2011 Christmas Tree

For the past few years, I decorated the tree with mini white lights, eucalyptus sprigs, and rusty/rustic ornaments.  Well, this year, I changed it up!

When Mr. Inspiring and I started our Christmas shopping, one of the first stores we went to was Lowes, so I could get some tomato cages for these trees.  That's when I was stopped in my tracks and decided that I would change the decorations this year.

When I was little, we ALWAYS had to use those BIG (C7) colored strands of lights, lots and lots of colored ornaments, and TONS of tinsel, hung one strand at a time....  ugh..........  EVERYBODY else had cool trees............  Why couldn't we??

Yep, I'm talking about the lights.  My dad loved the tree this way ~~  I suspect because I think I remember my grandma's tree decorated along the same theme.  Well, there were were, in Lowes, Thanaksgiving weekend, in the Christmas decorations, and I'm just standing there, staring at the boxes and boxes of the C7 lights.......  crying.  Even this morning, the tears are starting.   Those lights were so much a part of Christmas with Daddy......  And Mr. Inspiring really doesn't like those lights..........  He remembers his grandma using them, but the paint was peeling off the bulbs and they didn't really have distinct colors......  (You know the ones I'm talking about....)  We didn't buy them that day.   We went to Menards a couple of days later.  And got 6 boxes of them......  I love Mr. Inspiring!  He knew how my heart was hurting and how much I miss my daddy.

The first picture was taken early one morning last week, and the other was taken this past Saturday morning.  I've been playing around with the shutter time and the aperature settings.......  Trying to understand all those settings...   Did I mention I have blond hair??? 

Anyway, if you look close at the first picture, you can see that I've got my tree sitting in a wash tub.  (not sure which blogger I saw first doing that, but I loved it!!  so ~~ Thank you!!!)  That wash tub was my dad's.

I still used my eucalyptus and my rusty/rustic ornaments, but I added a bunch (A Bunch) of handmade ornaments.  Daddy would have loved it.  (sans the tinsel....  yuck!!)

This January 9, Daddy will have been gone 5 years.  I miss him so.  This tree is helping me feel like he's all around us this Christmas and that's good!!

Thanks for visiting!!  Merry Christmas!!

Hugs ~~ Suz