Girl Tree
Many years ago, my daughter, Ryley, was feeling outnumbered by all the boys in our home. She was drowning in the sea of testosterone that flows through our home and that year she’d had enough. I can’t totally remember now, but I’m thinking she was in seventh grade.
That Christmas, I got the idea to have a girl tree that was just for the two of us. Her favorite colors were purple, blue, pink and green. We found an old tree top at Goodwill and some ornaments. We were able to score these fun bulbs in our colors for $1.
Each year we would add a new ornament for each of us. We started with a shoe ornament for Ryley and a purse ornament for me.
It quickly became more and more difficult to find shoe or purse ornaments. We branched out and found some other options. One year, we found these sparkly initials.
However, they were sold out of the S for Suesan, and I settled on the M for Mom.
The last few years we’ve been adding the birds. Of course, Baby Girl has named all the birds, but the only one I ever remember is Giles (pronounced Zheels).
This is one of this year’s new birds. Apparently, the main theme for this tree seems to be if it glitters, it goes. I seem to have a glitter obsession when it comes to ornaments for the Girl Tree.
We outgrew our little tree top some time ago, but just kept cramming ornaments on it until last year when I picked up this white tree off of Craigslist for $25. I made my German glass glitter ornaments last year to supplement our decorations.
I also made my faux mercury glass bulbs.
You can read all about how I made the ornaments in my Christmas Bulbs post. I love the Girl Tree and while I won’t have my girl home with me this Christmas because she’s off serving a mission for our church, having the tree up makes me feel a bit closer to her.
Since the only room the trees fit in are still without flooring, the full view is a little rough.
Apparently, our cat, Adam Levine, is just as in love with glittery ornaments as Baby Girl and I. My tree is starting to look a little rough around the bottom and I had to move those chairs away from the tree because it just gave him a launching pad.
Anyone have any good ideas for keeping a kitten out of a tree? Do you have any gender specific Christmas traditions in your home?
Suesan