The Christmas Gift Tree!

Occasionally..ok, quite often, I get one of those harebrained ideas stuck in my head and there it stays until I at least attempt or convince someone else to attempt to make it come to fruition.  This particular thought occurred to me long ago..way back years ago right after Hurricane Katrina.  Anyone who saw our place could fully attest to the mountains of debris that washed in with the flood waters.  By mountains, I mean in some areas, it was every bit of ten feet deep!  It was like the master of all treasure hunts once we started cleaning.  I was amazed at all of the stuff that had come from who knows where.  Of particular intrigue was the amount of furniture or parts of furniture.  This all seemed far too much of a waste just to toss on the burn pile so a goodly amount was set aside with good intentions.  Yes, I did refinish and restore a ton of it but there still remains a lot that is just parts of tables, dressers and beds.  My harebrained idea involved some of these pieces..mainly the beautifully hand-carved pieces that were once drawer fronts of antique dressers.  How in the world could I throw these pieces on the trash pile?  I did not.

This week, Son asked me what I wanted for Christmas.  I know he hates to shop about as much as I do which accounts for my usual "Christmas Pizza"!  Michael would always just tell me that he would treat me to a pizza when we were taking down the decorations after Christmas had passed.  This was greatly appreciated after all of the work of the holidays and after all of the sweetness of great quantities of cookies.  But this year, I was ready for him to ask his question!  "Hey, Mom, what do you want for Christmas?" he queried.  "I know just what I want!" my answer took him aback!  Then I dove into explaining just what he could do for me!  I told him that I wanted a Christmas Tree!   He questioned this as we had just put up and decorated two very large trees..one in the dining room and another in the living room.  "No, no, no...I want one for the hallway!" I exclaimed!  He stared at me and then at the hallway.  I suppose he thought I was as batty as a loon at about this point.  Our hallway is a mere three feet wide and putting a Christmas Tree in there would be slap nuts!  I persisted by explaining what I wanted. My description of the tree left him more confused than ever until I gathered together the pieces.  Then he began to understand.  My tree was to be made from all of the ornate carved pieces that I had saved from Hurricane Katrina. And so, he set to work.

I am now the proud owner of a very unique tree!  He made it exactly how I requested and it is perfect!  After a rubbing of green paint and some wood stain, the tree is ready to be installed in the hallway.  Tomorrow, he will cut a "tree stand" to be mounted beneath the tree itself and with two small nails, my tree will stand in all its glory!  The hallway will be decorated. I will have a Christmas gift that will last a lifetime and the beautiful handiwork of artisans that hand carved the wood will not have been wasted!  This is a win/win situation for all of us!  I love my tree and I love Son for not thinking his mom is too crazy!

Christmas is coming to the Little Bayou House....

Christmas is coming to the Little Bayou House and it is coming one room at a time!  The holiday decorating is in full swing!  I am not one of those efficient folks that manages to put up all the decorations in a single day but then again in my defense, I do decorate the entire house.   As with all holidays, the entire house will be adorned with some sort of decorative embellishments.  This year is no different in that aspect but is quite different in the type of decorations that are going up throughout the place.  When we pulled out the billion or so boxes, Michael informed me that some of the stuff just was not going to be used.  What?  Not use decorations?  What in the world was he saying???   I hemmed and hawed a bit until he clarified himself.  He had definite ideas of how the house should be adorned and was in hopes that I, for once, would do it this way.  He said that all of the glittery, glitzy ornaments just did not "go" with the Little Bayou House.  They were far too "prissy" for such a rustic little place.  PRISSY!!! I like that!!!  Just who did he think he was talking to about being prissy!!!  Ok...he was right.  I am not prissy nor is my little house prissy..it is definitely rustic.  It is about as rustic as one might imagine.  Think bayou...think marsh..think fishing-camp-style-on-the-bayou.  Yep, that is pretty rustic and I am about as bad.  No glamorous clothing, hairstyles, shoes nor jewelry for this old country girl!  Give me a pair of jeans, some moccasins and a flannel shirt and I am good to go!  Anyway....the Little Bayou House was to be rustic for Christmas!

Today, he helped decorate the Christmas Tree in the living room.  We pulled the lights out of the box labeled "Wreaths" and untangled the mess.  He put them on the tree and stood back to admire his work.  Satisfied, he searched for garland.   I had tons!  Every sort of garland was in the box labeled "Ornaments"!   He scratched his head at my labeling but soon found that none of my garlands were even remotely what he had in mind.  "Do you remember the year that you used rope as garland?  Where is that?" he asked.  I pulled out rope.   He draped rope around on the tree with my expert help!  Soon the loops of rope were dangling from the limbs and I admit it did look rather nice!  Not nice in a prissy sort of way, though...nice in a rustic sort of way!  Then we hunted for the ornaments!  These were in the box labeled "Lights", of course!  (Just where did you think they would be?)  Not one of my glitter-covered ornaments had a chance!  Nary a glass ball can be found on the tree!  The silver and gold bells were shoved to the bottom of the box!  He said that only the wooden or rusted tin ornaments were the right style.  So..those were all hung. My brown paper angels were suitable for his rustic theme and were next to go on the tree!  Then some pine cones that I had picked up earlier were stuck between the branches.  Sleigh bells were added and then a few old toys.  We stood back and looked at our handiwork.  Beautiful!  The tree did look like it belonged.  Christmas was coming to the Little Bayou House!