disappointed when it became all plastic.
I was a kid in the 60’s. Maybe our lead tinsel is why I am the way I am now! 😊
When I inherited some of my grandmother's Christmas decorations there was a Garland of tensil, it wasn't lead but it was more like tinfoil definitely metal not plastic. The string which was cotton to reinforce the core is starting to break down but the actual metal tensile still in beautiful shape I used it outside for years.
Yes, tinsel was once made from lead, then came the aluminium and then plastic.
"if you love your little holiday ugly crap" .... you're hilarious!
My father took charge of decorating the tree. He laid tinsel strands across each branch evenly and then trimmed the tinsel with scissors into even waves so it was in perfect harmony. A bit neurotic, but it was quite beautiful.
I work in a history museum and one of our volunteers, who used to run the art museum, decorates our tree. She uses tinsel but lays every strand with intention and basically works with our old 70s decorations to create a light spiral that is something to behold. Takes hours tho. My own tree is purely sentimental, it's all family memory ornaments & just a string of lights added lol...
I think you got to the root of most tinsel issues---being cautious with how much and where vs, 'last thing on the tree, let's toss it on and be done with it'. I actually like a light tinsel appliation with the lights in terms of reflection and glow. To each his/her own.
@@montananerd8244 I have not put up a Christmas tree for a few years. A wreath, table decorations, and my fireplace mantle are more than enough for me!
You're so kind in describing your father. A "little bit neurotic"?? Oh my! Taking away the fun of decorating the tree from the children is one thing. As I read I realized it's obvious that he was completely OCD about the tinsel...but, to then "trim the tinsel with scissors"??! I'm sure he loved you all very much, but I can't imagine what life with him was like! He obviously couldn't bear a single thing out of place, at the "wrong" angle, anything not done "correctly". He must've have been extremely stressed out in the messy and haphazard world. Seriously, he had a mental health disorder called Obsessive Compulsive Disorder. You probably know that by now, but it can be extremely debilitating to the person and everyone in their family. I'm sorry. PS I'm sure it was beautiful though. So often when my kids were small they'd decorate the tree and it'd be a mess! I'd wait until later and move some ornaments up where they could 't reach or move the tinsel a bit. ;-)
I don’t have a problem with tinsel garland. I roll them around empty rapping paper tubes when I put them away. I’ve been using the same tinsel garland for years and years.
Oh interesting! I didn't know that tinsel was different in Canada. In the UK tinsel is long strands of sparkly plastic stuff (the tinsel garlands you show next) - the stuff you show we called lametta. My parents loved both and covered the tree and every surface with it, it was such a pain to take all the strands of lametta off everything every year to re-use. I haven't seen lametta for years, but tinsel is still popular. I don't have lametta or tinsel, I guess it put me off for life! Even funnier, auto-correct changed lametta to laments throughout this comment!
I lament to getting tinsel off the tree too !
I got some lametta from Ryman's a year or two ago. I can remember when it was made of foil. It was textured and very thin, so draped much better than the plastic stuff. The textured pattern made it sparkle!
Suggestion for another video - Teach people how to properly "fluff" their artificial christmas tree. Years ago, as a merchandiser, fluffing the display trees at Home Depot and Walmart was my job. It's not as easy as just taking the tree out of the box and standing it up.
😄You were a fluffer??
Oh yes, 100%! I fluff my tree obsessively before a single ornament goes on it!
I need this. I just bought my first artificial tree ever.
My mother trained me from a young age to make sure the tree was properly fluffed. I absolutely hated how scratchy it was to have to bend and spread all those branches, but it really makes a difference 😄
I turn up the branch ends up slightly to give it an more realistic look.
years ago my cat ate some tinsel and was walking around with half a string hanging out of her booty so as she walked by I held on to it and she ran off… I will never forget how she howled and I still feel bad about it. That was the end of tinsel for me!
That happened to our cat too in the 1970s. We brought her to the vet and he told us to just trim it off as it came out of her butt! Which we did. No tinsel for me.
I never experienced this myself, but when I was a kid we had an old box of tinsel icicles in the bottom of the Christmas decoration box and when I asked my mother why we never used them, she told me a story just like this.
@@leannebarrett3526 I’m so glad I’m not the only one but I wish I had been smart enough to cut it off!
