Thanks for the Memories & A Winner!

I can't tell you how much I enjoyed all of your comments about your favorite Christmas decorating memory! I laughed and cried reading them and so many brought back memories of my own! Thanks to all of you who shared your precious memories! I wish I could have picked all of you to win, but the random number generator came up with #35 which is Chris from Miller's Last Resort! Congratulations, Chris! I really loved her memory:

"Some friends made us a beautiful gingerbread house when our kids were little (2 & 3), and I proudly set it in a place on honor in the living room. Imagine my surprise when I got up the next morning and went to admire it and it was gone. Everything!! Even the cardboard it was displayed on. Then I noticed a trail of crumbs on the floor. I began to follow them and they led to the bathroom trash where I found only the cardboard and the paper cones that *had* been icing covered trees. My adorable children had been in bed when the gift arrived, gotten up and found it, and had eaten it all up!!! "

Here is a photo of our small (5 1/2 feet) tree downstairs. There isn't much daylight in this corner, so it was hard to get a good shot. I love this little tree - all the decorations are nature-inspired and either gold or coppery colored. I used to have them on a feather tree in the bedroom - that tree was just never Mr. Squash's cup of tea (wink). Now I really like these decoration on pine - much to Mr. Squash's relief!

I'll be back in a few days. Still trying to round up before and after photos of our Squash House transformation as promised - turns out they aren't all saved in the same spot!