O Christmas Tree!

So far my blogging marathon is off to a slow start, but I am determined to join in these parties (Tip Junkie's Christmas Tree contest and Thrify Decor Chick's Christmas Party)before it is too late!

Perhaps the first thing you might notice about our tree is that it has a train going through the middle of it. This was a gift from my sister several years back. It really works, and the train even smokes (but ours currently makes a pretty horrible shrieking sound when we run it, so it doesn't get run all that often).

Something else unique is that I have been collecting berry sprigs on various sales over the years, and I place them on branches through out the tree.

I grew up with an icicle tree. You know, the long, stringy, messy, tinsel, icicles you can put on your tree, and then spend months vacuuming after. It always looked a little shaggy during the day, but I loved the way it glittered at night, illuminated by our big colorful lights and their metallic reflectors. Since nearly everything on that tree, is now labeled as hazardous in one way or another, I have not chosen to recreate that tree, but certain elements of my tree are a nostaligic nod to that tree. Mainly, I have various glitterly "icicles" through out the tree, and may add more in the future (Some of them were donated to White Witch costume, this year.)

I'm seriously considering going the "kid tree" route, next year. I have visions of cranberries and popcorn and lots of handmade ornaments. But even if I do that, I'm pretty sure my main tree won't become exclusively a "decorator tree." We have too many ornaments with sentimental value, like this miniature story book my husband got as a child (his parents have given him an ornament every year)

Or our personalized gingerbread people, Kira and I painted before she was old enough to have any siblings (we need to go back to the pottery place and make a couple more).

This dollar store find is new this year, and I'm pretty sure I've seen it on more than one tree in blogland. I really couldn't be too particular about ornament placement this year, since the bottom third has to be repositioned each night with a one-year-old in the house! Thank goodness for shatterproof ornaments!

And I had to have a star, because that it what I had growing up, and it helps up remember why we have a Christmas tree, at all.

All lit up!