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You may have seen this photo of my tree that I posted earlier this month. 

Yes, I stuff it full. It is a lot like the Christmas tree I grew up with, just smaller. Mom and Dad always brought in a huge tree, usually reaching the top of our 12' ceiling. And it would be loaded with ornaments. I think the last year they had the big tree there were about 1000 ornaments on it. When they moved to a smaller house, the ornaments were mostly divided up among my siblings that wanted them. Since I lived so far away, I didn't get any and actually didn't know that until after my parents passed away. At that time, some of my sisters gave me some of the old, cherished ornaments, and I began searching for more of the kinds I remembered from that long ago glorious tree. Here are some of my favorites:

This ornament isn't old, but it certainly reflects my love of tea.

An English choirboy, bought at Ely Cathedral when we were visiting England for the first time.

A WWII era Shiny Brite ornament, which was missing its cap,  so I improvised.  There were many like this one on my parents' tree. (Shiny Brites have an interesting history, which you can read about here. I often included this story in my Christmas presentations.)

A vintage Polish "indent" ball, and an ornament from Salisbury cathedral, purchased when I was there in 2019.

More vintage Shiny British.

A lady named Rose Pullen from our county handpaints and beads these exquisite ornaments. I have 2 or 3, and hope to add another this year.

It is supposed to be good luck to have a nut on your tree, so I have this little carved angel holding a walnut. I have had her so long I don't recall where she came from. 

Another good luck ornament: a pickle! And behind it a beaded ornament my mother made.

The handpainted delicate heart was brought back from Germany by my son after one of his tours there.

Another of Mom's beaded ornaments, and to the left and barely readable is the red glass ornament I wrote "Susie" on with glitter in 1962 or 63.

There are so many more favorites on the tree! It is always a pleasure to discover them again each year. Do you have favorites that you put on your tree each year? Or do you change it up, or do a different color scheme from time to time? And are there any "good luck" talismans on your tree?

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Covid Journal, Day 265: The Christmas Tree

Lovely morning, 30 when I got up, but almost 50 now. Sunny and bright. We had a little snow the other day, and sleet, but it only stuck on the deck, vehicles, and the like.

Finally my tree is up and almost finished. The topper is all wonky and crooked so I need to fix that and add a few more balls near the top. I need a bigger tree! Next year, I have promised myself to make that happen. It's pretty bad when your faux tree has bare places from lost needles. I bought this little tree almost 10 years ago, maybe longer ago than that, for five dollars at an auction. It's certainly been a little trouper. 

I added a few other smaller trees last year, and have them up too. I'd like to do a few more small trees, decorated with different themes. I have a silver one, and two green, one with all ornaments made or given to me by friends, and one with small vintage ornaments. I'd like one with crocheted snowflakes which I have but am not using this year, one with all cookie cutters, and one with the fabric ornaments made by my friend Suzy who makes a new one every year. I think I have at least 20 of her ornaments now, and love them. The thing is, where would I put all these little trees? A dilemma for another day, since it's not going to happen this year.

Christmas trees. Such memories around them, aren't there? Do you remember the trees of your childhood? Or from your early years of marriage? I need to dig through my photos and find some old pictures of my trees to post. We used to have live trees every year until I realized I was allergic to them; now I can only use live pine boughs outside the house, sadly. But at least I get to enjoy their scent. 

The tree has been such an American tradition, we tend to think that they have been part of our celebrations for much longer than they actually have been. Christmas trees didn't really become part of the general celebration of the season in America until the late 1800's, during the Victorian era. There were earlier trees in the homes of German immigrants who brought their tradition of the lichtstock with them, but the decorated tree was a later arrival. 

From a Winter Solstice post I wrote in 2018: "In early Germany, plays called Paradise Plays were staged and the stages were lit with wooden pyramid structures on which candles were mounted. These "trees" were called lichtstock. The play also called for a tree hung with fruit as the story of Adam and Eve was part of the play. So an evergreen hung with apples was used for this purpose, and these were called Paradise trees. While people in Germany and other parts of Europe traditionally brought an evergreen branch inside in winter for decoration, the branches were not lit, and they certainly were not full trees. Eventually the evergreens became incorporated into the lichtstock, and it is easy to see how the transition to an evergreen tree happened. So, if you have artificial tree and feel a little guilty about not having the real thing, rest easy--the original "Christmas tree" was a wood pyramid, and not a tree at all!"

