Pink Tree Ornaments

It's a 2-FER post this week. I am participating in Beverly's Pink Saturday, where we have been invited to share a favorite holiday tradition along with our pinks, and Denise @ Bella Dreams is hosting Share the Joy, a holiday decorating and craft idea party.
Every family has traditions, some of which continue on into the next generation. Some are awesome, like my mom's coffee cake that I shared with you the other day, and others may be a pain in the neck, or in some cases slightly traumatizing. :-) For my family that tradition is how to decorate a Christmas tree. At 40 years old my sister still won't decorate her family tree. She'll do the lights, and go cut down the tree, and sit and visit with the family while they decorate, but she doesn't do the ornaments herself. My dad, who is in love with traditions, has certain guidelines, dare I call them "rules", for decorating the tree, although they were never written out until I did a Christmas scrapbook a few years ago. In writing they seem a little intimidating, or rigid, but I never thought they were.I think they make sense, and the first one my dad knows from firsthand experience. The first year he and his sister celebrated Christmas after their parents were gone, They put most of the ornaments on the side of the tree where they could see them, and it fell over, destroying a lot of great German glass ornaments that could have been mine someday! In the bowl above I have 3 vintage ornaments, but they are only from the 1960s.

• Evenly distribute ornaments around the tree. If one side has too many, it could fall over.
• Every ornament should hang/dangle. They should not be leaning or sitting on branches or other ornaments.
• Avoid having too many of the same color right next to each other.
• Large ornaments get hung on lower branches.
• Items that fly, such as angels and birds, get hung up high.
• Hanging shiny ornaments on inside branches makes the tree even more sparkly.
• Garland or ribbon should be put on the tree before ornaments, but tinsel should be put on after ornaments.

I follow these guidelines when I do my tree, and I actually look at other folks' trees to see if ornaments are too close together or not dangling. Kathleen watches me like a hawk around her tree because she always thinks I'm going to move the ornaments around. Which I would, if she wasn't watching. But now that her kids are older they know the "rules" and pretty much follow them, so last year there was nothing to try and move. Here is my tree from last year. I don't have this year's up yet.
I hope you enjoyed learning about my family's demented tree decorating and how it can create a scar that reaches into adulthood. I'm sure there are other funny, sweet, and maybe some weird, traditions being shared at How Sweet the Sound for Pink Saturday. And at Bella Dreams there will be lots of decorating ideas, craft tutorials, and recipes while folks Share the Joy!