The Feather Tree Tickles Me

Well..it's not quite done.

However, I wanted to show you

SOMETHING

I have done to decorate

for Christmas.

Saturday night we had a blizzard.

and my daughter and

son-in-law, Lulu, Ria &

Sweetcheeks were traveling

about 100 miles in those

awful conditions.

So..to keep myself occupied

I dragged out

MyHero's

grandmother's

FEATHER TREE!

She stands about 3' tall

and is in pretty good shape

for her age.

You know where I found her?

It was in the

JUNK PILE..

'deed it was.

The junk pile my

father-in-law created

when he

cleaned out his

parent's house.

To me~ this is one

of my greatest treasures.

And..because I am

a camera idiot

(watch it- I said CAMERA IDIOT-

NOT just any old idiot)

I took the first picture at night

using a flash..And..

it looks almost

nothing like the real thing..

But here she is..

She sits in front of

a chippy old

leaded glass window

from a house we re-habbed.

The windows were replaced

so I kept the only one that

could be saved.

Flanked on either side are

two sugared snowangels.

Reproductions

that I got for about $5.00 each

many years ago.

Someone returned them

after Christmas when

everything was marked

down 90%.

I was standing in line behind

the returner and bought

them on the spot.

Foolish woman!

Here 's the tree with no flash.

I guess this is the way to go.

I might need to figure out some

back lighting in the future..

Duh...do you think so?

Okay-Now the BEST PART

of the Feather Tree story

is that sitting right next

to the

Feather Tree

was a box.

Can you guess what was in it?

AHA..I see some of you

have your thinking caps on..

It was the ornaments for

the little tree!

Yaaaayy!

There are beaded garlands

like none I have ever seen..And funky little birds with

real feathers for their tails.And this is one of my favorites..

A little bell~And several little plastic angels

in various poses.And I love this little drum..

which seems to have lost one of

the drumsticks..

which looked to be a toothpick

with a pearl on the end.And a few old glass ornaments.

And I see I didn't take one of

the few mercury glass ornaments

that are on there.And there she sits..

lighting up the side window

in our little front room...

I smile everytime I walk by it..

because she reminds me of

a softer, gentler time..

and I am tickled that she

is my own!Hmmmm...wonder which one of

my kids has their name written

on her box ..for someday..

Which reminds me of something

I hadn't thought of in a long time.

I once owned an opal..

(which, BTW, is supposed to be bad

luck to wear if it's not your birthstone..

my bad luck was that I lost it);>/

Anyway.. I wore it and my daughter, Mimi,

who happens to HAVE an Octoboer

birthday loved that necklace.

I used to tell her that

someday

it would be

hers.

When? She wanted to know.

I told her that someday

when I was old and

in Heaven it would belong to her.

One day as she was fingering it..

she looked at me and asked..

Momma, do you think you

could die pretty soon?

Hmmmm..

Do you suppose she is after

my Feather Tree now

that I have lost the opal?

Now, if you are nice to me

and promise not to

steal my chippy old window

when I am not looking..

tomorrow

I will tell you the

story of SweetCheeks

and Santa.