One of our funniest memories of a Christmas tree happened about 10 years ago. We went out to find a real tree, and found one on our road. It had snowed about 4", not a lot, the kind of snow that clings to branches and looks so pretty. Larry got the axe and walked over to the tree while I watched. It suddenly occurred to me that when he hit the tree with the axe, the snow was going to come tumbling down. As I opened my mouth to warn him, he struck the first blow. Sure enough, down came the snow, covering him from head to toe. The look on his face as he turned to look at me was priceless. I couldn't say a word. I was doubled over with laughter, tears streaming down my face. We still laugh about that--I'm laughing now just remembering the moment.

Not Larry's tree, but every time I see a snow-covered evergreen, I remember that day.

Memories are really what our trees are about, aren't they? The ornaments, even the light strings, often have stories attached. The tree itself, our memories of finding it, buying it, putting it up--so many memories, and it doesn't matter if it's a real tree or a fake like mine. I love my little stalwart tree, bare though some of its branches be. It's weathered many a storm with us. Some ornaments are older than me, some from my parents' tree, some I made, some my mother made. Two beautiful beaded ones were gifts from a young friend, whose Greek grandmother made them. 

I hope your tree plans are going well. I sure wish I could travel to each of your homes to see how you do your tree. Maybe one day, when this pandemic is over and life is something like normal again, we'll be able to get out and about. Until then, I'll enjoy everyone's trees that I see posted online. And be happy knowing we're all still safe and well.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

This Year's Tree, Family, and Fun

It was a marathon, but in the end I won.

Imagine putting 5 different strings of lights on a tree, looking for one that worked!

The first string I tried, Larry assured me worked fine. But once on the tree, no lights.

I tested the second string and it worked, until I'd wrapped it all the way around the tree. Then it went out.

The third time is supposed to be the charm, right? This string was another that Larry said worked. I started to wind it onto the tree, then thought I'd better check--only half of it lit up.

The fourth string was a real show. It worked fine and I decided to leave it plugged in while I wrapped it on the tree. It worked great for about 10 seconds after I finished, then went out with a loud POP!

The last try, I went and found two brand new boxes of lights. At last, success. So if you  saw a blue cloud hovering over the general area of Sandyville, WV last night, now you know why.

But tree trimming was held up a bit as my son and two of his three grown children and his little grandson came to visit. I'd made chicken noodle soup, and had just started  making chocolate chip cookies, so they sat and ate while I mixed batter. When I added the flour and turned on the mixer, WHOOSH! Flour exploded everywhere because I'd turned the mixer on too high. Flour on my, on the floor, on the stove, on the counter...a white mess, and one wonderful laugh! We cleaned it up, and the cookie making progressed without further incident. They came out pretty good too, at least the ones that I didn't leave in the oven too long.

Derek and Jared worked on an old camera I had on my desk, planning to take to a booth.

 They were curious as to how it worked, and after a little while not only figured it out, but cleaned the viewfinder thingie--no small feat!--and looked online to see if there was film available for it. There was, and I may hold on to this 1920's Kodak until I can get some film and try it out.

Baby Ryland stayed close to his Mama--he's at the age where he recognizes people who are strangers, or that he doesn't see very often.

But he sure liked the cookies, after taking a taste!

Then it was time for eggnog, trying this year's fruitcake, listening to carols, talking and sitting in the log room by the fire and by the lit but not decorated tree.

Derek cracked a few walnuts,

while Larry and Jared stayed close to the fire.

We had such fun watching baby Ryland try to make friends with our yellow lab Daisy. Every time she saw him crawling toward her, she ran for the door. I think she was trying to figure out what this new four-legged creature was. In the end she tolerated him, especially when he gave her treats. He loves dogs, and was determined that she was going to like it. It was so nice to watch him (he's just 14 months old) stroke and stroke her and talk to her. I wish I'd thought to take photos, it was so cute.

I hated to see them all leave. As the years pass, it gets harder and harder to get family together, so it's always a treat. When the house was quiet again, I ignored the piles of dishes and finally started hanging decorations on the tree. I'd asked Jared to put the bubble lights on it for me, and he did--upside down! I didn't think about the fact that he'd never actually seen them up close. I finished up while Larry watched a movie, and went to bed with the dishes still undone.

The Granny Sue ball was made by my Facebook friend Debbie Del Signore, a lady I have yet to meet in person. What a thoughtful gift!

Beaded ornament made by my mother, and a vintage ball from my parents' tree.

A lovely old German ornament. All the ornaments on this tree are handmade beaded ornaments, or vintage glass ones.

This morning I washed the dishes, not nearly as bad a job as it looked when I was tired.

The little dab of eggnog left over. It was pretty good; I used my mother's recipe of course.

