The Thankful Tree

In our front yard we have a tree that has been nothing but trouble since we moved into this house 5 years ago. I don't know if there is a huge rock right below it deep underground that is impeding the roots or what, but it has never been a great tree.


Every spring, with great pomp and confidence, I declare "This will the year the tree fills in". And at the end of every fall I conceded that it has not been a good year for the old tree. "But just wait 'til next year. Next year it will be glorious," is invariably added.

This year was no exception. It actually seemed like it was perking up around the end of July. I was so excited to finally be able to have an excuse to trim our front yard tree! Excited, that is, until we had that blast of hotness come and fry us to smithereens all August long.

That was the end for old ScraggleBritches. It fried up overnight with hardly a whimper. And so it has sat, dried-up, fried-up, and dead since then. Until last month when I decided I would harvest it's dead limbs for projects. "That old tree will finally be able to bring some joy," I announced.

"We are going to make a 'Halloween Tree' I told my family when they saw me enter the house with a huge, dead branch. We painted it black and added colored balls tied up with ribbons. The final touch was the pair of owls, keeping a keen eye on all our meals, threatening to swoop down and eat up the remains of our plates.


I apologize, this is not the greatest picture. But it was really fun to have around.

So fun in fact, that I decided to harvest another branch, complete with dried up leaves for effect, to make a "Thankful Tree".

Last night for Family Home Evening we decorated the tree. We really should have done it a few weeks ago. Then we could have been adding leaves to it all month, but do you think I'm that organized? Hey, I'm barely keeping my family running these days.



What I did:
*Cut off a dead branch from old ScraggleBritches
*Cut out some leaves (finally a use for all the ugly scrapbook paper that manufacturers sneak into packs that have the cute paper visible)
*Punch holes and attached ribbon, jute or twine to each leaf
*Stick dead branch into a pot, pitcher, planter, etc. Make sure it is stable.

What my kids did:
*Wrote things they are thankful for on the back of each leaf
*Tied the leaves onto the branches









"I am thankful for my parents" Quite possibly my favorite :)



"I am thankful for music and happiness" Cheesy, but I love it too!


I'm thankful for the Thankful Tree. I really wish we would have done it sooner. I hate that we have to replace it with something else next week.

I really need to organize myself better next year. Heck! I need to organize myself better this year. Starting with getting a new tree to replace Old Stumpy out front.