homemade christmas tree ornaments...and a funny story

Yesterday we celebrated the family ritual of picking out a Christmas tree!  

This year Mama had very specific ideas about what said tree was to look like!  I wanted a thin tree, that didn't take up the whole living room and I didn't want it to have big bare spaces. (yes we've had many.... too many perhaps....Charlie Brown "wild" trees!)  Normally I love our "wild" trees but this year I just wanted it to be easy!

So after I carefully explained exactly what kind of tree I wanted my husband then presented me with the question "How do you want to get it home?"

Hmmmmmn, well I was definitely not crazy about the idea of strapping it to the top of my vehicle and risking a scratch in the paint!  But we don't all fit in my husband's "older" car very well.  So off we went in two vehicles to the Christmas tree lot.

When we arrived we saw that they only had about 20 trees left to choose from!  There were hundreds the previous week, how could they sell them all?!?!  Trying to stay positive we quickly narrowed it down to two trees and I truly believe that because I had sent my tree "prerequisites" out into the universe ahead of time, there she was!  Phew!  It was easy after all!

So back to my husband's car with the nine foot Christmas tree to load on to his small Subaru Justy hatchback.  Easy peasy right?!   I had remembered to bring rope to tie it to the roof and all was good.....until.....my husband opened the back hatch and decided to stuff the tree INTO the car!  Are you flashing to the Grinch stuffing the tree up the chimney yet?!?  Yes, well that's just what I saw out of the corner of my eye and just as I went to open my mouth to say "um NO!".....CRUNCH!!!

My first split second reaction was....well not so good as I glanced into the car to find what he had just broken.  To be honest we both thought that he had gone right through the windshield!  But luckily the loud crunch was only the rear view mirror breaking off!  I calmly got into my vehicle and just as my daughter was starting to fret about how Dad had just broken "her favourite car" I couldn't help but burst out laughing!  I mean really, what else could one do at this point?!

My hubby gently closed the back hatch and the 3 of us started to follow him home in my vehicle.  All the while laughing hysterically as we watched him swatting the branches that were poking him in the ear and counting how many times the windshield wipers turned on and off!  He said the tree kept grabbing the steering wheel, pushed all the buttons, poked him and made it virtually impossible to change gears!  Well, it was easy for those of us in my vehicle anyways!  ;o)

Now here are some photos of the kids decorating our beautiful tree!

My son even tried his hand at taking a few photos...

(shhh, we've bought him a camera of his own for Christmas!)

And lastly some of the ornaments that we have made...

::  wood beads, dowel, felt, paint and some twine makes a sweet little swinging gnome girl  ::

::  cinnamon sticks, hot glue, buttons and a ribbon make these spicy smelling trees  ::

::  popcicle sticks, wood shapes, twine, hot glue and half a cork ball makes these natural angels  ::

::  styrofoam ball, wool roving and a bit of thread makes unbreakable ball ornaments  ::

::  the kids made these angels with wool roving and embroidery thread  ::

::  embroidered felt horse, this dala horse will be a gift for a horse lover  ::

Thanks for stopping by.  Hoping that your holiday plans are going well! ;o)

xoxo

~ joey ~