I love the tree!! I just left you a comment on your blog also!

I meant to post this on crafts forum...sorry ya'll!

I always decorated our tree in a theme. Always had it planned well in advance. Then we started having kids. I still tried to decorate the tree in a theme. It worked for awhile. Then the kids started going to preschool and bringing home all of their crafts. Each one I cherish and keep. They started putting them on the Christmas tree. I moved them to other places. They kept bringing home more. And more. And more. Year after year. And year after year I kept giving each one a special ornament that they might like on Christmas Day. I never really thought about why. It just seemed like what you do. Their 'bought' ornaments would go on their trees in their rooms the following year - preserving my perfect tree. So we found a work around. We would decorate the tree my way and as each day went by they would add their stuff until Christmas Day our tree would be an explosion of kid craft. Well our kids are now 11, 8 & 6 and last Christmas while we were decorating the tree it finally hit me. I watched as they pulled their ornaments out of boxes and recounted the stories of how and when they got them to each other and to me. It was perfect for me. We saved all of the Christmas craft ornaments for the end. I take a few pictures and then they put all of their stuff from years past on the tree. And It Really Is Perfectly Perfect ! A perfect mess of all of our likes and memories.

Yes. I started needlepointing when I first married (and I still have a few pieces from that time). DD came along and it got pushed to the back burner for a VERY LONG TIME. In 2011 we took our first transatlantic cruise and with 2 weeks at sea, I felt I had to do "something" besides bring a small ibrary of heavy books so I went to my favorite needlepoint shop (which was still in business after not going for 30 years) and bought a canvas. I finished it before we left for home so I bought another in england. I am being very disciplined and won't buy canvases just because I like them . .So I don't have a drawer of projects waiting for me. . I wait until I'm almost finished and then will get another. At around $100 per canvas (which includes yarn), they are expensive. But since it takes me several months to complete one, the cost per month or per hour for my hobby, isn't bad. I do block the canvases but I do not finish them. I prefer to have professionals finish them. All that work needs a professional finish IMO. I also do needlepoint Christmas ornaments for my two granddaughters every year. Those I do finish myself for they're smaller and easier. And I think $100 for a pillow is expensive -- Christmas ornaments are $50 to $60 each and then you have to buy the thread! (And I don't want to spend another $75 to $100 to finish them) My DD thinks it's sweet I make her daughters an ornament for Christmas. I don't think she would be too happy to know how much they really cost. So it's my little secret.