Saturday, November 21

Oh, Christmas Tree!

Yes, I know that it's not yet Thanksgiving so I shouldn't be putting up the tree so soon.......but I'll be heading to Iowa right after the holiday to be with my mom when she has surgery. I had this plan that if she came to visit that we would talk about Christmas memories from the past. I think that would have been so much fun. Instead, I set up the tree by myself but later on my husband helped with the lights. He had no choice but to help me with the lights as he's taller than I am plus he's the one who has to replace light bulbs when they burn out. You see, we have these lights we bought years ago (like 15 at least) that do this cool "fade in, fade out very slowly" thing and he really likes them. However, the bulbs burn out all the time so I'm not happy when the lights don't work. I solved my problem, though. I put white lights all around the tree first and embedded them deep with the branches and then we added the "fade in, fade out" lights. Now if they don't work, I have back up!! I am so pleased that I thought of this!

So, here's the tree prior to adding the lights. I show you this so you can see that it's a nicely shaped tree. It's as old as the lights. It keeps shedding. See the photo below.............. You would think it was a real tree!! I figure that eventually the tree will go bald and we can finally get a new one. New lights would be nice, too, but Mr. Engineer likes to fix things so I'm sure they'll be back next year. :-)










I tried to take a couple of pictures after all the lights were on...including my back-up lights and the "pizza light" as it's known that tops the tree.
I really need some photography lessons but I kind of liked this one and the way the tree reflected in the window in the living room. Tomorrow, I'll add the decorations. It will take me all day because I love looking at each one and remembering where they all came from or when we made them. :-)
And speaking of decorations, I'll have a new one to add to my tree thanks to a package that came in the mail today. I only signed up for a couple swaps this season and one was Jenny's "Very Quick Christmas Swap". All you had to do was send two fat quarters, a yard of ribbon and two buttons - all Christmas themed. Here's what I sent off to my partner, Marlene and also to Jenny. I offered up to do two swaps if there was an uneven number and so I got to swap with Jenny, too!! (I love her blog and her Shabby Roses BOM!)


Here is the package I received from Marlene. Each item was gift wrapped and, if I was to wait til Christmas........well, I didn't.........it was just too tempting. There were two lovely fat quarters, the ribbon, and two of the cutest angel buttons and a Santa ornament!! So Santa will go on the tree tomorrow and the angels are going to become an ornament, too. Thanks "sew" much, Marlene!!




I also got an e-mail with good news. I won a giveaway over at InchWorm fabrics and I've got some blueberry muffin goodies coming to me all the way from Pago Pago. I'll tell you more about that when the goodies arrive plus a little Pago Pago connection that I had several years ago. Funny how things happen!
There was not much sewing action going on here today because I was determined to get the tree set up. I'll get back to my projects on Sunday after church. I'm just happy the tree is up, that it didn't fall over and that I didn't fall off the ladder! Oh, and the lights are still working! :-)
Have a great weekend!
Sandi

9 comments:

Crispy said...

Your tree looks lovely. I sometimes miss not having a tree but get over it pretty quickly LOL. I get to enjoy all of our old ornaments on my son's tree.

Congrats on your win from Inch Worm, I thought that perhaps it was you :0)

Crispy

Jocelyn said...

Congratulations on your win. I saw that on the Inch Worm blog. Your tree looks so lovely. Tree decorating is sure coming quick. My children still do the tree, which is okay by me :-)

Needled Mom said...

Now...if you lived in Canada your Thanksgiving would have been last month and you wouldn't have to apologize for putting your tree up early. You're smart to get a jump on it before heading off to Iowa.

Nice prizes too. Congratulations.

Gayle said...

I like how you put your lights on your tree...beautifully lit!

Owl Lady said...

I always love to hear of people's holiday traditions. When our daughters were young, we usually started to put our Christmas tree up after dinner on Thanksgiving Day. Starting to take the tree back down was a special activity for staying up late on New Year's Eve. Every year when we see our balding tree sitting undecorated in its stand, we say that this will be its last year, but when it is filled out with lights, garland, and ornaments, it is always beautiful and we decide that it can be used at least one more year.

Micki said...

Your tree looks lovely and that is the size that I would like to get. I will have to go back into Letterkenny to get it!
Enjoy your decorating!
Micki

annemarie said...

Beautiful tree - wish I had mine up. There is nothing more beautiful than a decorated Christmas tree!

quiltingnana said...

you're really into the spirit....our tree goes up next weekend...always the Monday after Thanksgiving...started because it was "BUCK DAY" in NE PA and the kids had off school...

Pat said...

I can't wait to put our tree up. Years ago, we always got a real one and waited to put it up until Christmas Eve (or maybe a day or two earlier). I love to look at the lights and ornaments, though, so now we put it up on Thanksgiving weekend. Your tree looks very nice. (Mine sheds badly now, too.)

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