Cousin Larry has helped trim our tree for the last 31 years, ever since daddy died.

Keeping with tradition started by my beloved Mumsy we began the day with bloody marys after breakfast! Chris upped his game this year! Normally the Blue lizard was placed atop mom’s tree after the lights were tested and placed (oh so carefully, so all wires were hidden) 1,200 tiny white lights her last year! His Lizard Angel was placed to tease Mom & she played along beautifully, feigning outrage!

…sigh… After ‘fumigating’ the tree and relegating reptiles to their shelf we started trimming in earnest!Having removed the lizards reminded me of this photo, which hangs in our camper!

Mother gave this autographed photo to Chris in 1994, after his first tree trimming as part of the family. Clearly she had a sense of humor about his lizard ‘angel’! But I digress… This years tree angels – Larry, Chris & I!

This years tree, in all its festive glory!

Every ornament evokes a memory, from the big silver egg my grandfather, Captain Charlie Werz, brought from Germany in the 1870’s to the WWII era paper capped ornaments with string “hooks” from moms tree before she married dad, to the little ornaments from their first tree together, the first “special” ornament,

The Loony Tunes ornaments in honor of Chris & my wedding theme!

After all, if you want to stay married you need a sense of humor! Even some pretty gift tags handwritten by Mumsy hang on the tree!

Our new Square Dance Angels as well!

It’s a glorious hodge-podge of nostalgia, a cornucopia of memories that we get to relive each year as we tell the tale of each ornament being placed upon the tree!