Many years ago, when I used to work in a classroom, as a paraprofessional, one of my duties was to change the bulletin boards in the classroom each month. Each month’s bulletin board always had a different theme. I always enjoyed finding and celebrating something special about each month, and, one day, decorating all of those bulletin boards gave me an idea!
I got the idea to begin the tradition of decorating a ‘year round’ tree, at home. I bought a tall, skinny, artificial tree and started collecting things to decorate it with. At first, my family thought I’d lost my mind (keeping a tree up all year?), but, now, I think they enjoy seeing the different decorations on the tree, each month, almost as much as I do.
I decided, each month, my tree would have a different theme. I’ll have to admit, it took me a while to figure out what some of the themes would be, but, eventually, I settled on a theme for every month. For instance, January is snowmen, February is Valentine’s Day, March is St. Patrick’s Day, etc. The summer months proved to be the toughest to choose themes for, with the exception of July, which is patriotic themed.
For the month of August, my theme is ‘summertime’–and nothing says ‘summertime’ more to me than the beach.
My summertime tree decorations are among my favorites because they remind me of the beach. Most of the ornaments came from little shops at various beaches, particularly St. Simon’s Island, since we visit there most often.
I’ve decorated the tree with sand castle ornaments, actual sea shells, and even a miniature replica of a shrimp boat! The little girl sitting in the lawn chair is one of my newest (and most expensive) ornaments. The glass ball filled with sand and shells came from Tybee Island. It’s a souvenir of one of the beach trips I’ve taken with my friend, Diane.
This ‘gone to the beach’ ornament is one of my older ones, and is among my favorites. Of course, it came from St. Simon’s Island! The sea-horse ornament, to the right of it, came from Amelia Island. I bought it on one of mine and Ed’s anniversary trips there.
Of course, nothing says ‘beach’ like flip-flops, and I have a few pairs of those for ornaments, as well. The mermaid came from eBay, and the white sea shells at the top of the picture were found on Fernandina Beach. Did you notice the little maracas to the far right?
Here’s a view of one of the sand castle ornaments, along with one of my fish ornaments. I have several different kinds of fish ornaments scattered about the tree. There’s a tiny surf board to the left of the sand castle, as well.
Of course, my tree wouldn’t be complete without a light house, so I have a couple of different kinds of those, too. The one shown in this picture came from Amelia Island. Speaking of ‘light’, the little green and blue fish lights up!
I enjoy looking at my ‘summertime’ tree decorations each day. Whenever I feel the need to go to the beach, I just look at the summertime tree and dream!
The sign on this little ornament says it all… my heart is always at the beach!
Reflections...by Kathy 