Deck the Halls-Sixties Style

One year, my grandmother put up an aluminum tree. I thought it was the most remarkable thing. She even had the rotating color wheel that made the tree sparkle in every color on the wheel. I often wonder if that tree is still packed away in her basement.

My other grandmother had bubble lights on her tree. I can barely remember them but they were so neat. I feel like she had had them since the 1940's much like these Noma ones. In modern times we have learned that the chemical in bubble-lights were highly toxic. A few years ago they were back on the market minus the toxins. I bought them and put them on my "vintage tree" that held all my collection of ornaments from the sixties. They lasted a year or two, then they became leaky and finally stopped working. Now they are very hard to find. I did see some this year, but I resisted buying them, since it's seems they just won't work without the toxins.

Elves just like my gift from an old friend.

When I was three or four years old, we lived next door to an elderly man who spent a lot of his time rocking on his porch. I would go down and rock with him almost every day. It must have been something special about him because I was intensely shy and would have nothing to do with most people. After he passed away his family called my mother and asked if she would come and get something the old man had left for me. It was a Christmas table arrangement with reindeers pulling a sleigh full of elves. It was pretty bizarre by today's standards but it taught me one of my first lessons of giving, kindness and compassion. I wish I still had it, but it was made of styrofoam and did not survive the passing of time. 

My Vintage Ornaments

My most special ornament made by my son in kindergarden. It's just a paper chain but it has held up for  twenty-one years now.

We would walk into the woods around our house and cut down a cedar tree for our Christmas tree. My most memorable tree was the year we made ALL the decorations. We strung popcorn for the garland and made paper chains and ornaments from construction paper. We also made our own wrapping paper that year from finger- painted freezer paper. What a great memory.