Full view of the Tuscan Tree, looking towards the dining room. On the right is the curio cabinet, which I empty out every year and use for the Dicken's Village - at least until I get too many village pieces to fit into the cabinet.

This is looking into the living room from the dining room. On the left is part of the Tuscan Tree, and beyond that, in the corner, is the "Red and Gold" tree. This is the 3rd year for both of these trees, and I'm sure I'll be doing them again.

The Woodland Tree. Last year this tree was the Snowman Tree, but I didn't like it, so changed it this year to a Woodland Tree. It's very simple, with just a few Woodland Type ornaments and a bunch of pinecones. Around the bottom is a "Woodland Santa", a "Woodland Snowman", and a Reindeer sitting in a rocking chair - singing "Grandma Got Run Over By a Reindeer".

I belong to a Red Hat Group, so had to do a "Red Hat Tree". Another 2 ft. tree decorated in red and purple, with a small "Red Hat" as the topper. Around the bottom of the tree I used a purple boa that I found at a craft store.

Upside Down Tree. This little 2 ft. tree is more of a conversation piece than anything else. It's got a Santa head on top, and the ornaments are "Crystal". I had to make some of the smaller ones around the bottom because I couldn't find any that were small enough.

Travel Tree: The topper for this tree is a styrofoam ball decoupaged with a torn map. The ornaments are state ornaments that we collected on our travels, along with postcards and keychains. Around the bottom of the tree are 4 stuffed animals - they go with us in the camper when we travel. Just like some of those RV's you see driving down the road with all the stuffed animals across the dashboard.

For some reason, this tree just doesn't want to photograph well this year. The topper is a large white peacock surrounded by silver ting tings, silver picks, and a large blue bow. It's all done in white, silver and blue on a 7 1/2 ft. full size tree.

I did this tree in remberance of Rich's grandmother who passed away in April at the age of 100. Grandma's favorite color was lavender and she loved butterflies, so I used a white tree, decorated with lavender garland and all kinds of butterflies, then made copies of pictures of her with some of her family. There is one picture of Grandma when she was 6 months old, and the rest are of her through the years. Next to the tree is a poem I found called "I'm Spending Christmas In Heaven This Year". Under the tree is a small scrapbook I made of pictures we took at Grandma's 100th birthday party in Great Falls, Montana in February.

I've started collecting Nutcrackers, and have enough this year to set them on the fireplace mantle. Above the Nutcrackers is a large wreath I made a few years ago, and in front of the fireplace are a couple of the Santas I have.

Next to the buffet is the "Snowman Tree". I found this 4 1/2 ft. slim tree online during the summer and it fits perfect next to the buffet. The topper is a Top Hat I got at a "store closing" sale, and it works great on this tree. All the ornaments are small stuffed snowmen, and there are larger stuffed snowmen around the bottom of the tree. Notice the hardwood floors - Rich put the hardwood floors throughout the whole house this past summer. He had to have them done by Oct. 3 so I could start decorating all the trees.

Another view of the dining room. On the buffet is the "Sweet Shoppe Tree", a 3 ft. white tree decorated in all sweets from candy canes, to ice cream cones and lollipops and cupcakes. Next to the "Sweet Shoppe Tree" is a large Gingerbread House I picked up at a warehouse sale last spring.

The Gingerbread Tree in the corner of the dining room. The table is set for Thanksgiving Dinner.

Here is the topper for my Gingerbread Tree. Last year, this was a 3 ft. tree that I had on the counter between the dining room and kitchen. Somehow, over the summer, the tree grew and the Gingerbread ornaments multiplied. It is now a 7 1/2 ft. tree in the corner of the dining room. The topper for this tree is a large handmade bow surrounded by candy canes, several different picks, and a few red sprays. Hanging on the front of the tree is "Merry Christmas" done in Gingerbread "dough".

This is the light in our dining room. Rich put chicken wire between the lights, then I covered that with batting and hung 5 Mark Roberts Fairies from the chicken wire, and hung 2 more on the chain above the light fixture. On top of the batting I laid some ornaments and some red picks.

Christmas 2008 - The Beginning

I've started decorating trees for this year in the hopes of getting 17 trees decorated. Of course, some of them are only 2 ft. tall, but I don't have a lot of room in my house.

The first tree I completed was my Angel Tree. This is a 5 ft. corner tree that I put in our bedroom. It is decorated with all white angels and doves.

The white tree is in rememberance of my husband's grandmother who passed away in April of this year at the age of 100. She loved butterflies and purple and her family, and so this tree is decorated with her favorite things.

Christmas 2007

I love Christmas and everything that goes with it. Now that I'm retired, I have the time to decorate our home the way I've always wanted to. Below are a few of the decorations that I put up in 2007. The first one is my Gingerbread Village that I put in the garden window in the kitchen. The tree is my Tuscan Tree, my favorite of all my trees that I put up. And then there's the "Elf Door" that I put outside our front door - the Elves need an entrance too!

I will post pictures of this year's trees as I put them up - which I will start on Oct. 1. But first, there's a Christmas Convention that I will be attending the end of September in Philadelphia.