Ohhhhh Tannenbaum - Part 1

On the weekend, my friend and I went to a wonderful store in Port Hope called Acanthus Interiors. It is housed in a building which was once the famous author Farley Mowat's home.

                                                          

The owners were celebrating the store's twentieth anniversary with an open house. There were hors d'oevres, cupcakes, punch and prizes. Visitors had the opportunity to select one of a number of home furnishing items and gift baskets, deposit a ballot and hopefully win. The decor, as always was gorgeous, with wonderful Christmas displays.

For anyone who happened to read my blog, "My Christmas Tree" (December 16, 2011), you know that hubby and I were desperately in need of a tree. I had hoped, no, I had expected to win one last year and I didn't. Yesterday, we broke down and purchased a tree. As we walked through the door, new tree in tow, the phone rang. I answered. "This is Acanthus Interiors. Congratulations, you won the designer tree!".

One of the prizes available in the store, was a fully decorated  Christmas tree and I had won! It was valued over $1900. Hubby who was of course thrilled at the savings, immediately ran out to return our newly purchased tree. I was glad that for this year at least, no tree decorating would be required.

When we went back to Acanthus, I took a few photos in order to recreate the tree once I got it home.  I removed and bubble wrapped the fragile ornaments. The tree was in three pieces but we only separated the tip. That part contained an ornate bow and giant, heavy, brushed gold balls. Hubby then carefully carried the lower portions and placed them gently into the van. Several trips later, all boxes, ornaments and tree parts were ready for transport.

I was thrilled that no tree decorating work would be required this year. After all, we now had a designer tree. Slap it together in the front window and voilà. Oohhhh....ahhhhhhh.....oooohhhh from all our neighbours and friends.

Once home, I eagerly assembled the tree. I began to hang the ornaments and stepped back to admire my prize. Hubby suggested we should personalize the tree by adding some of our own decorations. Hmmm...I wasn't certain. I didn't really want to rummage in my newly organized Christmas bins. "Sure", I answered hesitantly. My "no work" vision fluttered out the large windows behind my new tree.