Bright copper kettles and warm woolen mittens.
Brown paper packages ties with string.
These are a few of my favorite things...
The Christmas Countdown is officially upon us!!! YAY!!! With 9 days left until Santa comes, I thought I would talk a little today about Christmas trees. All Oh Tannebaum, Oh Tannebaum style.
This history of the Christmas Tree is actually quite interesting. The basic gist is: Before Christianity, ancient people were fascinated by plants that stayed green all year round. They thought the always green plants had special powers and they used them to help bring the sun back. You see, most cultures believed that the sun was a god and in the Winter, when the days became dark and dreary, these magical evergreens were thought to help make the sun god stronger. In those times - stronger sun = warmer weather = planting season = crops = get in my belly.
The Christmas Tree that we all know and love today came to us from Germany. Most Germans would bring evergreens inside their homes, display them on a wooden pyramid, and decorate them with nuts and berries. Eventually they brought in full trees (much smaller than the floor to ceiling trees that we cherish today) and decorated them with hand made ornaments.
What really surprised me about the history of the Christmas tree is that America, as a whole, was ANTI-CHRISTMAS TREE!!! for a decent amount of time. The original colonists a.k.a the Puritans thought Christmas trees were pagan symbols and made a mockery of the church. Basically, anything Christmasy was frowned upon and anyone who celebrated was deemed a heathen and thereby shunned. As a colonist you were punished for hanging decorations. Way to be joy suckers, pilgrims.
It wasn't until there was an influx of German and Irish immigrants in the 19th century that the Christmas Tree came back in to style. Yay!!! Once electricity made its way onto the scene - people started decorating their trees with strands of lights. Ornaments, for the most part, were still handmade and being shipped from Germany to the U.S. Once mass production started taking place, we no longer looked to Germany to supply our ornaments and produced them in the States.
What is so cool about this whole transformation is that these days each family has their own traditions when it comes to this blessed tree. Some cut it down fresh. Others have artificial trees. Some go to lots and buy a pre cut tree. Then there are the lights and ornaments! Twinkle? Chaser? Multi-colored? White? Themed ornaments? Heirloom ornaments? Natural ornaments? Small? Big? Electronic moving ornaments? It's crazy. The options are endless, and just like how everyone has a unique Christmas Dinner (ham? turkey? pasta? 5 cup salad? brussel sprouts?), each Christmas Tree is as unique as the people who decorate it.
In my family, my mom goes artificial and likes to decorate the tree herself to make sure each ornament is placed just right. My dad likes a fresh cut tree and don't even think about bowing out of the mandatory tree decorating ceremony where we all dig through old boxes and hear the same stories about how and when we found each ornament as we find the sturdiest of branches for some of the heaviest ornaments I have ever seen. I'm looking at you crazy moving train globe ornament.
Me? I like a mixture of small multicolored led lights under a layer of old fashioned, big as your fist bulbs to give the tree a 'glowing from within' look. My tree is basically an expression of where I've been and cool artsy crafts that I've done... Some things on my tree aren't even supposed to be tree ornaments, but I don't care. They look cool.
In my opinion, the ornaments people put on their tree is a small glimpse into their soul. So, may I present:
My soul (a.k.a. my Christmas Tree Ornaments)
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| Who doesn't love Mickey and Minnie? I mean, they've been married for decades. |
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| Mt. Vernon in the snow. Ah, George Washington. History. |
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| Model A Ford from Greenfield Village. What up Henry Ford and Thomas Edison reference! |
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| Every year the White House does an ornament. This is from 2012. I believe it is the Roosevelts. |
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| I made this. My air is in that glass bubble. It is a complete globe. I am amazed that I managed not to make a lumpy blob. It's glass. I blew glass. |
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| To me, this is delightfully whimsy. Styrofoam balls? Frosty face? Count me in. |
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| Another Mt. Vernon ornament. What can I say? I like history. |
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| Martha Stewart came out with a whole line of retro ornaments. I LOVE THEM!!! All of the coolness from the 50's without having to worry about their delicate nature. These are 'shatter resistant'. |
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| Get it? A light ornament? A light that's not a light? Get it? Cheeky little thing you are. |
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| My sidekick, Bella, prevents me from having real tinsel (dogs + tinsel = bad bad bad) so this is a cool way to go vertical and sparkly!! |
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| If you know me at all, you know that I love shoes and all things girl. For years and years people have given me shoe ornaments. I have to be careful about the placement of all of these gems because it could cross the line from shoe enthusiast to a foot fetish tree. |
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| This big ol' sparkly tassel is not an ornament. It is supposed to be a gift wrapping enhancement. Not anymore! |
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| The Famous Christmas Pickle. Last ornament placed on the tree and whoever finds it first, gets an extra present from Santa. |
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| Ta Da! P.S. This tree is bigger than my Honda. I might have underestimated its girth... or overestimated the size of my living room. Note to self:: You are not P. Diddy. You do not own a McMansion. |
Well that's all I have for today kids! I hope everyone has a joyous Holiday season filled with lots of love and patience and good food and endless viewings of Christmas Vacation and The Christmas Story.
Forever Yours,
The Unemployed Diva.
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