Oh Christmas Tree...

I was staring at our tree tonight thinking about what it represents.

A lot of folks have 'theme' trees. All the ornaments match, the lights are all one color, everything hangs just so...

Candy cane trees, South West trees, pink trees, blue trees, snowman trees, angel trees.

Our tree, on the other hand, is a Family Tree.

It doesn't match. It has no unity. It's a mish mash of styles, themes, types. It represents our life. Us.

We have home made ornaments. Child made ornaments. Glass ornaments. Vintage ornaments. Horses, dogs, angels, clowns (shudder) tractors, candy canes, even a few of the ever present, over done glass ball ornaments. (I apologize if you are a glass ball fan, They just have never done it for me. ;) )

Each ornament represents something from our life over the past 2 decades.

Each child has a 'first Christmas' ornament. Many of the ornaments were gifts. Quite a few were never intended to be ornaments to begin with but I hung some string on them & put them on the tree & there you go.

It's a jumble. A collage. A kaleidoscope of color & memories.

See, THAT's why the balls don't do it for me. Say your tree is all decorated in red balls. How do you tell them apart? Do you have a memory for each one? Do you remember when you got it? Who you got it from? Does it have your child's name scratched out in crayon on the bottom?

I look at my mish mash & I CAN remember where I got almost every single one. Who made it. Who brought it back from Mexico for me. Where I bought it. Why. What friend it brings to mind.

Christmas trees are special. They aren't a decoration. Or a fashion statement. Or a vehicle for a theme.

They are you. Your life. Your family.

In a discordant, color clashing jumble of mixed mediums that come together to make the prettiest tree ever.

Each & every year.

 They are are something that make little children gasp & squeal & ooooooohhh with delight.

And if yours doesn't?

You are doing it wrong.

Fix it. Change it. Make it right.

I have some 1960's elves I can loan you if you need them... :)

Blessings.

One last thing...

One...or maybe two last silly things from our trip.

We were in Bakersfield getting our tire repaired & this RV in front of us does an illegal U turn, across 2 lanes of heavy traffic. What made this memorable?

The whole side of the RV was a picture window. Right in the middle of the picture window was a cat.

The cat was sitting up, in the middle of the window with this expression on it's face...this expression which clearly said:  "Doesn't this jack wagon know what he's doing is totally illegal? Even *I* know this is illegal & I am a cat. How did I get stuck in THIS RV?"

We all laughed. And I'm blogging about it so clearly this made an impression upon us ;)

The second memorable travel moment came at a truck stop. This ginormous bus was fueling up. In the passenger seat, in it's own special box with food & water bowls, enjoying a little fresh fruit snack was a....

any guesses? C'mon. Guess.

No. No. Not that. Nope.

Give up?

A ring neck pheasant!

Seriously. A full grown ring neck pheasant.

Sitting there as nice as can be.

Which is what really blew me away as every pheasant I have ever known (and I have known many) was a psychotic nutter with a death wish.

So there you have it. Apparently folks with RV's tend to run on the eccentric side...like my friend B. They have a beautiful bus.

They also have 11 children & they fly around in paragliders...

See? Eccentric.

So...do you think they are already eccentric & that just leads them to buying the RV's or do they become that way after purchasing one?

Hmmmm...

Blessings.