A Newlyweds Christmas Tradition

When my friends Sandy and Greg celebrated their first Christmas together, Greg saved a slice of the Christmas tree's trunk and recorded the year's events on it. That tree slice became a meaningful ornament for the next year, and so a piece of the second Christmas tree's trunk was saved, too. It also was inscribed with the year's highlights.

This Christmas, as they do every year, Sandy and Greg hung up a long garland, displaying pieces from all of their Christmas trees. It's a lovely tradition, and it makes a very special decoration, don't you think?

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I couldn't help myself. Since my last posting, I went out and bought five more antique glass pine cone ornaments. I particularly like the smallest one, which appears silver on the tree, but which clearly has a tint of chartreuse.

I hope you're all having a good holiday!

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A Victorian Christmas Tree

This year, I decided to create my version of a Victorian Christmas tree. You may remember that last year I posted about the fun of decorating a tree with travel souvenirs, here. Then, as the holiday season drew to a close, I walked into an antique store comprised of many dealers and noticed — going from stall to stall —  that there were lots of antique glass pine cone ornaments. I couldn't resist starting another collection, above!

I decided to complement the antique ornaments with new colored ones, and to alternate those colors from year to year.

If that isn't enough, I'll add colored ribbon to match the complementary color scheme and . . .

. . . strands of pearls or perhaps colored beads.

And here's the finished tree (with room for the glass pine cone collection to grow).