Christmas at my house

Here are pictures of this year's Christmas preparations at my house.  I don't do a lot of decorating, so the tree is the main focus.  I hope you enjoy these pictures of the tree and its decorations.

Every year we go to a tree lot about half a mile from the house to purchase a live Christmas tree that was grown in the mountains of North Carolina.  The Eggers family, from near Boone, North Carolina, has some of the freshest trees in town.  We have been buying from them for several years now.

This is the prep shed that was erected on site.  As soon as the close the tree lot for the season, this shed is packed up until next year.

The trees were absolutely gorgeous this year.

Mr. Eggers is carrying our tree from the lot to the prep area.

Cutting the bottom off the trunk so that it will take up water in the tree stand.

The tree is standing in a "shaker" that shakes the tree to shake off any loose needles.

Baling the tree so that it is easier to transport.

Loading the tree into the trunk of the car for its short 1/2 mile journey home.

Carrying the tree up the front walk and into the house.

The tree in the place of honor in the library.

Lights, but no ornaments yet.  It takes between 2 and 3 nights after work to get all of the ornaments on the tree.  We have amassed quite a collection of hand-make ornaments over the years.

Voila, the tree in all of its decorated glory.

Below are some of my favorite ornaments.  There are so many that it was really hard to select only a few to show you.

We have had the goose for at least 20 years.  It was one of the first hand-made ornaments we purchased.  The purple felt bird was a gift from a friend this year, so it is one of the newest ornaments on the tree.

We are not shy about using whatever seems appropriate as a Christmas ornament.  The little gingerbread man was originally a package decoration.  But it was so cute, I couldn't resist reusing it as an ornament for the tree.

We have ornaments from all over the world.  The purple and silver glass ball is from the Czech Republic, the blue and gold paper star is from Bolivia and the tiny Santas and red bell are painted wooden ornaments from China.

This cat is from Japan.  It wasn't designed to be a Christmas tree ornament, but it is just the right size and adds such a fun touch to the tree that I knew, the instant that I saw it and its companion (displayed below), that they were destined to decorate our tree.

I love this little Peruvian angel dressed like an Indian hugging the moon.  I wonder if there is a story attached this figure of the angel.  If there is, I haven't heard it yet.

This angel is rather large (about 10 inches high) and is made out of fabric that has been soaked in glue and them molded on a paper cone to form the drapery of the angel.  The hands, head and wings are made from another material (in this case, plastic).  I believe this is the technique that was used to create many of the the Neapolitan creches like the one at the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York.

Merry Christmas to everyone on AnD!