Trim A Tree Thursday Part 3

Trim a Tree Thursday continues this week courtesy of The Southern Hostess. I have really had a lot of fun participating in this home Christmas tour. Thank you Brett!





Last Christmas we purchased a skinny tree for the living room. It fits the room very well. The ornaments on this tree have been bought over the years of my married life. I noticed that the skinny tree needs more help. Something to add a bit of sparkle. After Christmas I will shop the sales to find the right bead garland for 50 perfect off.




This ornament is one of the very first ones I bought as a young wife in the 1980's.



The angel graces the top of my skinny tree. It's hard to find the right top for your tree. I have gone through several. They all seem to break or the lights go out and there is no way to fix it. I bought this angel from Pier One.



I always put my manger scene on the entertainment center. Everyone can see the beauty and true meaning of Christmas. Jim Shore is the artist.







This fold up ornament tree sits on top of our corn burning stove in the dining room. I can adjust the limbs so we can still pour the corn into the hopper.




The ornaments are all hand blown and hand painted from the inside of the piece! This is one of my favorites.





More Jim Shore. The detail is amazing. Santa makes a statement placed on the dining room table.



This is the view from here this morning. It's my day off and I have to finish up the Christmas shopping. I better get moving. We are expecting another snow storm this evening. I hope I can get everything finished and be home before the snow flies!

Trim A Tree Thursday Part 2

Today is Trim A Tree Thursday hosted by Brett at the Southern Hostess. Come on in and have a peek at a few of my decorations. The dining room is my Christmas of old. I decorate the entire room with colored lights. Old World ornaments hang on the garland. Also a few mercury glass ornaments decorate the pine boughs. The tree could be called a Charlie Brown tree. I remember my Great Grandmothers tree looking like this one. Lots of tinsel hanging on the branches to hide the large gaps. A vintage 1950's Santa sits on top of the charlie brown tree.




The tree skirt is an old grandmothers flower garden quilt. The quilt is tattered and torn and has a lot of holes in it. It has new life underneath the Christmas tree. I used to play with this wooden manger music box when I was a kid. Each Christmas at Grandma's I would wind up the box and listen to silent night. Great memories!




Just before I got married my Grandmother gave me all of her old Christmas ornaments. She questioned why I would want all of "that old junk". I felt very lucky to get all of that old junk and other "junky" treasures too! I was 21 and didn't know anything about antiques, decorating or anything else for that part.




As she handed me a box of Shiny Brite ornaments I was hooked. I loved the cool old ornaments. Silly me even admired the box they came it. I package them away very carefully each year. They are so fragile. Some of the ornaments have broken over time. Every year when I take the boxes out I think of my Grandma and smile. I'm so grateful that she saved her "junk" just for me.




I was a small child in the 1960's. During that time several of our family members had silver tinsel trees with big red ornaments. This tree pays homage to that era. My foofy girly green and pink tinsel tree has the added glitz of pink boa's! You would never catch me dead wearing a boa. It works on this tree. I got the idea of adding feather boa's from Kathleen. Great idea Kathleen!




I purchased these vintage 1960's pink and green polka dot ornaments from an E-bay auction 5 years ago. The original price tag on the box read 97 cents.




This is the view from here this morning. My peach trees are twinkling with ice. It's so pretty. Make sure to drop by next week. I have a few more things to share. Merry Christmas!!!!

Trim A Tree Thursday

During the holiday season one of my joys is decorating. I have so many gifts given to me through the years that I put on display. The Southern Hostess has inspired me to "Trim a Tree on Thursdays". For me it's a great push to dig through all of my boxes and put out my Christmas decorations. I have slacked off the past couple years and a lot of my decorations have not seen the light of day until this year. In my living room I like to use all of my handmade ornaments and quilts too. This room has more of a primitive look to it.




I get in the mood with a little help from my friends. That is classic Christmas DVD's and wonderful music. After a few Lindt truffles and a nice cup of tea I'm ready to go adorn my home.



These are the handmade ornaments that hang on the living room garland. I have made a few. I can't say which one is my favorite. I love them all. Most of the ornaments were gifts from friends.



I never realized how hard it is to take good pictures of things with tiny lights on them. I have taken at least 50 pictures between last night and this morning. I am so grateful for digital camera's. Remember the old days(just a few years ago) when you had no idea how your pictures were going to come out? O.K. so please excuse my lousy shots. If you have any idea's please share! Anyway click on the picture to get a better view.



I usually keep the garland up all year and decorate it for the different seasons. Because I have so many snowmen I will keep them displayed for the next few months.



A snowman and his wife sit on top of the quilt rack.



I put up two trees in this room. This tree sits in an old crock that my in-laws made sauerkraut in many, many years ago.




I am a Jim Shore collector and show them off on this tree.



For all of my warm weather friends this is the view from my living room window. Snow!! Not very much. Just enough to make it feel like Christmas time. I better get back to the basement. The Christmas boxes are calling my name. I have so much to show you the next few weeks. I better get busy. Have a wonderful day. Merry Christmas!