@@bethanyweber3989 Yeah, once you witness that there is no desire to mess with tinsel again!
That's actually a really dangerous thing to do. The tinsel can be caught up the other end around the base of the cat's tongue. Pull on that bit coming out the butt and you risk bunching up the intestine and the tinsel cutting through the folds.
Love the sugar coated shade! “If you love this you keep them.” Followed by a mafia hit on our fave decorations!
HaHaHa🤩
Well said!
"Sugar coated shade" is so Nick.
“Squid Game Holiday Edition” made me howl laughing and as I was sitting in a waiting room at the Emergency Vet at the time, I wouldn’t have thought that possible. Thank you, Nick! (P.S. She’s going to be okay.)
What about the good old paper garland to teach the kids how to use glue and scissors?
popcorn and cranberry strings!!
The trick to tinsel on the tree is "less is more". I have re-used my tinsel for the last 15 years. That's right. And before vacuuming, I make sure to pick up any pieces off the carpet -- it's easy to spot. And my tree is gorgeous!! Thank you.
Agree with Christmas decor being a journey. I’ve been collecting decorations for years and I try to buy elegant things that last. It’s like pulling old friends out of the box.
We are trying out “Victorian Christmas Tree Tinsel” from Lee Valley this year. It is made out of metal just hooks onto the branches. Should be easy to put on and easy to remove. I picked up some of their stars a few years ago and love the old fashioned look they add to the tree. I’m not fond of the look of the plastic tinsel, and with a pup roaming around it feels like an expensive vet bill waiting to happen.
They're sold out now. Looks good though.
Super easy to diy. Some metal strip, get some plyers and twist. Done!
THANK YOU for recommending these!! I've been trying to recreate an 80's/90's style Christmas tree, but without tinsel strands it didn't feel right (and it was out of the question due to pets). After reading this comment, I rushed out to our nearest Lee Valley store this morning and grabbed two bottles! The tree looks like it blasted out of my childhood and I'm obsessed! Thank you again and Merry Christmas!
@@skulker1983 I had a couple elves come over and help put up the tree this afternoon and the tinsel worked out beautifully. Ours is mostly wood and felt ornaments, with the tin stars and tinsel for sparkle. Every year it gets better. You’re welcome and Merry Christmas to you too!
As a vet I can tell you that it's mostly cats that get into trouble with tinsel. They just love to chew it. Mostly it passes through (so they do festive poop for days!), but it can get caught around the base of the tongue while the rest passes to the intestine, causing the intestine to bunch up and become necrotic. Not good and yes, a very expensive surgery, often made more expensive because it's happened on the holidays.
When I take a box of Christmas decor out I pack my ‘regular’ stuff in that box 😊
For all of the pet people out there, please don’t use tinsel, it’s very dangerous for pets 😬I always enjoy Nicks videos, very entertaining
Thanks for the reminder !!
We have christmas tree decorations that are over 100 year to maybe 70 years old. We inherited most of them, and if we see some old ones, we buy them, but very carefully and not a lot.
We use them every year, it's a beautiful collection of multicoloured decorations, baskets and baubles and pearls and birds etc.
Every year the tree looks the same and still so different.
I watch it with the eyes of a child. 😊
I must admit that when I started to decorate for Christmas this year I put some candles in cylinder vases etc up the stairs. It looked beautiful. I imagined people walking into the house with the stairs looking lovely and welcoming….and then I pictured all of those people trying to walk past them with their bags and gifts and dogs 😜. I immediately took it all away.
Being Scandinavian I swear by real candles . ..but for the same reason as you I use battery- candles on the stairs
Rebecca R is the one true queen of Christmas! Her new staircase is amazing.
I have strings of beads on my trees instead of tinsel garland. So easy.
I LOVE beaded garland! We have a couple different colors of it. One of my favorite Christmas gifts was from a few years ago. I was given (handmade with love) beaded crocheted garland. It doesn't tangle (it literally CAN'T) and because it's white, it looks like someone drizzled frosting on the tree. I can't wait until I have enough ornaments to do a gingerbread tree, a peppermint tree, and a sweets tree. (I do a different theme every year...see my other comment lol)
I got twinkling lights for my tree this year from watching her videos. Wow what a difference it made. I look forward to watching them and I notice she uses alot of her same stuff year to year but changes how she uses it and maybe adding a new color so it always looks different.
