The other day I went to buy a lamp for my house at Lowe's and I could see the frenzy raging at best buy and I thought to myself, people don't give a rat's ass about one another anymore. Who are they even buying gifts for, themselves? Are they buying stuff just because a store says to do so with some silly sale where they are selling a product at the price it should be at anyway? In my home I stress that Christmas is about giving and not getting all hyped up about receiving. On Christmas morning my son will be volunteering, serving food at a shelter.

I do hope our lessons at home over time will prove stronger than retailers' advertising budgets that scream "More! More! Now! Now!"

From our house to each of yours. Merry Christmas!

Besides all the warmth and good cheer of the holidays I also love it because it requires me to stretch my DIY (Do It Yourself) muscles. Whether that's tying the tree to the top of the car, sawing down the trunk, trimming it to get that perfect triangle look, spray painting pine cones or making an ornament tree.




The light fixture above my table which by all descriptions is a chandelier doesn't have the clearance from the table that the one in the featured video does nor does it allow for small S-hooks (keep in mind the larger the hook the higher the gauge - you don't want to look like you're hanging car parts from your ceiling). So I did what I always do. I improvised and made it work for my specific set of circumstances by taking the S-hooks out of the equation.What resulted was a wide/squat ornament "tree" that I gave a "trunk" with the centerpiece that was already on the table. This is something you can get all your "Little Helpers" involved in to make it a family affair. See the photo below for my effort.

My very own Ornament Tree. You turn!

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