One of the most tradition-inspired event when it comes to Christmas is the decorating of  the Christmas tree. Young children get so excited about putting sparkling and shiny ornaments on the tree while seniors relive every memory with each ornament that they hang on a verdant branch. It doesn’t make any difference if the tree is real or one of the fabulous fakes; what matters is that trimming the tree should be a special time. Some people are very methodical when it comes to decorating their trees. The lights go on first from the top branch to the bottom limb. Then with a near grid-like method, ornaments are hung to dangle at just the right length. While there are certain traditions like serving hot chocolate and listening to Christmas carols as the tree is decorated that will never change in any particular family, a new trend is becoming more and more popular. That is decorating a tree with a specific theme.
With more households having more than just one tree in the home, theme decorating can not only be a great change of pace, but an artistic and/or personal statement.  For instance, in one Fairfield County home, one tree is decorated with only angel ornaments. Everything from Lenox china angels to hand crocheted angels shine brightly in this family’s dining room.
The Hlivas of Fairfield County start their Christmas tree tradition by heading out to cut down their own tree at a nearby tree farm. It’s always huge and features ornaments handed down from generation to generation. This tree is decorated with colored lights. “I have ornaments from my mother and grandmother on this tree,” said Mrs. Hliva.
Another family prefers to decorate an outdoor tree with snowflake ornaments. Considering how warm it has been lately, these just might be the only snowflakes covering this sparse holiday tree. And still another Newtown home flaunts a tree strictly decorated with star ornaments. The stars range from the gold and silver variety, to the that are crystal and glittery.
When choosing a theme, consider your favorite hobby or activities. For instance, the director of a ballet may want to decorate an entire tree with the theme of the “Nutcracker Suite.” Then Sugar Plum fairies, cute little mice, and nutcrackers would adorn the tree.  If you’re a history buff, you may want to select a specific era as the theme for your tree. For instance, one historian may want to decorate with all Victorian ornaments or Art Nouveau. Once you start thinking about themes, you’ll discover that the possibilities are endless.
If you have young children in the family, you might consider putting up a little tree just for them in the kitchen. Then have them string popcorn for garland and decorate the tree with handmade cardboard ornaments traced from Christmas cookie cutters. For even more fun, let the children bake some gingerbread cookies and decorate them, too.
Artists have a great eye when it comes to decorating a Christmas tree. At a tree-decorating fund-raiser, one artist decorated a tree as if the tree were a woman. Instead of a star at the top of the tree, a gorgeous purple hat with sparkling gems topped that tree. Of course, pearls were draped about the tree and other jewels were prominently tucked inside each of the majestic purple velvet bows. Speaking of bows, one especially memorable tree was decorated with gold and silver wired-bows with a giant gold bow on top of the tree with long ribbons that fluttered all the way down to the bottom of the tree.
A beauty salon owner with a passion for all things zebra, just might decorate his tree with a zebra theme. Bright yellow velvet bows would beautifully accent the black and white striped ornaments all over the tree. When it comes to themes, there are always dog and cat lovers, who can’t resist decorating their trees with animal ornaments made of everything from plastic to crystal and in all colors.
One of the most memorably decorated trees that belonged to an area politician was decorated red, white, and blue. But this Christmas tree trimmer had a tree in every room. Therefore, she was able to have quite a few themed trees. One featured all red ornaments and bows, another featured all blue, and of course one was all white. Colors certainly make it easy to theme a tree. One avid baker in Newtown decorated her entire tree with cookie cutters. Once you consider theming, the possibilities are not only endless, but almost always very attractive.
So start a new tradition and start to theme-trim your tree this year.
Have a Merry Christmas and a Joyous New Year.