GrandmaBarb, Just loved the pretty little birdhouse and the fantastic garden pointer. How clever you are!! Barb sent me a sign that she had made from an old piece of weathered board on which she had painted the prettiest yellow flowers on the left of the board. On the right of the board she had glued little tiny pointed pinecones in the shape of an arrow with blue jewels along the sides showing the way to the garden. On both the birdhouse and garden sign she had painted Ellens Joy. I am so happy that you were my Secret Santa as you nailed my personality to a tee. Thanks for the time you spent on my gift during this busy time of year. I love it. Ellen

ok call me stupid. :) I finally realized that the extra long branch of the fake tree IS wire and that I could wrap it around the base of the star! hahaha :) so we finally have our tree up with a star on it. :) We can now start adding ornaments! :D This is our first Christmas in our house and I'm so excited to decorate. We are still living out of boxes, but I don't care....the tree has to be decorated! :D Now to move on to furniture in the room and curtains to hide the cord to the lights. :) hehehe

Thanks all! I’m sitting here with this sad tree that we put SO much effort into. ==>>> you made a decision since you wrote this ... but lets get your head straight for this time of year .... no matter what happens... you are making.. made .. a memory ... most likely you arent going to remember an uneventful tree .. this one.. you will remember forever.. lol,.... and you are already on that journey ... and you will remember.. the year you got to decorate twice .... have a great holiday ... ken btw: here in MI ... they sell magnetic sheets ... that you can cut to the size of the register/vent ... and slap it on... and it self sticks ... 3 for 5 bucks or some such ... this will remove the direct flow of air on the tree .. which will really help ... and it will redirect the air to other vents.. https://duckduckgo.com/?q=magnetic+sheets+for+heat+registers&t=ffcm&iar=images&iax=images&ia=images

It has been a while since we have had a fresh tree -- we had a cat who sprayed them. When we did have them, we would wash them -- spray them down with water outside when also making the fresh cut on the trunk and putting it in a bucket of water before moving it indoors. It helps, but it may not be enough. Since the tree is already lit, moving it outdoors would be the only real option -- and the sooner the better. I think a lit tree outdoors would be charming -- and some bird feeding ornaments a perfect touch. Need some ideas? pinecones coated with peanut butter and seed are a classic branches with holes drilled and filled with a suet mixture Fruit -- sliced oranges and berries Roasted but unsalted peanuts in the shell with a yarn or twine tied around the middle -- you can do several in a chain -- bluejays seem to really like these popcorn strands These ornaments - https://www.southernliving.com/how-to/home/how-to-make-birdseed-ornaments-video https://www.audubon.org/news/make-your-own-suet?ms=digital-eng-email-ea-x-20181104_suet-diy_medium&utm_source=ea&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=20181104_suet-diy&utm_content=medium https://www.wikihow.com/Make-Bird-Seed-Ornaments https://www.onegoodthingbyjillee.com/homemade-suet-cakes https://baltimorebirdclub.org/by/suetrecs.html Didn't find the suet recipe I was looking for and have to run DS to the ortho but there are some similar ones there.