CHRISTMAS ORNAMENTS

This is a little dark but when I saw how pretty the reflection of the lights were in the clock's glass, I wanted to add it to my post.  I have now finished decorating our Christmas Tree in the front room.

For years when our son was growing up we always had a larger tree, not huge by any means and not for any particular reason other than the fact that it was fun to go to the tree lot and pick one out with lots and lots of thick, lovely branches. Ours when I was young were small, and probably more like a Charlie Brown tree. My sister and I didn't care, we didn't even think it as a spindly kind of a tree. By the time we helped Mum decorate each branch, it was glorious.  The ornaments were all made out of pretty colored glass baubles, we cut others from paper into decorative shapes, and put thread on them to hang along with the pretty glass.  We delighted in throwing silver tinsel over the branches, and a paper garland draped around that we made ourselves.  Streamers would be hung along with multi-colored balloons, all tacked into the ceiling and crisscrossed to make another decorative pattern.  It all looked very festive. Every now and again a balloon would pop and make us all jump a foot, with giggles following as we got another balloon to replace the popped one. 

As our son grew older the trees got smaller.  When he left home there were many times we would be spending Christmas away, and I hardly did any decorating at all.  One year I bought a smaller artificial tree.  I really struggled with not having a real one, but back then several of our friends were going that route, and when I saw theirs I decided to take the plunge. This was the one we bought many years ago.

I thought it would be a good idea to buy one for the family room. This is where we spend most of our time after all. There isn't a lot of room for a Christmas Tree, so I bought one of the narrow ones that fit into a corner, and I have enjoyed decorating it each year.  But I have been toying with the idea of having a second tree, a little larger and fuller. One that we could put it in the front room, and see the lights from the street.  It took me another three years to make a decision and this is the new tree.

The Christmas tree skirt is one I bought from a lady many years ago at a craft show.  She made the prettiest quilted ones, all works of art. I rediscovered it in a box hidden away in the back of our storage room, along with many ornaments that haven't seen the Christmas lights in many a year.  

Underneath the tree, instead of a toy train or a Christmas village, I place a collection of teddy bears. There are a few honorary bears, like the rag doll of Virginia Dare, the first baby to be born in the New World back in 1587, and named after the Virginia Territory, her birthplace. I bought her in North Carolina last year. There is also an intrepid  reporter dog that jumped into my bag when we visited The Newseum in Washington DC several years ago.  It is always fun to go down into the storage room and open up the boxes.  

Several ornaments had been lost/stored with the Christmas Tree skirt. It was fun unwrapping each one and getting little surprises.  It slowed the process down some. Each one I found reminded me of family and friends. Others had made their way back to me after those I gave them to had to leave us, and ones they gave me hold sweet memories. All  have great sentimental value.

There are a few duplicate photos in these collages, and you'll probably see some again as I share more before the 25th.  Tomorrow I am posting Santa Claus ornaments.  

Do you have any Christmas Tree stories from years ago?  I would love to read about them. Enjoy your day and thank you for visiting.