This Ain't No Charlie Brown Christmas Tree

We have taken up the Christmas Tree Challenge on

Catherine's Chatter. If you have been surfing the adoption blogs, you are

very familiar with this upbeat Canadian lady. Catherine sees the finer points in the

small things and always has something good to say ..... even if she doesn't feel like it.

Although we had our tree up before she issued the challenge, we put it up for the

main reasons she encouraged others in the waiting room to get in the spirit of Christmas and

put up the tree. So ....... here it is, folks ..................

Diva poses next to the finished Christmas tree.

We actually purchased it the evening before Thanksgiving.

We put it up when we got home and put on the lights and garland.

Then, our Thanksgiving guests were given the task of decorating it after the meal

and before dessert while we did the dishes. It gave our friends a part in our Christmas

and gave us a jump start on cleaning up while they enjoyed themselves.

When we first moved into our home in 1984,

we removed many many grape vines from the trees on our lot.

My mom, who passed away in 2000, came for a visit shortly after we moved in and saw the pile of discarded vines in our yard.

She always had an eye for the artistic so she took upon herself to

buy some artificial flowers and ribbons and fashioned the small wreaths which

cover our tree (about 30 of them). Some are becoming a bit gnarly after all the years, but we don't care .....

they are good Christmas memories.

Last year, we purchased the oddest looking fold-away tree

(for 70 per cent off @ an After Christmas sale)

for the small patch of woods in our side yard.

Diva wears her Christmas collar for the shot.

I call her 'fluffy dog' when she sports it.

The Narnia Tree - as it was intended .

We call it The Narnia Tree because when we look out our dining room window at night,

it reminds us (in a very small way) of the mythical land in

C.S. Lewis' "The Chronicles of Narnia"

..... and here is our humble chateau complete with understated lighting ....

and the Narnia Tree in the mini forest.