On 12/20/2011 1:36 AM, Julie Bove wrote:
> > wrote in message
> ...
>> we haven't decorated much over the years, again too poor when younger and
>> always away, now the cats prevent most decorations as i am a paranoid cat
>> person, Lee
>
> My mother was soooo angry with me when I got my first apartment and my first
> tree. There was a place in North Seattle called Chubby and Tubby. Not sure
> if they are still there or not. They sold any tree (real, cut) for $5.00.
> To get a good one you had to get there early and fight the other customers
> for it. I got a huge one! Not only tall but big around. And I was able to
> fully decorated it. It did help that was working at K Mart at the time and
> put in charge of the Trim A Tree department. One year they made me dress as
> an elf. I can't say that I liked that part too well. But I did have the
> advantage of finding all the best ornaments and decorations and squirreling
> them away until they went on sale. I also bought a few really nice and
> expensive ones from the now defunct Frederick and Nelson's and Wights. I
> still buy at least two ornaments from Wights each year for Angela. I have
> an empty ornament storage chest just waiting for when she moves out. She
> can take the ones she wants. She collects the ballerina ones and we also
> have a lot of cats and other animals.
>
> When my mom saw my tree she flipped out! Said a 19 year old shouldn't have
> a fully decorated tree. She even complained to my brother about it. I
> couldn't really understand why she was so upset. Especially since the
> majority of the ornaments on that tree cost me something like 50 to 99 cents
> per box. And in those days I was making something like $4 an hour. There
> were also a lot of cheap candy canes on that tree and things that I made.
> I've made a lot of craft things over the years. I also had strands of
> popcorn and cranberries.
>
> However in looking through magazines like The Good Old Days, it would appear
> that in the 40's and 50's people just didn't have fully decorated trees.
> Perhaps they could only afford say one string of lights or one box of
> ornaments and not even one every year!
>
> I'm sure if she were to see all the ornaments we have now, she would flip
> out. Over the years I got rid of all of the plain balls save for a few of
> the hand blown glass ones that are see through. They remind me of fishing
> floats. I only saved my favorite ones and got rid of all the rest. When we
> do put up the tree it is a mish mash of things but it is all things that we
> like.
>
> I can't say that I am much into those matchy matchy trees. That's the kind
> my parents used to put up after I was an adult. Their ornaments were all
> silver and red and two different styles. That to me has no personality.


I need to ditch a bunch of Christmas decorations...............
fortuntely teenlet is closing in on 18



i'll cull and sort and i'll share the antiques from his Great
Grandmother with him as 'gifts' for Christmas when he's on his own

:/

they all grow older!

kate