My Halloween Tree

Several years ago, I bought a wire ornament tree that stands about 3 1/2 feet tall.  It sits on a cabinet in  the living room year-round and I like to deck it out for the changing seasons. I'm not always very consistant about it - in the summer it tends to look uninspired and forgotten, but I love setting it up for Halloween and Thanksgiving, and on into Christmas, whether we get a larger tree or not (and with the kids all grown and gone, 'not' is what we decide more often than otherwise).

We even used the tree as a part of our wedding reception two years ago, wiring flowers to it and making small tags available to guests to write their well wishes on.

This weekend, I hauled out the Halloween decorations and set it up, and I love the way it sets off the room and pulls in so many fall colors.

I use a hodgepodge of goodies collected over the years.

Garlands of bright orange leaves, and another of grape leaves are draped among the wire branches to provide a base.

The small black eyed susans are actually remnants left from the wedding - my daughter had wired them on quite tightly, and I haven't been able to bring myself to remove them - so they peek out regardless of the season.

A few ornaments are specifically for Halloween - a set of black lace plush ornaments shaped like pumpkins witch's hats and shoes, a Hallmark 'candy corn' ornament, and a felt stitched skull I made a few years ago.  Others are more generic - rusty stars and bells, an owl, and a set of work carved deer.

At the base of the tree, I laid out another flower garland, this one autumn hued chrysthanemums, and set out a pair of metal witches hat candle lanterns (they're pretty much buried by the other trinkets, and may get moved).  The centerpiece of the base is our growing collection of skulls, plain or painted, and a lovely Day of the Dead Senora figurine.  This year we've added a glass skull bottle from Crystal Head Vodka that makes me very happy!

We then decided to run some lights through it to brighten up the room - a set of candy corn colored lights were run through the tree, and some purple LED lights set below the tree among all the skulls.  A couple pumpkins almost completed the picture.

I thought I was done at that point, but remembered Elphaba - a wonderful knitted witch made by Gina Morley of Daydream Believer.  Elphaba usually hangs out in our office, and I almost forgot to add her to the fun!

I think it's done now, although my daughter and her family are about to arrive to stay with us for a few weeks before they head over to their new station in Germany.  I haven't yet met the baby (now 13 months old), and my older granddaughter is now six.  When she was a baby, she used to be fascinated by the year round tree, but they've lived far away from us for a few years now, and I am so curious to know if she'll remember it.

Either way, I'm hoping to get her to make me a few trinkets to add to it before they leave.