The Cardinal Tree

At first I didn't even want to move the tree to the new house.

Then Hilary wanted to use it for the photo shoot that she was doing for the Christmas Mini-Sessions.  We brought it to the new house sometime early in November.  

That tree didn't work out too well with the background plans she had, so into the garage it went.  At some time she suggested that we use it in the dining room in front of the long corner windows and decorate it for Christmas.

Not exactly what I wanted to do, but I decided to try it.

When Greta was here, I mentioned the plans for the tree, and she added her suggestion.  Decorate the tree with cardinals.  The dining room is painted a cream above and deep red at below the chair rail.  The windows look out onto the back yard, the deck, and the bird feeders.  Although we haven't seen as many cardinals here as we did at the other house, they could start to flock in at any time.  Or maybe we haven't really noticed since most of the time we are observing the antics of the many squirrels.

I started to look for cardinal ornaments.  Mom had many of them for her tree, but we sold most of them.  At the time using a cardinal for decoration was not something I wanted to do, mainly because it was a reminder of Mom and her obsession with them.  However, as I mentioned before, there were always cardnials flitting around at the house in Pulaski, and it always seemed like they appeared in pairs or there would be four of them, two males and two females, and I thought they were signs from Leo and Agnes or from Mom and Dad at holidays or special times when family was gathering.

A box of cardinal ornaments went into my cart at Hobby Lobby.  

I found a few at Target.

I picked up three containers of small red ball ornaments and a tiny red beaded garland.

I also found a red star that would be perfect as a topper for the tree.

Over the last couple of days we placed the tree, added the cardinals and the topper, and today, finished it with all three containers of small red balls.

It is beautiful.

And to make it even better---I had purchased a new tree skirt for it.  Before I had used a piece of fabric draped around the base of the tree which matched the fabric for the window seat cover.  But this time I needed something new.  The skirt was white and had  the word "Believe" stitched in black across the front.  After I opened the package, I realized that the skirt was reversible, and the other side was a red and black buffalo check.  Perfect!

The tree is beautiful, and it is indeed a perfect addition to the dining room.  No one can see it from the road.  Actually no one can see the house from the road!  But the glow of the lights adds to the holiday spirit each time we walk into the kitchen/dining room.  The combination of the tree lights plus the lights on the deck railing and the lights from the new lamppost next to the door is very festive.

Let the season begin!  Happy Holidays!