Our first Christmas together we were living in a tiny 3-room cottage, referred to as "The Doll House" by the locals. We had NO money, so a Christmas tree was not on the agenda. Two days before Christmas there was a knock at the door and Lorna's father, Bob was there, with a big smile and the sorriest excuse for a Christmas tree I've ever seen - a Charlie Brown special. Bob had a small general store and sold a few trees along with the groceries, work boots and dollar watches. Ours was the tree that was left after everyone in town had picked them over and had selected the presentable trees. ( I like the idea of "presentable" as a standard for a Christmas tree. Worthy of presents.) We made some colorful ornaments out of construction paper. The tree dropped all of it's needles. If we touched it, the falling needles just made a tinkling sound. When we took what was left of the tree, the skeleton, and pitched it on New Years Day, we threw all the "ornaments" out with it. I wish we had saved a couple for our current tree.
Some years we cut our own tree out at the Budd's farm. This year the brutal weather has hit us with a vengeance, so we have an artificial tree - the classic faux fir.
A lot of our ornaments are homemade or received as gifts. I made the birdcage out of brass wire and a pint paint can lid.
The sled is about 3" long. I made it out of a light coat hanger and some scrap oak ( for sturdiness?).
State Fair 1935: Lorna's Mother and Aunt Dorothy. We have her diary. They were a family of five kids that really had fun, even during the depression. Lorna made the counted cross-stitch little boy, mounted in a curtain-ring, back when she still had the eyes and the patience for it. My Grandma Berg tatted the snowflakes and crocheted the little traditional Scandinavian hearts.
The little romantic picture is the lid from Lorna's Grandma Nelson's make-up compact - the Lord knows she needed all the romance she could find. The little carved wooden girl is from Denmark. They still make them, but like most things the quality is poor now. Even the Danes are all going to hell.
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