When I wrote about being the youngest of 12, I was so pleased to receive many comments and questions about my family. And, I was pleasantly surprised to learn some of you are also from large families.

Christmas in a large household was always exciting. My older brothers would take our artificial tree down from the attic, put it together, and string “blinking” lights in dazzling colors. Then, all of us would embellish the tree with silver and gold tinsels, glittery ornaments, satin bows, and a red velvet tree skirt. The pièce de résistance was our gold star tree topper….always a bit wobbly. And of course, we had fake (empty) presents wrapped in festive papers. We didn’t exchange presents at Christmas time because we did that on Chinese New Year.
In my first apartment I decided to get a real tree. I decorated it in a simpler way using only vintage ornaments that spoke to me. That is still the style I prefer today, but seeing colorful and lavish trees always bring back fond childhood memories.
Here is our little tree for Christmas 2012 ~ Happy Holidays!

 Before getting the tree, I brought out our antique and vintage ornaments. Most are silver and white, and quite small in size. Above: just as in nature, vintage German pine cones can be found in various sizes.
 Two antique French horns,  probably from Ca. 1890 – 1900.
 An early lyre or wishbone ornament. Which do you think it is?
 Many jingle bells!!
 Definitely one of my favorites: an elusive humming bird.
 Tom and I like to support our neighborhood church – Blessed Sacrament’s tree sale.
 We didn’t find the right tabletop size, so we got a slightly larger fraser fir, and cut off the bottom. Have you noticed how Christmas trees are so full and robust nowadays? I wanted an airy looking tree so I pruned out one third of the branches…..until the trunk became visible.
 And here is our tree all decorated! In addition to the ornaments, we used 2 strings of white lights, faux snow from Pottery Barn, and a piece of garden burlap for the skirt.
 Making Mocha sit still for a photo with the blue ornament boxes.
 I found this charming antique Victorian painted cast iron tree fence years ago. I love the gates.
 A gift from a good friend, our tree topper is a tin copy of George Washington’s dove of peace weather vane at Mount Vernon.
 Here is the weather vane at Mount Vernon – photo from Mount Vernon’s website. To read more about weather vanes, go here.
 Interestingly, this dove was featured on a Christmas stamp in 1974.