You’ll have to use your imagination
The cat knocked the digital camera off the counter and now it’s dead. Er - the camera, not the cat. We forgive the cat. The dangling wrist strap was just too much for a cat to resist, even if he’s huge and fat and lazy and gives his mice to the other cats when he’s done playing with them.
But the upshot is, you’ll have to look at this crummy phone-camera photo and imagine just how beautiful and creative and lovely our 7 foot tall oil-based enamel tree really is. 
Now imagine it with a stained-glass style star at the top, and cord run up over the 7 ft. wall to plug in on the other side - no visible wires, and the star is all lit up.
The tree is draped in strings of beads (or, if you’re young and naive, pearls).
All of our ornaments are hung from thumbtacks, with the oldest and most precious up out of the reach of little hands.
There is the ornate 8″ violin from my grandparents (I took 8 years of lessons & played briefly in the Albuquerque Youth Orchestra);
There are the flat gold-toned ornaments in the shapes of angels, stars and wreaths, one for each child for each year, hand engraved by Yours Truly at WalMart;
And a few surviving ornaments from hubby’s childhood.
In other parts of the house, we have crocheted patchwork stockings, patterned after the ones that hubby’s Pampa made for hubby and the other grandchildren - one for each child, and a huge one to replace hubby’s that I lost while using it to design the pattern for the others; the don’t touch delicate white nativity that holds a tealight candle inside (actually a set of 3); my Father Christmas snowglobe (we don’t “do” Santa, but do enjoy the Old World portayal of Father Christmas - so much classier than our own Santa Claus); and several more nativities, the Advent calendar, and other odds and ends.
In other news, the in-laws arrived tonight so I may be scarce for the next week. We’ll be working on the finer points of 13 people, 1160 square feet, way too many Christmas gifts, and one bathroom! Never a dull moment!
Have a Merry Christmas!
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Filed under: photos
Mrs. C., this is the most wonderful “tree” I’ve ever seen!