Today’s homes don’t usually have a formal dining room, opting for a big eat-in kitchen or a gathering room, an all-purpose room where family and friends can eat together in a casual setting.
The house I grew up in had a formal dining room, and I had that as well in several of my homes. The house we live in now is no exception, and because we’d added a few feet on to the living room to accommodate my piano, the dining room beside it is a bit oversized as well. But since I have my mom’s large dining set and the bar cabinet my grandfather made, it all fits together perfectly.
Except at Christmas time, when it just seemed a little dark, compared to the living room with its big fancy tree.
And like the area by the fish tank, there’s a corner in the dining room that has a large silk tree in it that could easily be moved for the holidays…
When I told my husband my brilliant idea for yet another tree, he reminded me we hardly ever use the dining room.
Except at Thanksgiving and Christmas I reminded him, and people could see that tree as well when they walk in the house….it would really look great.
And another 5 foot tree just sort of appeared a few days later, right in that corner.
I hadn’t really thought about a theme, but since Christmas colors are red and green, I decided to use those colors and just go from there.
Of course I started looking through the ornaments I had on our family room tree, to see what I could move around (and make room for more ornaments on that one, of course). I found a number of red ornaments, and birds, and a few similar creatures, and all of a sudden the ideas started flowing.
It started off fairly simple, but in a few short years, it quickly filled up (imagine that) with a collection of red and white birds, including my grandmother’s little antique glass birds perched carefully on the branches, fancy pine cones, and some adorable little woodland creatures. And since our two Yorkies have a “thing” for squirrels, there are several of those on the tree as well. The dogs aren’t allowed in there unsupervised, of course, or those animals would probably not survive.
The finishing touch was adding a number of our acrylic dated Hallmark ornaments to it, making the tree really sparkle.
This year I added a couple of strands of garland made with red Buffalo plaid wooden beads, and that really set it off even more.
Lots of our friends have said this is their favorite tree. But I love them all!
And there’s still a few more to come. As you’ll see in “Each Tree Has a Story, Part 6” to be published December 15.