Oh Christmas Tree!

The tree cutting team: Garry, Cecilia Rose, and Eben.

Little clothespin man made by my sister Sue

Paper ball ornament made of old Christmas cards

Stitched and painted felt angel

Wise Man made by Eben at age 4

A hand painted wooden sleigh made by my cousin's wife for Eben's first Christmas

For years we bought our Christmas trees from local growers, but we started a new tradition last year of cutting down trees from our own woods. They are definitely Charlie Brown Christmas trees - scraggly and scrawny, but not without fragrance and charm, and when decorated they are actually quite sweet to behold. At first I was reluctant to have such a spindly tree after all the years of perfectly shaped commercially raised trees. But we help the woods by thinning them out a bit, the price is right, and most importantly, our granddaughter Cecilia loves going into Grampa and Gramma's woods to find her tree, so I think that the tradition will continue!

I could write several posts about tree ornaments (but I won't!). Suffice it to say, I've designed and made hundreds of Christmas ornaments of all kinds over the years, to raise money at church fairs, as gifts, and for our own tree. But the best ornaments of all are the ones that were made by our children (and now our grandchildren!) when they were small, and they still show up on our tree, year after year.