I love a bright tree so I always probably over do it. As for ornaments I just use things as years go by. So collection of ones I love. Special events we get a few new ornaments every year. This year we got a pup so we added a german shepherd to ours. I got this tradition from my mom, so she would get me a car the year I turned 16 and would write "courtney got her liscense" very cool very sentimental