Just posted a picture of ours over in the Christmas tree picture thread. My wife and I have always bought real trees, though we both grew up in houses that used artificial trees. Early on, when we didn’t have easy access to a good tree farm or the like, we used to buy them mail order! It was funny to see how narrow the boxes were they shipped them in. For many years now we’ve bought our tree from a local garden center that usually has a very good selection, and whose trees we trust to last well.
We’ve changed our preferences in lights over the years. We used to do a mix of white and colored lights, recently we’ve decided to stick with just white lights. We put ones toward the trunk that slowly twinkle on and off, and steady ones toward the outside.
Ornaments are an eclectic mix, things we’ve picked up over the years that mean something to us or that we just like the looks of. We’ve never done a themed tree.
One of the selling points for us when we bought this house was the bay window that’s a perfect location for the tree.