Another Month...Another Tree Design

I must admit...as excited as I was about the idea of a Halloween tree and still am, the thought of having to say goodbye to The Gator tree is difficult. My family has really enjoyed lighting the tree these past few Saturdays in honor of our beloved football team. This tree has brought so much enjoyment to my children and I especially. BUT...this is after all A Year in the Life of a Christmas Tree and just as the leaves on the trees around us are about to CHANGE, it's time for the decorations on the tree to do so as well.
I hope you will check back in to see the newest design. If you don't hear from me any time soon, please send help. I am off to the darkest regions of our crawl space in hopes of finding Halloween decorations. Many have been boxed up for at least 11 years as we had no use for them when we moved into our new house. Surely hoping I can find them. Looking forward to another walk down memory lane...hoping for more treats than tricks.
Until next time....

TOUCH DOWN!!!

Happy September Everyone!

I don't know about you, but I for one am counting down the days until the start of the Fall season. This summer has been an exceptionally long and hot one. I couldn't help but chuckle to myself wondering who in their right mind would be decorating a Christmas tree while the temperature was 91 degrees, but I guess we long ago established the fact that I am not in my right mind for if I was, would I have a Christmas tree still standing in September? Worse was my recent confession that the tree was still adorned with Easter decorations well past their expiration date.
I want to thank my numerous friends who showed their support to me when I confessed to losing my interest in the year long Christmas tree experiment. I had come very close to just taking the tree down once and for all when I spied some Halloween tree decorations while visiting a Michael's store. The thought of a Halloween inspired tree brought new excitement to the stale experience, but I had felt as though I failed by not reaching every month of my commitment with a newly decorated tree. One friend offered the following words of advice...You can pick up where you left off as you've come to far to give up. With that gentle encouragement I recommitted myself to the task and vowed to have a new tree designed for September.
The next concern was the design itself. What type of tree would best represent the month of September? Well it didn't take me long to figure out what my favorite part of September is...it's the start of college football season and anyone who personally knows me, knows I live for college football. Not just any college...but the University of Florida GATOR football. A quick run to my nearest Hobby Lobby to find some orange colored ornaments and I was on my way. On my return home, I had a new found sense of urgency and excitement as I went to task finally removing the Easter decorations. OH and for those of you who have been keeping up with me through this journey...the Peeps held their own and looked just as fabulous today as they did when I strung them through the tree back in April. NO, I didn't eat any! Okay...I thought about it, after all I had been out and about shopping with no time to eat, but it was a very quick thought and I erased it while saying a tiny prayer for their sacrifice and then gave them a proper burial in a hefty bag.
I gathered up numerous Gator items many of which still remain in my daughter's vacant bedroom and went to work placing them through out the tree. I must admit as I strung the orange and blue lights I congratulated myself on my choice knowing that for the next two months the orange lights will remain on the tree saving me additional work with the future design plans. Stepping back to admire the tree I felt a sense of accomplishment. Yes, I missed a few months over the summer, but my friend was right...I'd come too far to not see it through and the time spent working on the tree was pure bliss. It not only renewed my excitement in the idea of being able to live with a Christmas tree on display for an entire year, but the excitement of welcoming another season of football.
It was just a few moments after cleaning up my mess that my youngest son came in from school and with one look at the tree he smiled and said Mom, that's epic! After sending a few photos to my daughter she phoned with total excitement over the tree and announced that it was the greatest tree I had ever designed and she wanted it to be our actual Christmas tree this year. I told her that I couldn't do that as I was already planning the Halloween design. Slightly defeated, she quickly rebounded with the idea that this year's annual holiday Christmas card photo would be done well ahead of schedule as it was her request that I take their photo in front of the Gator tree. WOW...this is already turning out better than I expected! A family first...children WANTING to have their holiday picture taken!
As I sit at my desk writing this I can see the tree in all its glory. All I can say is GO GATORS!
This brings a whole new meaning to the words all I want for Christmas is another SEC championship!
OH and speaking of my daughter...she probably won't appreciate it, but I have a story or two to share about my Gator Girl. : ) Stay tuned...

An Embarrassing Confession

OK, well truthfully, how embarrassed can I be...I mean it's August and I still have my Christmas tree up. To add insult to injury however the tree is still decorated in its Easter best. BTW...for those of you who wondered...the PEEPS have held their own. They are still going strong...hard as rocks, but none the less still as cute as can be. Peeps...not just for Easter baskets any more.

