Lost In Thought, Good for you! I love your idea of a black and white tree, with black balls and either with the pandas and possibly bamboo leaves/sprigs (can even spray paint them if did not want them green) or crosses with the Ozzy bobblehead star-cracked me up. Would definitely bring some fun to the tree. I love black with silver too; ooooh, you're giving me ideas, hmmm. Thanks.

I grow tired of the the traditional tree so the one year, I had a white tree, white lights, I used turquoise ornaments with lots of peacock feathers and a fan of them as the star making sure some of the lights hit it at the top. It was festive and brightened the room.

This year due to the puppy and a lack of energy, I put the tree on the deck (so she wouldn't mess with it) with just white lights and some red poinsettias stuck in it. It took no time and will be easy enough to take down.

The nice thing about the tree it is a blank canvas and you don't even have to get expensive ornaments; they can easily make them too and a great project with kids as well. Have fun with it no matter what decide to do or if not, there's a lot to be said for saving hassle, energy, and cost!