OUR TREE & MY 8 ORNAMENTS FOR DECEMBER 8th

On Dec. 3rd I picked out a pretty little Frasier Pine Christmas Tree at Boundary Trading Co. but had no way to get it to the cabin and cut the ½ inch from the bottom before placing it in the stand. I didn’t purchase it, for that reason. Well, I stopped at Shelman Realty where Jeff (the fellow who sold us our property and also a member of the Mennonite church we attend up here) is a salesman. I knew he had 6 kids and the eldest, Scott, looked old enough to drive, so I thought maybe I could get him to have Scott pick up my tree & make the cut for me sometime soon. Jeff said he was heading home to eat lunch & then run down to Sandpoint, but if I wanted, he would take it to our place for me…no need to go back up with him. When I got home, there was the tree right next to the door, with the ½ inch cut off. It was then a snap for me to chop off the bottom branches and get it in the stand. What I didn’t know until Sunday, was that the Mennonites (that wear the hair coverings) don’t put up Christmas trees! That made Jeff’s act of kindness extra nice in my eyes. I am surely blessed to have found such kind friends in the Lord. (He also makes a mean BBQ chicken!) Thank you Jeff!

The first picture here is of the tree after I put on the lights, but without any other trim.

Okay, blogger extraordinaire Jen of http://www.unglazed.blogspot.com/ has put out the challenge for all to make a list on December 8th to show 8 of our Christmas Tree Ornaments.

They are:

1. My Favorite

2. The Oldest

3. The Funniest

4. Most Memorable

5. The Ugliest

6. The Reddest

7. The Greenest

8. The Tree Topper

I had a hard time picking my favorite, because I really like all of my ornaments. Because of my difficulty in choosing, I have decided to show pictures of my other favorites in the next couple of days. So many have special meaning to me (like my bud, Maria, made me an ornament to honor the Americans killed by the terrorists on 9-11, as a forever reminder) so I really need to devote yet another day to special ornaments.

As for now, here are my first 8 picks:

1-I'll state the obvious reason: It conveys the the true meaning of Christmas.

2-This little plastic globe with the angel with outstretched wings was on the tree when I was a baby in our home. My parents put all plastic ornaments at the bottom of the tree so us babies wouldn't get hurt. I think it might be the soul survivor.

3-This funny little clothespin snowman was made by my little daughter Jessica Rose when she was in Kindergarten. I guess this must have been when I began collecting snowmen. Isn't he sweet?

4-I chose these 4 (Eenie,Meenie,Minie & Moe) as most memorable because Jessica got them for me a few years ago and I thought it was pretty cool that she still adds to my snowman collection.

5-This ugly thing was actually once quite lovely.It was an ornament made by my Secret Santa (Linda Stehlik) my freshman year in college.She crafted it from glass from Old Main, which was torn down the beginning of 1968.Ugly & cool at the same time,right?

6-Red!

7-Green!(looks blue in the picture though)

8-And my snow angel tree topper. My sweetie got that for me about 10 years ago, knowing my love all things snowman!

And here is the finished tree! I just love it. I was so filled with joy as I trimmed it and listened to Christmas music, thinking of the greatest gift of all: Jesus Christ my Lord and Savior. Many blessings to all my friends. My wish for you is to know our Lord's love this season of hope & always. love, Cassie