I posted a rhyme on facebook, and then thought, what the heck, I'll put it up here, too.
Inspiration that hit as I was pulling our our polyglot assortment of Christmas ornaments to hang on the tree this year. I thought it might be kinda fun to see if anyone who hung out at the house would actually try to find all the stuff; I might even procure a small prize. Sort of like the Pickle Game, taken to another level.
I admit I bobbled the rhyme/meter just a bit in the verse about the angels. But the rest fits my memory of those 'I Spy' books my kids had.
I challenged my facebook friends to write a similar rhyme about their tree. But after a few days, I began to realize there may not be much response there...as I looked through the photos of my friends' Christmas trees, I realized mine is rather old-fashioned and out of date. I mean, who puts lights and random ornaments on a tree anymore? The standard seems to be a few sets of color-coordinated ornaments, net and ribbon, with a pouffy bow or floral arrangement or something at the top.
Something like this: (courtesy of Better Homes and Gardens)
Or this:
Not much to I SPY on any of those. But the old fashioned tree at our house...yeah, there's some I SPY possibilities there...
So what kind of tree is at your house? BH&G beauty, or kitschy old fashionedness?
I SPY UPON THE CHRISTMAS TREE…
A dolly named Sue and the Grinch with a tree
Two turtledoves and a partridge with a pear
Four bristle-tail birds and a wild black bear
A horse pulling a sleigh, a swirly sea shell
A World War One Ace (twice!) and a green striped bell
Three young carolers and their shadow
The State of Indiana and Three bells in a row
Three horses that rock, Chuck and the Gang
Two street cars and A Ford Mustang
A sewing basket, a box with thread
A tree in a thimble and a quilt edged with red.
A cat with a hat and a red hair bow,
A dulcimer and a barn with silo
A tree full of candy from 2009
A bristly rabbit and a duck made from pine
An angel in a rosy dress,
One with golden wings
A crystal angel with a tree
And one with a book to sing
A mouse in a nutshell, two birds in a nest
Two tiny sheep under a star to rest
Wise men on camels, a pair of mittens
A butcher shop and two mischievous kittens
Two lamp posts and a red front door
A doll named Ann and a Santa by Shore
A holly necklace on a dove
A round-headed kid with a tree that needs love.
Ice skates on Santa and on a Snowman, too
A red-striped shirt and a shirt that is blue.
I’ve found all this and more on our Christmas tree
How many of these things can you also see?
I did a theme tree one year and missed all my collected ornaments. So we went back to putting up a mixed ornament tree. I do try to buy mostly gold and silver things, however, to keep the tree consistent. Cutesy ornaments go on the smaller "kids" tree in another room. I like your poem!
ReplyDeletePretty, pretty tree !
ReplyDeleteI buy new ornaments every year and finally have more ornaments than tree ! When I'm done, and it takes me a couple of evenings!, my 9' tree will be loaded....and the theme is definitely kitschy, old fashioned. Every couple of years something draws me and I end up with a bunch. So, one year I bought lots of 'angels', another all nutcrackers, another all shiny, yet another all wood or ceramic (missed the shiny the year I put on all of these LOL). Now, everything goes on and I love it. I do consistent in lots of places, but not the tree. Only problem now is the lights - a tree MUST have coloured lights and ours wasn't made with colours, only white :-( I miss 'em.
Claire, I have no idea what I will do with this tree finally falls apart...and it's beginning to show its age now. I can't find anyone that makes trees like it anymore...full, natural-looking with NO LIGHTS. Guess we'll just have to switch to fresh cut. ;-)
DeleteI bought a small tree to use in another room in the house and actually pulled the white lights off of it before we put it up. Fortunately, it was just a matter of unwrapping the branches, although it was rather tedious.
I really like that it's pre-lit, set up is so easy. Hubby gets it up in no time. Compared to some it's not soooo horrible, pretty full and lots of lights. One of these years I'm going to ask for a couple strings of coloured lights to be added.
DeleteI'd prefer a real tree but we put it up so early and I leave it up a long way into the new year. A real one just couldn't last that long.
Yeah, a fresh tree has a much shorter decor span than the artificial ones. We actually do fresh trees...but only in years when we don't travel. My biggest beef with the pre-lit trees is that the light strings don't last as long as the tree. I like the lights on our tree; they're retro and they have plug-in lightbulbs. We have some similar lights that are LEDs, but we can't use those to power the ornament spinners. The last time we used the LED lights...because I was in a hurry...I kept looking at the tree and thinking how boring it was...I'm too used to the kinetic look, I guess.
Delete:-)
We have yet to get our tree up but the decorations are about 70 percent homemade by my children when they were little or crafted by my mother. Definitely not BHG but much more personal and warm and fun.
ReplyDeleteOh, love home made decorations! My older kids took theirs with them, but the younger two still have some that they put on the tree. Pasta angels, Christmas light bulb Rudolphs, beaded candy canes... There are a few on the tree that I've made; some worked better than others but even the ugly ones are there in the back. ;-)
Delete