I really do enjoy it because most of my ornaments are handmade and bring back a lot of memories of the people who made them and our enduring friendships. Some of them are relics from the early years of our marriage (27+ years!) and remind me of all the wonderful Christmases we've shared. I have lots of stitched ornaments, knitted ones, wooden ones, crocheted ones, needlepoint ones, painted ones, glass ones, and lots of pug ornaments.My tree skirt is a result of living so far from our families when we were first married. We didn't have any traditions of our own, so I used my love of stitching to create our first Christmas tradition. I made a huge (approx. 6 ft. in diameter) skirt from very heavy red felt and trimmed the edge in green grosgrain ribbon. Back then I stitched a lot of ornaments for gifts, but didn't have time to stitch some of the larger Christmas pictures that I love so much. So I decided that I would stitch one each year in the week between Christmas and New Year's Day when Boeing was shut down for the holidays. Then I appliqued it onto the red felt skirt with the year incorporated into the stitched piece. Some have meaning like the one with the puppies that I did the year we got our first dogs and the Americana Santa from 2001. A lot of them are just pieces I liked and wanted to stitch. One year I didn't finish the piece until February, but I have never failed to add one each year. Well, I have space for only one more picture on this tree skirt and then I'll have to come up with another idea, but I'm not giving up the annual stitched Christmas picture. It's almost like an anniversary.
All in all, the tree is always the focal point of my Christmas decorations because of all the memories.
And, on a less serious note, Lester apparently wasn't as interested in the tree as he was in kissing me.
That's me on the floor, Lester on my stomach watching my husband take pictures.
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