Deck the Tree With Halls of Bolly . . . WHAT??

We've had various themed ornaments on our Christmas tree over the years. The tree has been elegant in its gold and silver glass balls and beaded garlands. Other years saw it bedecked with mostly Hallmark Keepsake ornaments with more of a traditional red and green color scheme. I usually asked the girls which tree they wanted each year - the fancy one or the traditional one? Guess which they liked the best?

Since they've moved out on their own, I've given many of the ornaments to them for their own trees. The last few years have seen our tree dotted with old-fashioned blown glass ornaments that I've collected from places I've visited or if I happened to find one that represented something I enjoy. You know, like gardening. Carol of May Dreams Gardens inspired this post, which shows some of my garden-related ornaments, as well as others.

Two years ago, Kara and Jenna gave me this Willow Tree "Angel of the Garden" ornament. They also got me the figurine, which I keep out all year round on my computer desk.

I really love the Willow Tree ornaments and figurines, especially the Nativity set. But we already have a Nativity set in Precious Moments that was given to me when the girls were very small.

The same year they gave me the Willow Tree garden angel, they also gave me another figurine, which was the angel holding a cat ("With Affection"). I've got one with an angel holding a book, too ("Angel of Wisdom"), which represents one of my other great loves - reading.


When one of the online stores had their Christmas ornaments marked down last year - before Christmas! - I bought this blown glass amaryllis -



There are fruits and vegetables...

This past July, I went on a bus trip with my parents and we toured Firelands Winery in Sandusky. I managed to talk one of the sales associates into selling me an ornament of a bunch of grapes from one of their display windows. This spring, we're going to be planting some grape vines of our own.


Have you heard of The Legend of the Pickle? When we toured Swinney Homestead in Fort Wayne, Indiana many years ago, I learned about this and bought one of the glass pickle ornaments they had for sale in their gift shop. I've seen them in lots of places since.


In addition to these garden ornaments, there are several birds on our tree. A cardinal, of course, since it's our state bird and we see and hear them all the time...





And just as no garden is complete without a cat, my tree wouldn't be either, so there are several kitties hanging alongside the birds, such as this Hallmark one.





I'll be keeping my eyes open for other ornaments that may be marked down after Christmas. I can always use one or two (or three) more!

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EDIT: Less than 20 minutes after publishing this post, I just "happened" to come across these. A tad bit pricey for me, but fun to dream about. *sigh*