First tree since...

Once upon a time we did fancy Christmas trees. Shanna & I are partial to crystal, pewter, and Cloisonne ornaments. Heavy things, delicate things. One or two might even be considered expensive. Once upon a time, this was easy. In Arizona one could easily get a Noble Fir. These trees are stout of limb, a bit open. They held the heavy ornaments, had plenty of room to hang & see them all. And for a time there were no kids to pull, tug, and jingle the beautiful bits hanging from the tree..

Kids killed the Christmas tree. The last crystal tree was in December 2003, the last year we could risk such a tree with a young dude crawling, walk'n about.

Over the next few years we decorated on a much small, intimate scale. We went from crystal to plastic, pewter to wood. Boxes and crates were packed away, waiting for the day to see light once again.

And in the meantime we moved to Minnesota. We never looked very hard, but it the tree stores always seemed to have these wimpy, tightly limbed, and droopy trees. For a time, it didn't matter. We were displaying small table top trees, decorating with plastic & wood.


But after a nine year absence, we wanted the Cloisonne, crystal & pewter. Seems that Minnesota doesn't get Nobles, but they do get Fraziers. Not a bad replacement tree, it has stout, strong limbs.

So now Cloisonne, crystal & pewter is out of their exile and put on display. Opening the crates was a bit like Christmas morning, the wonder of the surprises packed away. The kids were amazed, almost awed by the pretty wonders.

Not that there weren't moments of fear, wondering if we got these out one year too soon. But we made it. Shanna opened boxes and added hooks & ribbons, the kids placed the ornaments on the lower 2/3s of the tree, I did the upper reaches. And we finally completed it, the kids did their own tree while Shanna "balanced" out the crystal and pewter. And no ornaments were killed in the making of the Christmas tree.

So for a few weeks our furniture is out of whack, needles are about, and we have some new bits of beauty. I look forward to Santa's deliveries, laughing, giggling gift openings, and the joy of the holiday season.

And for those so inclined to see a few more...