Old tree, new life.........

This afternoon, I met Mary and Arlene from our Friends of the Library group and we took down this big old tree at the library. You may recognize it as I shared about the tree early this month when I summed up our Silent Auction event. We bought this tree in 1993 at Seasonal Concepts in Minneapolis. It was huge for our house in Prior Lake but there was a corner where it worked out. But when we moved here, it didn't fit so well. And it sheds pine needles as if it was real. But, there was still life in this old tree so we used it at the Henderson Library to collect books for the local toy drive. Last year we must have collected close to 100 books but I didn't get an exact count. This year there were 75 books when I counted. And then today, I found two more when we dismantled the tree. LOL!

I am hoping that next year we can collect 150 books on and under the tree!!!

I know it will hold that many books because when it sat in our basement family room in 2010, it had almost 500 ornaments on it! That was the year when a local magazine came and did a photo shoot but due to circumstances beyond control, they were never published. I decorated a silver and gold tree for our living room that year, something I've always wanted, and it was very pretty. But.........nobody in my family liked it. They wanted the traditional "every branch covered in ornaments that have meaning tree". And so, that's what I do now. Not sure what I'll do with all those silver and gold ornaments I bought, almost all of them "on clearance", but they might find their way into future projects at the library. ;-)

And speaking of projects, I am working on one that will involve this stocking..............

More info to come later this week or on the weekend. I have some fun stuff in store for this year on my blog. I am so excited to be blogging regularly again!
Right now, though, I am headed to bed with a good book that I picked up at the library. We have extra quilts ready as the weatherman says it is going to be the coldest night since last March! Not to worry here. Plenty of quilts to keep us warm!
Sandi