…hee. Yeah. Chez Buck is not exactly Buckingham Palace. And this year’s holidays have been marred by some pretty serious health issues (mostly mine, though some have been Mr. B’s. Spines are the very devil, I’m convinced of it. Specifically, the sciatic nerve is a design flaw and I would like to speak to a manager right this instant.)
So, despite having a yearly ritual to go to the local tree nursery and get a fresh tree, we conceded to the fact that neither my nor Mr. B’s back is up to wrangling one this year and finally decided to get an artificial one. Mr. B is a devoté of Sunday advertising circulars and he found some deals at Michael’s and Lowe’s on highly rated trees.
Reader, I hated them all. I have nothing in principle against an artificial tree. But I do want it to at least look sort of like a…tree. From a distance. Without my glasses. These looked like Charlie Brown’s infamous twig crossed with a bottle brush. I was not spending hundreds of dollars on such an object.
But Mr. B is a dog with a bone about the holidays. He kept looking and I kept wrinkling my nose at the results. Aren’t you sad you’re not married to me? I’m so much fun to live with.
Enter Mama Buck. Last year, she got us a candle from Balsam Hill. Reader, the thing is battery operated. And it looks so much like a real pillar candle, firefighters have been known to be fooled and broken windows to make sure there wasn’t an unattended candle burning. She told us she’d gotten a tree from the same outfit and that made us curious. They happened to be having a screaming sale on their trees and we ordered one. Behold:
We’ve been together almost 20 years and I’ve been collecting ornaments since I was a child, so we have a lot of them. Here are some of my favorites:
Nods to my Scandinavian heritage – Danish flags for Mom’s family, Norwegian ones for Dad’s. 
Mom made these wee sweaters from leftover sock yarn one year while visiting. 
I love the ornaments that celebrate our almost 2 decades in DC. This is a model of the grilles from the vents at the National Gallery. 
Likewise, this is one of our many White House Historical Society ornaments. 
A pair from my childhood. I call these two snoozing in walnut cradles “the nursery.” 
I love this daft thing family friends gave to Mr. B. 
Another favorite from childhood. My little belly-flopping elf. 
Our topper: a glittery, wireframe angel playing a trumpet.
Happy holidays to you and yours this winter and all good things to you in the new year!