Thanks Susie :D This cheers me up,too! Hey Kirk, that's what the tree looked like when I was growing up. We planted hundreds and hundreds with our mother it seemed like,even staying out in the woods til well past dark with all sorts of wild animals jumping around at us out there,(back then it was moonshiners you ran into on your property, now it's meth labs) and it was scary when you're only about 6 or 7 years old! I never inherited my mother's ability or want, to wander alone in the woods til wee hours of the morning. After I was married and lived here, we still cut down our own trees, until trespassers stole all of them(to sell, I guess)one year. Some grew back up from the trunks, but we didn't feel like fooling with them any more after that. The smell is great, there's no comparison to a live tree, but we broke down and got an ARTIFICIAL pre-lit one :D lol Too many allergies, they dried out quickly,too. Boy could I tell you some FUNNNNY stories us and the kids endured with live trees ( one year involving a crazy Himalayan cat we had :D ) I can't wait til next Christmas!oh and I see Carol's tree skirt! It's just perfect. Cherry/Kudzu

In answer to using old plush toys filled with soil? Why Not? Plants are rather adaptive and you will find something willing to take over and be cut back regularly, returning with a vengeance to cover that toy completely. I make topiary for a living and have used alot of drainage pipe for letters like a billboard I did in SF for garden.com that was completely planted with ficus vine for a years' contract. I secured the black plastic 4" tubing to the billboard forming letters along the way, forty feet up...filled with soil, made plant holes 1 per foot,covered in sphagnum moss secured with fishing line, made a solar powered drip system with 50 gallon drum water reservoir (remote location) pumped it 40' up, another pump for 40' across...The new disney retail headquarters in Pasadena, CA has an 18' Mickey Mouse Archway at the entrance...it has alot of spare space inside and is filled with refuse plastic. the plants dont mind as long as they have soil and water to grow in. The 15' ABSOLUT bottle I did in St Thomas has basically a teddy bear lining inside to hold plants and soils in, come to think of it. 3 months later the ficus vine had fully taken over, no doubt it did not hurt using grey water for conservation methods...dark green plants after that!

jaybird.. I remember seeing that tutorial before! I promised myself I wouldn't go buy anything more this year. We just bought a new taller tree for this house. But if I'm going to do this mantel thingie I'm going to have to go buy more stuff. Lots more. I guess I'll start with the thrift stores, $ stores and then on to the more expensive places. :) Jim, I see how buying through out the year helps spread the cost, but for some reason I just don't. I think.. I can get that later closer to Christmas....then I'm right back where I am now. :) I had wanted to do 2 huge windows in addition to my fireplace mantel but its looking less and less likely that is going to get done this year. Oh well... I'll plan better for next year! Thanks for all the suggestions and encouragement. Today I'm concentrating on cleaning the house and getting ready to do those garland things.

Thank you for the suggestion to try a florist shop! I hadn't thought of that. But I don't think I'll need to now. Using the bowdabra I made the same bow 3 times.. trying to get it just right. It did get easier with each try. When DD got here to help me cut the rest of the tulle she kept looking at it.. and looking at it, not saying a word. Finally she asked if I had made it. I told her yeah.. and she couldn't believe it. She said its a much better looking bow than the pew bows she had borrowed!! She then asked if it was hard or took a long time. I told her its not to terribly hard..and I can make them up during the day and fluff them while watching TV. She loves them and told me to just pack away the pew bows. :) I came up with something else to put on the isles that is a whole lot easier and more in scale with the chairs being used. She is just blown away with the bow, AND my idea for the isle chairs. :) She can't believe she was so excited about those pew bows she borrowed. So I guess its all going to turn out just fine. I had my doubts at 10am this morning. (could you tell??) :) thanks for the best wishes.. and once I get this stuff behind me, I really do want to learn how to make bows the real way.