My Christmas tree story this year includes fruits, cats, birds and Mr. Santa Mouse ornaments.

Delicious Christmas Tree

When visiting friends and relatives, I enjoy looking at their Christmas tree and matching their holiday traditions to their personalities. Some have very formal Christmas trees, others have the more old-fashioned decor with favorite ornaments on their trees. Regardless of whether it's a real or artificial Christmas Tree, the best part are the stories that go with them.

Since this is my foray into having something more than a miniature artificial tree, it was telling that once I had ornaments I had collected over the years on my small artificial tree, there was a definite food theme.

My 5-foot artificial Christmas tree now is covered in food-related ornaments.

Barlett pears, or any other kind of pears, are one of my all-time favorite fruits. I have a semi-dwarf pear tree right off my driveway that keeps me nicely supplied. These gold-toned pear ornaments were this year's addition, a 50 cent each find at a local thrift store. Perfect to add to the delicious story my Christmas tree was already telling!

Beaded apples were purchased more than two decades ago at a home decor store sale.

The pears joined my beaded apple ornaments, purchased more than 20 years ago at a home decor store sale. I needed to decorate a Christmas tree display for a local antique store outlet. I liked their added texture from the beading and, when I don't have my glasses on, I can almost imagine them as giant raspberries, another favorite food of mine.

Most of the beaded apples were sold with another decorated tree; these were the left-overs.

Fake cherry garland adds a nice pop of red in my Christmas tree.

My little compact cherry trees haven't provided me any fruit yet but I am still hopeful my bees will help with pollination and get them going. In the meantime, this little red garland is a tribute to their presence in my garden.

The artificial cherry garland also reminds me of the year I decided to decorate an outside cedar with popcorn garland. After getting my stepchildren to help with popcorn sampling, we had a nice handmade garland to wrap around the little cedar.

The next morning, I looked out the window at the cedar tree just in time to see my wild turkeys carrying off the popcorn garland!

Fabric strawberry pincushions add a touch of family heritage to my Christmas tree.

As I was decorating, I remembered I had some fabric strawberries I could add. They were sold as pincushions but I thought they would make charming Christmas tree decorations. Since our family on my father's side were Hungarian strawberry farmers, the strawberries add a dash of heritage to the Christmas tree.

I carefully considered whether those fabric strawberry ornaments would be too tempting to may cats and decided to add them anyway. They are at the top, where little paws can't easily get to them.

I also added my little collection of gift cat ornaments from former office colleagues and a few white mushroom birds picked up for 10 cents at another thrift store. I have a family of doves that winter over in my garden, the white ones in the tree remind me of their presence. There are also several fabric bird ornaments made out of old quilts, those have been collected individually over the years.

And another old friend is Santa Mouse, who has sat on top of my Christmas trees for many years. He's venturing a little lower this year because I have a flying angel chasing a bee at the top, a nod to my new passion with beekeeping.

Yes, I also wonder how long it will take before the cats get Mr. Santa Mouse out of the tree!

Charlotte