Once upon a time, when our kids were younger, the tree was decorated on the night before Christmas by Santa Claus. It was the continuation of my own family tradition ... and extremely practical as trees tended to be deeply discounted when purchased on Christmas Eve.
These days we put the tree up earlier and deck the halls with boughs of pine ...
having discovered that Texas Yaupon holly dries out way too fast once it's cut, which is why it ended up in the drink this year ...
Happily, most all of our ornaments have a story and many are handmade.
Some are more recent, like the eggs I made our first year in Texas and the garland I printed, colored, cut and folded two years ago ...
There are ornaments made by the kids and me from their pre-school days ...
Others from ballet and soccer and teaching days ...
Angels and stars go up top of course, including a Tinkerbell from our 1993 trip to Disneyworld ...
Hearts go in the middle ...
and the bottom is reserved for an assortment of sea-going vessels and creatures ...
Now all that's left to do is a little cookie baking ... I'm sure Santa will approve ...
How festive! I love the light in your house, and I especially love your fireplace cave kiva...definitely a place where spirits gather.
ReplyDeleteThank you ... and now I'm scratching my head and wondering how I never realized the kiva-ness of our hearth
DeleteDeck the halls with heart and memories and a wonderful tree. Liz, these photos of your home are so warm and inviting and filled with the spirit and joy of the season.
ReplyDeleteOne of the things that I miss about not living in California, was our tradition of having fresh Dungeness crab on Christmas Eve so I was especially delighted to see your crab ornament*
Ah, for us it was blue crabs from the Chesapeake Bay ... wonderful memories!
Deleteyou have a tree already, I love how your ornaments have stories
ReplyDeletefancy eating crab for christmas, now that is a tradition i have never heard of
Funny, but I think our tree is a bit on the late side by current US standards ... what always seems strange to me is how many people put up trees in November and then take them down a day or two after Xmas. I'm more of a twelve days of Xmas practitioner
DeleteI love the Silly Season, the rituals of putting up the decorations, making & sending out cards, oh just everything & it's even sillier here in the Land of Oz in the middle of summer with all the fake snow & tinsel festooning the shopping centres & the Santas in their red suits on 100 degree days !
ReplyDeleteI know what you mean ... we went to "Dickens on the Strand" in Galveston last week ... not exactly cognitive dissonance, but close. Of course, we were told that the celebration was as much about the end of hurricane season as it was about Xmas ...
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Deletelove looking and imagining you and Don there amidst it all. Years of memories on your tree.
ReplyDeleteit's just Beauty Full. Thank you for sharing it with Us....Love,