The story of the Snow Angel Christmas Tree.. a tale of inspiration

Just imagine how beautiful life would be if we could just look at it through the eyes of a child. In their innocence children see beauty in ways that we never imagine. Especially during the holiday season we adults get all caught up in trying to make everything so perfect - the perfectly decorated Christmas tree, the perfect holiday meal, the perfect gift, a perfectly clean house.

A few days ago, my 5 year old grandson asked me why I didn't have a Christmas tree. I explained to him that I had given all my special ornaments to his mother so that she could put them on their Christmas tree - I just didn't have time to go out to look for antique ornaments at this late date. So, therefore, I wasn't going to have a Christmas tree this year. He looked very puzzled by my response and then he looked at me with that sweet little face and said - "I can make some ornaments for you - snowflake ornaments - I know how to make them and they are really pretty. Then you can have a Christmas tree." At first I was a little apprehensive, wondering what this tree might look like. But, then I started to get inspired. I imagined that the snowflakes would bear the same sentiments of all the framed artwork that I had collected from his pre-school days. I thought about how unique that would be - I love folk art by the untrained hand and have collected it for years. This was a "perfect" idea! Folk art snowflakes made by the most special little boy in the world.

While Riley cut snowflakes from copy paper we talked about what kind of tree we should get - large, small, spruce, cedar. I went out to the workshop and pulled out the vintage yard angel and brought it in to show to Riley to see if he had anymore ideas. As he snipped and cut away, his little 3 year old sister, and 8 year old cousin joined in. Soon we had lots of wonderful ornaments for the tree. Using the angel and the snow for inspiration we decided to call it a Snow Angel tree and since snow falls in nature we decided that the tree should be natural too - with barren winter branches. It was decided - we had our ideas - now for the tree. As with all ideas that we have around here it is up to David to make it work. He went down the road to a fence row and cut the tree, then spent hours wrapping each branch with 900 lights. The yard angel became our tree topper and we love how the blue lights on the bottom of the tree make her stand out. Then we took spray snow and sprayed all the branches for the look of new fallen snow. Riley, Lila, and Athena were so excited to add their artful interpretations of snowflakes. We topped it off by throwing bags of loose snow all over the tree (and on each other, and all over the room). It was great fun!! And, when we were all finished we stood back and smiled - Riley, Lila and Athena were gleaming with pride. It was an amazing tree, made out of the love and imagination of a child who never imagined that it would be anything put perfect!

MERRY CHRISTMAS