A Mexican Christmas Tree

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                                       A Mexican Christmas Tree

Although I’m not a Mexican citizen, I’ve lived in Mexico for 14 years and I do have permanent residency.  My tree, however, is influenced by a number of places I’ve lived and traveled.

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The tree and most of the ornaments were handmade in Mexico––either by artisans or myself.

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The straw ornaments including the woven garland were made in Mexico–in Tzintzuntzan or elsewhere, as were the miniature pinata ornaments such as the purple one that is front and center in this picture. The tiny silk animals and children, I bought in Hong Kong and Taiwan in 1968. The knitted children and animals I bought in mainland China in 1979.

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I made the copper disk and rectangle ornaments and bought the silver-colored eagle and other pressed-aluminum ornaments in the Santa Cruz flea market.

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I made  flowers such as the one shown above  out of  egg cartons.

Merry Christmas!  I hope to show other aspects of a Mexican Christmas in later posts. For other Christmas trees around the world, visit the URL below:

 http://silverthreading.com/2015/12/06/christmas-trees-around-the-world/

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About lifelessons

My blog, which started out to be about overcoming grief, quickly grew into a blog about celebrating life. I post daily: poems, photographs, essays or stories. I've lived in countries all around the globe but have finally come to rest in Mexico, where I've lived since 2001. My books may be found on Amazon in Kindle and print format, my art in local Ajijic galleries. Hope to see you at my blog.

39 thoughts on “A Mexican Christmas Tree”

  1. Colleen Chesebro's avatarSilver Threading

    Judy, your tree is spectacular! I am blown away at all the beauty and creativity! I love it. Thank you for participating in my Christmas Trees Around the World! Loved it! ❤

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            1. lifelessons's avatarlifelessons Post author

              okcforgottenman showed me a website where you could pick up emoticons and copy them into comments, but that takes too long and the emoticons weren’t very interesting. I love the emoticons on Skype. They are masterfully created and a hoot to boot.

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    2. lifelessons's avatarlifelessons Post author

      Thanks, Marilyn. I have always enjoyed looking at your home and surroundings as well. It looks like a house that would welcome one in and I imagine you and Garry sitting in your snug little TV world watching movies (not news} ’til the wee hours.

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    2. lifelessons's avatarlifelessons Post author

      . . . and I love your blog as well. What a richness you have in those journals and in the fact your grandma is still alive. An additional richness in the tenderness with which you report your experiences in transcribing them.

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  9. janebasilblog's avatarjanebasilblog

    Your tree is gorgeous! I’ve neve seen anything like it – but then I’m English, and we’re rather restrained over here – except when it comes to football hooliganism and such.
    I checked your link to silverthreading. I love the mannequin tree. I haven’t put my tree up yet – it was my mother’s tradition to decorate the house on Christmas eve, and while I don’t stick to that, I wait until a week before Christmas – and I wasn’t sure what to do this year. Now I know.

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      1. janebasilblog's avatarjanebasilblog

        I most certainly am! It will give me an excuse to display Serenity – that’s my mennequin’s name – in my bay window. she will look different than the one in that post, but she will be beautiful – she is beautiful, and too few people get to appreciate her. I spent weeks trawling Ebay to find her for the shop I used to have, and after the shop closed down I brought her home.

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        1. lifelessons's avatarlifelessons Post author

          I had a mannequin I bought to display jewelry on when I was doing shows. She was just presented from the waist up and was armless, but I loved her and now regret selling her when I moved to Mexico! Really don’t know where I would put her, though, as my house is rather full!! Will you post a picture of your tree, please?

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          1. janebasilblog's avatarjanebasilblog

            Did you make the jewelry yourself?
            I’ll post a picture if I can, but I have issues with that at the moment – I don’t seem to be able to upload photos for some reason. I really must sort that out.

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            1. lifelessons's avatarlifelessons Post author

              Hi Jane. I was a silversmith for 14 years before moving to Mexico. I did shows nationwide at first and then narrowed it down to California, Oregon, Colorado, Arizona and New Mexico, as well as galleries in those locales. When I moved to Mexico, I sold most of my jewelry tools and turned to doing the retablos and other sculpture.I had trouble posting pictures the other day as well. I gave up and then came back to it the next morning and everything worked again. Do you reduce your pictures in size before you put them in your media file? Cee advised me to do this and it made all the difference. I now reduce the largest side of the pic down to 1000 and they transfer quickly.

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            2. janebasilblog's avatarjanebasilblog

              I have a freind who is a Silversmith. I often wish that I had learnt that skill.
              When I have the energy I’ll take another look at the photo problem, following your advice. Thank you.

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            3. lifelessons's avatarlifelessons Post author

              My husband encouraged me to take a class and that was all it took. (Although I went on to take a number of others.) I discovered I had a facility with three-dimensional art that was lacking in two dimensions. One never knows until one tries.

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  12. barbwit's avatarbarbwit

    Hugh was going go and buy our tree – a pinon pine if we can get one we can afford, as they smell lovely – but this morning we woke up to at least 3″ of snow so he’s waiting for the sun to clear the roads. I took photos of him using the snow shovel to find the newspaper, but I can’t find them on the computer yet. I’ll post one when I find them. xx

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    1. lifelessons's avatarlifelessons Post author

      Thanks, Hugh. This was my tree two years ago. Last year I was at the beach and made a tree completely out of what I found at the beach with my egg carton flowers added. This year, I’ve just posted the picture of my tree. I always appreciate your visits!

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  14. Pingback: Christmas Trees Around the World – A Christmas Sharing Event | Silver Threading

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