Tuesday, January 25, 2011

By the Light of My Valentine's Tree


I have always had a Valentine's Day Tree.
It is a TRADITION!!

My mom and I made simple trees decorated with hand-cut hearts and paper doilies when I was small.
When I was teaching, the kids and I would make a tree adding lots of glitter and bling that would sparkle on our cheeks for days. When my girls were born we often made trees wth heart cookies hanging on them or whatever they wanted to add. I wanted them to have "ownership" which involved their contributing to the final product.

I am now 67 years old and the tradition of 'the tree' still continues. I love the changes that take place every year. It now has tiny optic lights on branches, and branches painted silver and sprinkled with silver glitter.

Last night I plugged the tree in the Den and turned off the other lights. I curled up in my favorite chair with my mom's hand knit afghan over my lap. I sipped a cup of hot Chai Tea and watched a movie. I was totally at peace and relaxed. I was cozy and happy. I enjoy my alone time. I make a point of creating a home atmosphere that creates that feeling for me.

 Make this a great day!
Love, 
Joni 
PS Otter-the-dog SNORED through the entire movie. 

8 comments:

Baboona said...

I loved your valentine's tree tradition!! I agree that creating an atmosphere can help change the mood..

Thimbleanna said...

Oh Otter -- where are his manners??? Your little tree is so cute -- sounds like a perfect evening to me!

Mom IsAmagpie said...

What a wonderful tree, I love how bright and sparkly it is! I wanted to make one for our house this year, but I doubt I'll be finding any branches under all the snow. Maybe I'll go try anyway, yours is so pretty!
Glad you enjoyed the evening even if Otter snored, maybe the Chai balanced it out?

twobutterflies said...

That's so pretty and festive! What movie did you watch? Last night I watched the first half of Brideshead Revisted that I had recorded off of BBC America a while back. I haven't read the book but the movie's pretty good.

Anonymous said...

Beautiful, Joni! What a lovely tradition.

Angie said...

Fun tradition. What a great idea. Love that you're finding inspiration in the everyday stuff! ;)

Anonymous said...

That is the perfect decoration for Valentine's Day!

anjillie said...

is this tree made from already lit branches or did you light it yourself? lovely.