I still feel rather nostalgic about tinsel. We always had a very tall tree and finished it off with tinsel (the metalic kind). It certainly doesn't work on today's artifical trees. Also, we carefuly removed it and kept it to reuse. So, I really don't mind it if it is used on the right kind of tree. Plus....(sorry)...you got the "pleasure" of pulling it out of the dog's butt after they ate some!
Hahahahaha!!!! Lots of us have been there!
My mom always told me, don't have fake greenery in your house unless you think it's real the first time you see it. And if you have some that doesn't look great, just use it on a high shelf!
If you have tinsel and then put the tree out later the strands will kill the birds who will be attracted to it. Also, putting a garland around your stair rails will make them useless for anyone who actually needs to use them, like your grandma.
Maybe not the best tree ever, but there was a certain army base hospital unit that put a tree up in their Medical Inspection Room and decorated it with samples of every known body fluid all in their own little kind of glass sample bottles. Cheerful - in a 'Dr Adams' family sort of a way.
ew!!! I'd rather have dead spiders on my tree than vials of fluids.
When I was in chemistry grad school we had a tree that was decorated with little vials of chemicals, including also a the skeleton of a goldfish that had accidentally been brominated during a lab accident. Weird stuff, 0/10 do not recommend
My Dad's Cousin had the best Tree. All the ornaments were from Hallmark, collected over decades. It was truly stunning 🎄
We buy a new really nice decoration each year. After 25 years of marriage the tree look lovely every year and has so many memories
My aunt had a tree like that. They'd get a yearly Hallmark ornament with the year on it. Each kid would get an ornament each year. My uncle would buy one for my aunt each year from my cousins. It was quite something. They'd get ornaments representing the special interest of the child that year. If a kid did ballet they'd get a ballet ornament. If my cousin did football that year they'd get a football ornament. So each year they were adding to the story of their family, like an ornamental history. Really quite personal
I love ya Nick ! Your humor tickles me . The shout out to Rebecca should make her proud….. I’m a senior, my decor is sentimental! Old crap to my grandkids I’m sure but they seem to like the stories attached. Thank you for being you ❗️ & your great content too ! Happy Holidays
I’m so glad you gave a shout out to crazy town Rebecca! She’s completely over the top and somehow it all just works beautifully. I have to admit my heart skips a beat when I see her first Christmas videos come into my TH-cam feed 🎄❤️💫
If Nick says it's a mistake, it's a mistake. 😁
Nicks not the boss of me.
After seeing his home tour, his home is really just basic.
Omg, hilarious. You're kind of an artist at delivering soft, sweet-sounding criticism.
I love your videos, so much common sense and straight talk. Antidote to everything being hyped everywhere, thanks for your work on behalf of good design and less trash.
my mom is a xmass freak. she has a collection of ornaments build over 25 years, since I started to gift her a coulpe of ornaments every year. she has glass, wooden, textile rich decorative things for her xmass extravaganza. this year she will get a black peacock made of velour with silver stiching and pearls :D
I still have a Christmas tree bauble from our first Christmas together, 25 years ago. Loving the build up of memories, which are enjoyed every year.
You are so right, Christmas decor is a collection of a family's history over the decades.❤
Nick, for a retro-loving girl like me, your tinsel talk stung a little! That being said, I keep a box of it in my decorations, but I don't ever use it! 😂 It's all about the nostalgia for me, as we would use it now and then when we were growing up. I take one look at the box and it makes my heart happy, but I don't have to deal with the mess, haha!
OMG...I just realized I do the same!
😂
I second the plea to not use scented candles and essential oils. So many of us react to scented things (they're triggers for migraines, asthma attacks, etc). The pot on the stove or something in the oven are also good. Hanging up oranages studded with whole cloves are also delightful.
Watching this as I'm decorating our tree. Still picking old tinsel out of it after all the years.😂
Plus the stuff can destroy cat's stomachs.
The thing I've found that looks beautiful and gives sparkle in lieu of tinsel is clear plastic icicles. They're easy to find inexpensively at the Target bargain bin or even the dollar store, you get a whole bunch for like $3. They just make my tree twinkle in the light while not making a mess or being a hazard to pets like mylar tinsel strands are.
