The Annual Upside Down Christmas Tree Party

Since…1993, we think, we’ve thrown an upside down christmas tree party. According to About.com upside down christmas trees are now, “one of the hottest fads of the season”. Who knew we were setting trends back in 1993. There are oodles of google found history about upside down christmas trees, some claim it dates back to the middle ages. For us, my mom just thought, “wouldn’t it be cool to hang a christmas tree upside down from the ceiling.” So we did. And then we had a party.

The party always doubles as an art show for my mom and a few other artists. There is always an abundance of food, and wine and beer. And the best tradition is that anyone who attends is encouraged to decorate the tree with a hand made ornament created from things found on their person, in their car, or in the yard. We have saved the ornaments over the years (thus how we can date the party back to 1993, thanks to a credit card sized pocket calendar someone hung on the tree that year). Some of my favorites are a cassette tape, an official actors guild membership card, an original photo of Pierce Brosnan from his first James Bond film, a digital watch that was worn by a friend during his service in the marines in Iraq, and sooo many more (I promise, next year I’ll take pictures of all my favorites). We always top the tree with a squeaky rubber shark.

This year the party also doubled as my mom’s birthday party. It was a big birthday, but I’ll let it remain a mystery.

I had Stacy from For The Love of Cake make her birthday cake, carrot cake, her favorite. And it was DELICIOUS! And way awesomely decorated. Thanks Stacy, you’re the best! (My mom has two turtles who live in her pond.)

Bill will probably hate me for posting this picture but its so rare that A. I am in a photo during an event. And B. That we’re in a photo together so there it is.

My brother did the food this year, sliders with lots of toppings, stuffed mushrooms, fruit, veggies, delicious.

And for the second year, the fire pit. Its so awesome, I believe there is some innate somewhat cave man like biological thing that draws us to circle around fire. So we do, and its awesome…the conversations that happen around the fire are by far one of my favorite things about the upside down Christmas tree party. So until next year…