When I was a kid in Toronto, I remember my dad and I going to the lot to pick out our tree for the holidays. Although we didn't have a lot, we always had a big tree with lots of lights, tinsel and pretty glass ornaments.
I also remember that one year we each received a brand new pair of skates, our stuffed to the brim stocking and that was about it....but you know it was always good.
When I rub my hand through the needles of a birch tree, the smell connects me to oranges, wrapping paper, turkey roasting and all that was magical about those times.
As I grew older and had a house and family of my own, I decided that I didn't want to buy a cut tree.
I thought it a waste and I suppose in my hippy youth I was becoming environmentally conscience.
We still had lights and decorations, although they were either on a little indoor, live tree or some branches brought in from the woods.
A few years ago I started to go for long, cold walks in the bush to find a tree whose top I could take to bring home...but this year I guess I am going back to my beliefs and using branches from my Japanese dogwood to create something a little different...
I am calling it the Christmas chandelier.
I have all of my favorite decorations on it...
...this one I got years ago at a craft fair...brilliant use of a walnut shell...
This one was a gift from a friend in Minneapolis. It is made by a Mong woman.
This sweet little 2" boy was made by a woman on Denman Island...
...a pretty little glass chickadee...
...and this tiny knitted stocking from a little craft fair in Errington...which is a tiny place as well.
So for me the smell of an evergreen tree will remain in my memories or will be triggered by the brushes against
the birch on my walks.
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