Oh Yule Tree, Oh Yule Tree ....

We got our tree last week!  We went with a live tree this year, which we will plant in my Mom & Dad's forest whenever the ground thaws.  I'm considering moving it in it's planter into our backyard after the holidays, to give the birdies a little refuge.  I'm sure the Mister will just love moving this sucker ... he almost broke his back trying to get it inside!  Word to the wise - if you go with a live tree, they weigh a ton!

Mooch posing.  She's obsessed with these fake Poinsettias I used one year to do a theme tree ... LOL
Butterbean inspecting ...

These are some mice ornaments that Mooch and I made last year.  We strung wire through some giant poof balls we got from the Dollar Store, glued on pinecone scales and buttons for ears and pine needles for whiskers, then added mini poof balls for noses and a curled pipe cleaner for a tail.

Another home crafted ornament, inspired by a Martha Stewart idea - button animals!  I bought a jar of buttons at a thrift store for 50 cents, and we made these little reindeer and some snow men with them.  Also pictured is the beautiful handmade ornament my sister made me last year.  

I *hate* that this won't store well, because I love it!  Mooch wanted to make a tree topper, and she is very into up-cycling (wonder where she gets that from?).  She pulled an empty toilet paper roll out of the recycling and we covered it in scraps of felt from other projects.  Then we lined the inside with glue and stuck in some dried leaves, sweet gum balls, and these pod-things we found on a walk.  It looks like a very abstract angel, and goes with our Mother Earth theme!

  Hope you all are well and not stressing about all the holiday nonsense.  Mooch reminded me the other day how simple it could be ... her Pop-pop asked her what she wanted for Christmas and she told him, "To come to your house and have a candlelight dinner with you in front of the fire".  She's a Pop-pop's girl!