NO HUNTING Christmas Tree

Usually we have a "hunting-theme" Christmas tree--shotgun shell lights, pheasant/quail feather garland, a pheasant perched at the top of the tree, and all the ornaments are hunting related. This year though, I did something different. I decided to do a NO HUNTING Christmas tree.

Well, actually, it wasn't my original intention--I originally intended to continue the hunting tree theme we usually enjoy. Except that I brought the wrong Christmas tree down from the attic. Yeah, yeah, I know--READ the box! That's just TOO easy! I have about 5-6 Christmas trees because I HATE hauling them up and down from the attic. Sometimes it's just easier to buy a new one. Or, as was the case for at least three of these trees, (yes, it's 6 trees that I have!) they were on sale for 90% off after Christmas. WHOA! You mean I can get an $80 tree for $8.00? And a $230 tree for $23.00?? SOLD! In fact, I'll take 'em both!

So no, it's not all that hard to get the wrong artificial Christmas tree. And once I had this baby out of the attic, NO WAY was it going back up! The other problem is Thomas, "El Gato Supremo", the Head Cat; the cat in charge of everything including dog-training. Thomas adores going into the attic. As soon as he hears the creak of the attic door he comes running. He can get up that ladder faster than greased lightening! And then you have the problem of getting him OUT of the attic. There's no rushing him. He'll come when he's darn good and ready to. So no--I had this tree down and I was using it. That's all there is to it.

The tree I ended up with was one of those super-realistic ones that is mostly trunk with branches strategically placed to look like one of those high altitude pines. Flocked with real pinecones and fake snow, it's really a cool looking tree. But it doesn't hold many ornaments. By that point I really wasn't in the mood to spend the next 4 hours decorating it anyway. So what to do? Decided on a string of red shotgun shell lights and some red bead garland. For ornaments I had a brainstorm I quickly regretted--my life-sized, clip-on dove decoys!

Yes, MY decoys. I bought them a few years back to use to decorate my office (got one perched on a pair of antlers by my doorway--next to the inflatable rattlesnake) and to use for booth displays. Of course my husband kind of decided HE liked them as well. Fine, but they're still MINE. And now that I wanted MY decoys, I couldn't find them. I did eventually, but by that time this idea was losing its "shiny" brilliance.

However, once on the tree, they really did look great. One of the boykin spaniels, Zoe, was particularly impressed. She got down underneath the tree and got into her low-profile, head-down, nose-on-the-ground, wait-for-dad-to-give-the-word crouch. She knew what these were! So as a final touch to the tree, I put a small pan of crushed, dried corn underneath the tree for "safety" since everyone knows you can't hunt over bait!

It was extremely difficult to get a photo of the tree because its in front of our French doors that lead to the back patio. Lighting is horrible! So taken from the hallway, the back of a chair that had to be moved gets in the way of a good shot. On the plus side, Mike's saddle in the background adds a certain amount of flair, don't you think?