The Year in the Life of a Christmas Tree started as an experiment fueled by a few ideas. #1) I am the first to want to put the tree up every year with the excitement of a child, but ready to take it down the moment the last present has been unwrapped. I love the holiday decorations, but I love order and organization more. Would I be able to handle the sight of a Christmas tree well past the expiration date? #2) I was a tree designer years back and I never tire of the creativity they allow. Never satisfied with the traditional Christmas tree designs, I use every new year as an opportunity to do something very unique. A year's worth of designs was definitely an enticement to explore all the options. #3) A lit Christmas tree months past the fact is a fun way to embarrass the heck out of your offspring. #4) Last Christmas was so special part of me wanted to extend the amazing feeling of warmth and good cheer in a world that was feeling cold and gloomy.

Unfortunately, all good intentions and reasons aside, I lost interest in it. I meant to do the Margaritaville theme to welcome in summer. I envisioned a tree of pink flamingos and margarita glasses which I would have decorated to the background music of Jimmy Buffett. I looked forward to celebrating independence day with streamers of red, white and blue...BUT then it happened...I lost my tree mojo. No longer an object of desire and inspiration, but another thing on the to-do list which seems to grow day by day. SHAME ON ME! Knowing that this experiment was meant to teach me something...I realize today's lesson is that once again I allowed myself to be distracted by all the things I don't necessarily want to do but failed to allow myself time for the things I WANT TO DO. How often does that happen???

And so although I could call what happened a failure, I will refuse to do so. There have been so many wonderful surprises that took place on the journey so far and you know what...I'm not ready to give in. There are Halloween decorations that are calling to me. It's time to put on my big girl shoes...take a bite or two off a stale peep to allow for the sugar rush and find me a theme for September!!!

Stay tuned....???

Memories Re-Created and New Ones Started

If you read yesterday's blog post than you know I spoke about one of my fondest memories of Easter...the magical Easter Egg Tree that grew in my Aunt and Uncle's yard. So inspired by my memories and the warm cherished feelings of seeing that tree every year...I decided that I would decorate the little tree outside my office window. I got it done right as the elementary school children were walking up the street. I only managed to get about 3 dozen eggs on the tree before I ran out of twine. I wasn't too disappointed because can I tell you...tying Easter Eggs to a tree is no easy task! Now I KNOW that it was most definitely a labor of love for my Aunt and Uncle...there's no other way to explain the lunacy.

I must admit however that the bright pastel eggs dangling in the breeze is a beautiful and festive sight. My daffodils have produced the brightest blooms I have ever seen in all the years since we planted them and the ornamental pear trees are heavy with their mass of white blossoms. Every time the breeze blows it's like nature's confetti as the blossoms drift through the air. A perfect back drop to my memory in bloom.

I wasn't too certain how my high school age son would feel upon finding the egg tree out front on his way home from school. I was pleased to find that he thought it was fun. I now wonder how many times in his life that memory will revisit him. That alone, warms my heart and makes me happy.

Since it was such a glorious day outside he joined me out on the back patio with his after school snack. As we sat there I took notice of a tiny little pine tree that had found its way in to our landscape. I pointed it out to Seth because it really does look like Charlie Brown's Christmas tree. In fact, I thought about running upstairs to grab one little red Christmas ornament to hang from it...but in an inspired burst of creativity...I gathered a few more plastic eggs from the house and brought them out to the tree. We now have our very own Charlie Brown Easter tree.

What memory will you uncover or create today?

Eggs on Tree

When I was a child one of my most favorite parts of Easter was a yearly trip to my God Mother's house. We rarely had the opportunity to visit she and my uncle at their home it was almost always a matter of seeing them at our house or my grandparent's. They weren't relatives by blood, but we always referred to them as Aunt and Uncle probably more so out of respect than anything else. Uncle Joe had worked for my Grandfather since the time he was a young boy and stayed on learning all he could about being an electrician at the hands of my Grandfather. His wife became my mother's matron of honor and eventually my God Mother. Unfortunately my memories of them are scarce but there are a few distinctive ones.

One such memory was the name "Mushy Joe". I'm not quite certain where it came from. I always thought it had something to do with a character off of the bazooka bubble gum wrappers. Remember those? They had the little cartoons and you were always real careful to unwrap the gum so as not to destroy the wrapper and miss out on reading the latest adventures of Bazooka Joe and his friends. If I remember correctly, you could collect them as well and when you had enough collected you could mail them in for some cool prize like coveted X-ray vision glasses of which I do believe I am still waiting on. "Mushy Joe" always had bazooka bubblegum on him so to us young children he was of a God-like status. On the occasions when my mother would take us to our grandfather's business we excitedly got out of the car in hopes that Uncle Joe would be there. We were never allowed to call him Mushy Joe. Even though my cousins were able to get away with it, my mother would have had our hides as she would never allow us to address any adult in a disrespectful manner and that was disrespectful as far as she was concerned. I will admit he did have a mushy type expression on his face, but he was a kind and dear man whom I adored.