Thanks for sharing the very important fact that the tinsel can harm pets !! 🐾🐾💙
I found a bunch of plastic icicles at a thrift store, and now they're my favorite thing on the tree.
We only have tinsel garlands in Australia and I also hate them on the outside of a tree, but recently a friend recommended that if you have an artificial tree you should wrap the middle of the tree in the tinsel to reflect light and give it fullness. And you know what, she was right. It definitely adds to a cheap or dodgy tree.
But never on the outside where you can see it!!
I love that mention about building up your Christmas decoration. Great memories and great stories to share from that whole experience
This video is hilarious! I'm sending it out, as a Christmas card, to everybody on my list for 2023!! Especially "There is such a thing as too much." May I quote you forever?!!
Great video! 100% agree with all of these, especially the yucky cheap xmas candles. -oof. The other stinky XMAS decor I loathe are those wretched fake-cinnamon scented pine cones. OMG whenever I walk in a store selling them it's an instant migraine. Also prefer trees featuring ornaments collected over time, ornaments with sentimental value, etc. Trees that are too "new" or matchy-matchy make one's living room look like the restroom lounge area at a Macy's.
I’m 65. I have been collecting Christmas ornaments since junior high school. One for occasions, one on vacations, one for each year, each pet, book club annual ornament exchange, etc. I love bringing out decorations we’ve collected over the years, even if they’re not as nice as things we would buy now.
1000% support the anti-candles segment. Light unscented candles for the ambiance and leave the scent of the fresh Christmas tree, food and all othe cologne/perfume the attendees will be wearing. Don't even have unlit smelly candles in the common areas because some of them (looking at you Scentsy brand) are so obnoxiously strong that it's impossible to avoid getting a headache.
Most of the popular brand candles do this!, they smell extremely strong while unlit, and then you light them and the scent is just underwhelming and off. Like they just create the fragrance and approve it without testing how it will behave with heat/wax/smoke.
A couple of years ago, i found a small brand that makes the most amazing soy candles, no obnoxious scents, and smell beautiful while lit. I suggest checking local stores, farmers markets, etsy and stuff like that, if you really want candles.
And candles are sooooo often involved in very traumatizing holiday fires...just not worth the risk when there's so much extra ephemera around. Except for unscented table candles, candlelight meals are a favorite of mine in December, I grew up observing religious Advent.
@@alepolait8951totally agree, esp with scented products, local producers are so much better and often less expensive or much higher value at the same price point. They def tend to use higher quality fragrance!
I was so mad at Target, they had a lovely smaller, less dense greenery wreath then stuck a big spray of cheap faux pale green new growth. Why 🎯? You could have made it perfectly classy ! I had to buy it, it was the only one that fit a particular door at work, but it drives me crazy how cheap tacky ickkkk it looks up close
I cannot do most brands of scented candles. I can barely do scented candles as it is.
I own 3 scented candles out of the (probably) 4 dozen candles in my house. Two of said scented candles have lids, while the third is a predominantly sandalwood scent, but very mild, which stays on a shelf far away from everyone.
I totally agree about scented candles giving people headaches. I have an animal nose, like my sense of smell is very hyperactive. So I have to be very very careful about scented candles or I’ll be angry and in pain constantly. 😂
“Inflatables arms race” 😂😂
Loved this video.
You truly make me laugh! We used to throw literally throw the tinsel on the tree in the 70’s …I think there is Kids Christmas and adult Christmas…I appreciate you!
Exactly. We started out putting it on one by one, but then got tired of it and ended up throwing it on.
The tinsel attraction is a mid-century modern, retro 1960s nostalgia. 😂 something you have to be old enough to understand Nick.
Yes!! Thank you. ❤❤❤❤
I love tinsel, the antique german tinsel, it is so lovely, especially tinsel garland. It was not plastic (way back when) and I have some that is about 100 years old. Originally, tinsel was made of extruded silver. It was a super high-end item!
Love this! I beg to differ with tinsel, but I get it. I don’t use it on my tree because we have four cats and would rather not have Santa bring an expensive vet bill.