And this evening I decorated two more trees.

This one is not vintage, although the seller said it was, but it's cute as can be anyway. I've wanted another silver tree since I sold the one I had a few years ago, and this is just the perfect size. I actually got two of them in the ebay auction, so I will sell the other one.

And this little tree I am calling my "friendship tree," as almost all the ornaments on it were gifts from or made by friends, or ornaments bought on my travels.

I still have all the other decorating to do, but this is a start, and Larry has most of the outside lights up. I am slowly beginning to feel the magic of the season, a season that I always enjoy for its folklore and mystery--not to mention good food and fellowship!

My Sunday was one of trial, tribulation, laughter, good food, and family. A great day, all in all.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

Christmas-ing

The past few days have found me busy with Christmas things: writing out and mailing cards, making shopping lists, putting up the last of the decorations, planning what to bake, etc.

We spent a couple productive hours out in the gardens, too, doing the cleanup that we did not have time to do in October or November. We trimmed back dead plants, raked, put the sidewalk edging back in place--mostly--where Larry pulled it up to replace sections of the walk with new concrete.

Larry's stepladder tree on the patio. Just lights wrapped around a wood stepladder. He calls it his redneck Christmas tree.

I cut back some bushes, put away lawn ornaments, tidied the patio, and generally got the place back to winter shape. The new sections of walk are really nice, one of those tasks that we put off several years longer than we should have.

On the porch

Now the only outside thing left to do is put up the greenery--the pine boughs tied with ribbon we always use to trim our porch and deck. Since it's raining today, that job will have to wait.

This year's tree. The brighter lights are the bubble lights.

Yesterday we drove up to Amish country in Ohio to buy some Christmas gifts. Not telling what they were since some future recipients may be reading this! It was a pretty drive on a rainy day, and we really enjoyed ourselves.

Today I have more shopping to do for a few last gifts, wrapping, gift bags, and baking items. I won't be baking much since my sons and their families really don't eat many sweets, and we don't need to either. So a few batches of cookies to mostly go to neighbors, mail carrier, and so on will be the extent of my efforts. Such a shame because I love to bake, but I applaud those who make healthier choices.

I love this time of year. Watching the light fade earlier and earlier each day only builds my anticipation of the coming of Solstice and the slow return of the sun.

Long, slow evenings spent wwatching Christmas movies (we own a large stock of them now!), the fire going in the fireplace if it's cold enough weather, the dogs inside with us--it's just plain cozy, that's all.

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.

This Year's Tree

Last year, I think I posted photos of our various Christmas trees over the years. I looked at last year's photos and found that this year's tree looks almost identical to how I decorated it last year. It's interesting how our taste changes and evolves over time. Some years our tree was more country looking, some years all homemade ornaments. Now, it's a mixture but mostly it's vintage balls. And we no longer bring in live trees. Maybe one day, but I have to admit the artificial ones are easier and less likely to trigger my allergies. Those were a surprise gift the year I turned 50--I'd never had allergies in my life, but suddenly I was dealing with them.

Some favorite ornaments:

My mother used to make thse beautiful beaded ornaments. I am lucky enough to have a few of them still. 

The white and green ball was made by Mom; the blue one was a gift from my friend Anastasia, whose grandmother made them. Her grandmother was Greek, I believe, my mother English, but both of these ladies did such beautiful work. The white heart ornament was brought back from Germany by my third son, and it's another special favorite.

Vintage balls--these are the ornaments of my childhood, and in recent years I've been finding more of them to add to our tree.

 Another one from Anastasia.

Years ago I grew some cotton--just to try it. It took a long time to be ready to harvest, and fortunately we had a very late frost that year. I had no idea what to do with it once I picked it, then when traveling down south we saw it made into ornaments, so that's what I did. I still have several left. The crochet snowflakes were craft show finds.

This is one of my cherished ornaments--we made these in 1966, each of us children writing our names in glitter on a glass ball, along with the date.

Maybe a World War II-era ball? This was in an auction lot. I found some interessting history about the ornaments produced during the war on this website.

I bought this little Spode dog this year from my friend Detra who sells vintage things from time to time.

The little bear was one of Tommy's first ornaments, given to him by my mother. It used to play We Wish You a Merry Christmas, and Tommy called it his "singing bear." It no longer sings, but it still makes me smile.

Oh, and the bubble lights! I added these last year, and I just love them! Such a silly thing, but there it is.

Merry merry, everyone!

Copyright Susanna Holstein. All rights reserved. No Republication or Redistribution Allowed without attribution to Susanna Holstein.