I really enjoy putting up my Christmas tree. This year’s tree is the 35th that I’ve shared with my husband. I have ornaments reaching back that far. They’ve survived two moves, traveling around the country in the fifthwheel and then the move into the yurt. When I had to downsize for the adventure in the trailer I did give away a fair number of ornaments but I kept the ones that carried the memories. Every time we went somewhere my souvenir was a Christmas ornament. I love this idea – now every year when I put up my tree I relive all of the fun we have shared through the years. I also kept the ones gifted to me by my nieces and goddaughters.
My tree is a walk down memory lane for me and I love sharing it with you each year. I highlight a few ornaments in these posts – old and new – and I hope you enjoy the stories.
We got a Fraser fir this year. A first for us. I’m sure the goats will enjoy it when we are done with it. They always look forward to their “goat tree-t.” I have a real leaning for fat trees. It drove my mother crazy – she always said a tree should be thin and graceful.
Whatever.
I do use one of her tricks – a string of blinking white lights up the center of the tree and then colored lights everywhere else. It really makes the tree sparkle. It’s a pain for the hubby but as I tell him, it’s only once a year.
Last year the hubby gave me a really beautiful Ukranian egg ornament. I used to watch my grandmother make these and don’t have any left. When I saw the shop on etsy that makes them and pointed them out to hubby he surprised me. (They are not selling any longer) It was so sweet of him. It’s a real eggshell and it’s very fragile.
He gave me this one the year after he gave me Sherpa. It’s when we figured out that Sherpa was not going to be erm, petite.
I love this little Santa Sleigh from Hallmark. I’ve had it for ages – way back Hallmark made a series of ornaments that hung across branches like this one does. I have a couple of other ones on the tree. I looked and it’s dated 1985. It makes me smile every time I catch a glimpse of it.
This year’s Mischievous Kitten has the cat hanging from a bird feeder. I’ve been collecting these Hallmark ornaments since they first came out – this is the 17th in the series. I group them all together on the tree. I look forward every year to the new one.
I try to decorate the back of the tree as evenly as the front even though no one really sees it. I still don’t have quite enough ornaments to cover the whole tree but I eventually will. When we were in the trailer we had much smaller trees and they were pushed in a corner so I only had to cover the front. Now I’m back to bigger trees. It’s fun finding new ornaments.
I also have a guardian. He makes sure that everything stays where he thinks it belongs.
Ah-hem.
The cats are really very good about the tree. They don’t really bother it at all. Which is nice considering how many glass items I have on it. I do hope that you enjoy your tree – if you put one up – as much as I do.