I think the biggest problem with tinsel is that most people weren’t taught by my mom how to use it properly. 😂
Yes! Or my Dad. He took tinsel very seriously. I used to hate it as a kid but now that he isn't around I love it and I teach my kids how to properly put it on the tree 😂
The really good tinsel is lead. It doesn't get everywhere and hangs straight. Tinsel moves a bit and makes the tree glimmer.
Ok. Yes. I distinctly remember decorating our tree back in the day with some sort of metal tinsel. You had to be careful or it would break. That must have been what it was.
I have been collecting Hallmark ornaments for almost 50 years. Each year, the day after Christmas, I would get up at the crack of dawn of dawn to go to the after Christmas sales. I was a college student and very poor. Now, every year when I open up my tubs of Christmas decorations, it is like visiting with old friends. I love it. (This year, my first since retiring from teaching, I was able to decorate my house before Thanksgiving and get to enjoy the festive look much longer. ) Merry Christmas 🎄🎁
My house is a mixture of mcm Christmas (I am in my 50s and I have a bunch of original hand me downs that I love) and elegant new things. The only thing I ABHOR is that the yuppies are driving the price of vintage Christmas decor THROUGH THE ROOF! And in 10 years when the bubble bursts, it's all going to be trashed in a landfill. Meanwhile, if we want that piece that we remember grandma or auntie having, that we loved, if we find it , it's totally unaffordable for most of us non- collectors. Sad fad.
Strange. Competition collecting is indeed a sad fad I didn't know existed.
Nick, our neighborhood has gone bonkers with inflatables up and down the street! We have a lighted wreath and white lights with lighted garland around out front door. Simple and elegant.
Great video! So agree about the tinsel. My grandma put up tinsel every year. She actually saved it from year to year by taking it off the tree and laying it flat in folded newspaper.
I remember being in a very posh friends house back in the 1970's in Ireland and seeing that kind of droppy-down tinsel for the first time and thinking it was so faaancy! Our family only had the regular stuff that was years old and that was the swathe type. When I finally had my own tree in the 1990's and found the tinsel for sale I bought it in bulk to re-create the 'posh' look I had always envied - OMG, what a disaster. I'm with you Nick - hate tinsel now. Thanks for the video and for a great year. Have a very happy Christmas and hope 2024 is a better and brighter year for you all round Nick
Please do a Halloween 🎃 one in 9 months, depending on how hard you go.
Id love a halloween one ! Aurelio Voltaire 's Gothic Home Making would be a good one to reference in not being tacky with to much plastic stuff/
According to my parents, tinsel looked beautiful when it was made of lead. According to my cousin, hanging icicle ornaments look phallic. Thought I'd share.
Your parents were right. I was a child in the 40’s and 50’s (I was born in 1940. ) The lead tinsel did look great. It had to be spaced out just so on every branch. Be sure not to miss the inner branches and the backside. Our tree wasn’t against the wall until decorating was done. Always ONE strand at a time. It was gorgeous’
We neatly layered a strand at a time, and then removed it the same way. We used the same tinsel through my entire childhood. One trick to using it is to have an old fashioned tree with open branches so it can be layered without laying on the branch below. I prefer that kind of tree even though I don't bother with tinsel anymore. I love love love the ability to hang ornaments inside the tree and not just laying them on the outside.
Cannot agree with you about the tinsel. Years ago, when I used to have real trees, I would take days to put on single strands of tinsel all over the tree. Loved the shimmer.
And I actually did try to take off as much as I could before I put the tree out for recycling....and yes, it was the 90's 😁
I recycle Christmas trees for coastal wetlands erosion and they won’t take a tree with any tinsel at all.
Tinsel is awful. It probably kills small animals too and ends up in the ocean eventually.
Nick, you are such a hoot. I love watching your videos. i was laughing so hard when you showed the clip of that lady with the Christmas room in February. I never even heard of her
Love your sense of humor and yet common sense. I especially liked what you said about adding a bit each year. Too many people just toss stuff because it wasn't trendy this year. I still use the old ornaments my parents had that date back to the 30s and 40s. Truly as you said, Christmas means so much more than having the over the top in decor. Thank you Nick and Happy Holidays to you. Look forward to all of your videos!
Tinsel is a guaranteed trip to the vet with my cat. Stupid tinsel garland eating gremlin. It’s a good thing he’s cute.
😑🤦♀️💀