His wife, my Aunt Louise was an absolute favorite of mine. A beautiful woman with a warm smile and distinctive voice. She always looked so glamorous to me. Being her God daughter, I always got a little something special from her at Christmas time because she made certain to bring my birthday gift over as well. My birthday is two days after Christmas and her gift was the only one I could open early so that she could be present as I did so. There are two gifts that to this day I remember as though it was yesterday. One was my first watch, a Cinderella watch with a beautiful pale blue band. It was far too large for my wrist so for years I would just admire it in my jewelry box. The other was a beautiful doll that I adored. To this very day, my heart still aches for the fact that when she stopped working my mother sent her off to the "doll hospital" for repairs and that was the last time I saw her. I can not tell you how many days I sat anxiously waiting on Mr. Johnson our mailman to bring her back to me, but he never did. Hmmm....maybe it's time I have a long talk with my mother about that supposed doll hospital or put out an APB on Mr. Johnson.

One of my fondest memories of all took place every Easter. It was one of the few times I can ever recall going to Uncle Joe and Aunt Louise's house. It was the highlight of my year however as they had an Easter Egg Tree in their front yard. Legend has it that it was a one of its kind from what I was told. The Easter Bunny himself had planted it. From down the block as we made our way in the family station wagon the site of it beckoned us and all who drove past. It was magical! A special tree that "bloomed" plastic Easter eggs. I'm sure there were probably just a few dozen eggs strung on that tree, but in my memory there were hundreds! Each child had the opportunity to pick just one egg. If you were real lucky...you got the one egg that actually had money in it!!! My Uncle and Aunt never had children of their own and so I know this yearly egg tree tradition was a labor of love and the opportunity for them to do something special for other people's children bringing them much pleasure.

Okay yes...you know what I'm thinking... I'm sure there is some kite string somewhere in my garage and after hosting 2o plus Easter Egg hunts for my children over the years, I have a ton of those plastic eggs available. We haven't gotten around to trimming off the bare limbs on the crepe myrtle out front and it would make for a perfect Easter Egg tree.....to be continued???

Peeps Not Just For Eating...

Welcome back to another edition of A Year in the Life of a Christmas Tree and our new Easter Tree. What a lesson in patience this one has been! For one thing...it is the only tree to date where I had to keep replacing my decorations. Apparently, once a certain item becomes labeled "decoration", my hungry men decide it's the one thing they NEED to eat. I had boxes of Easter peeps, jelly beans and gumdrops carefully hidden, or so I thought, in the pantry. With the scent of bloodhounds they uncovered my treasures and went to work snacking. The worst part is, I had the peeps opened for weeks so they would harden as I thought they would be easier to use that way. I can not tell you how many boxes of them I have thrown out over the years as although they are an Easter basket staple, they've never been a huge hit with the kids. Like I said...reassign their lot in life and they become delicious delicacies. I guess I can't be too upset, because my "brilliant" idea of stringing all of the above was less than brilliant and more sticky than I had anticipated. I scrapped most of it, but still wished to use the peeps in some way other than what they were intended for.

I was up until the wee small hours of the morning stringing eggs, making tissue paper flowers...questioning my sanity. Will hope to get the room back in shape at some point today to be able to post additional photos soon. As for the peeps, they gave a good fight and did not go in vain. They actually are quite cute hanging on the tree. Now the real trick will be keeping the dogs or my guys away from them.

Now if you'll excuse me...I have a date with a vacuum.

Erin Go...BYE!

Ahhh...once again the feeling of a heavy heart as it's time to say goodbye to another month In the Year of a Life of A Christmas Tree. I know by now I shouldn't be so surprised, and yet I am. I have felt a heavy heart with each deconstruction project.

It has surprised me how much I have become attached to every one of the creations. All of them to date have been something entirely different than what I first envisioned...and perhaps it is because of that, I find myself so tickled and amused by the finished product. Every day when I catch a glimpse of them they continue to delight me. Some times it's the way the light is hitting them or maybe it's a way a certain decoration seems to stand out more than the others.

Tonight as I realized I had no choice but to get to work taking apart the St. Paddy's day tree I was completely awe struck by the way it appeared in the glow of the setting sun. The only word to describe it....magical. As if it also knew it was the last hurrah and just like a star that shines brightest before it falls from the sky it excited me like the rare site of a shooting star.

From my vantage point from my office desk where I type this, I once again look over at a bare tree and can hardly believe that just moments earlier it was a festive site of St. Patrick's Day pageantry. How sad and lifeless the bare branches. But like a painter with a brand new canvas there is a tinge of excitement to get started with that first brush stroke. An anticipation for the artwork to unfold...another reason to let go and create.

To beautiful beginnings all over again........