week one: tree

I am loving our new—very fake—very used—very cheap tree. Dboy helped me bring it out of Goodwill and into the house with the ambiance of a cold winters rain. (Dang it!)

After getting Mr. C down for a nap, I take inventory of what is what here.

The branches are all grouped and labeled with previous owner care, with color coded instructions.

Following these directions will give me that perfect tree look…

think I’ll ignore them.

I am drawn to the ole’ Charlie Brown tree. (Who isn’t?) I like seeing the negative space, and love that it allows room for the ornament to hang.

There is also the obvious point of being drawn to something that looks a bit humble in appearance—not quite up to par, overlooked, lost even. Sounds like the spirit of Christmas wouldn’t you say?

As I pick and chose branches, the fam is joining in-and-out and I get the keen sense that I’m the only one over-the-top about the less-is-more style of tree.

Hmm….what’s a creative girl to do, who is also a mother?

I toss in a few more branches on than I would of preferred. Decided not to go for the Christmas-mom-zilla award this Holiday season. No.

Still, I get by with breaking the rules, putting an H branch where the C goes (gasp!!) and with a few other misses and skips I make my way up the tree. Doing it wrong is making it—sooooo right.

Now I get to dig in storage for my long awaited treasure…

Thanks to Julie (the master finder of all things) I got hooked up with an estate sale and scored on some old aqua ornaments and tinsel. (For all of $3.00)

The whole idea of hanging up colorful round ornaments really put a twinkle in Mr. C’s eyes.

Yes, we lost a couple.

Then the big moment arrived and we all burst into song.

Ok, maybe there was no bursting.

But it is a lovely tree, even with all of it’s branches. It’s all tucked into the corner of our living room adorned quite simply with mostly blue ornaments and those lights that I grew up with— the ole’ fashioned kind. (Sorry Mr. K, I didn’t ask what kind of bulbs tug on your heartstrings.)

I recall growing up how each of the 5 siblings in my family, A,B,C,D and E (yes, I am the youngest, and yes, our names are in alphabetical order) actually picked out a bulb – calling it our own for the season. I would hold my bulb – often times it was orange in color –  all warm in my hands. I think part of that was our old house was pretty drafty, and the lights were a good source of heat. On school mornings first-things-first I would put the tree lights on, say good morning to my bulb, mix up my hot chocolate (scooping the mix from my moms big tupperware) and nibble on toast with lots of butter. That was my breakfast in the month of December. Cozy.

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My favorite feature is the turn of the tippy top.

Is it perfect?

No.

And that makes me smile.

Now I am not the only one who’s been trimming a tree. Check out what Heaths been up to here. And Julie here.

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It’s December friends.

Hanging in there?