Candy at Christmas - Lollipop Tree

During the Christmas season, there tends to be a lot of candy around our house.  When I was young, we had a gumdrop tree.  There were three pieces (two interlocking tree sections and a base) and it was made of clear plastic.  One of my favorite things to do was to fill the tree with gumdrops - the branches were sharp and the gumdrops would stick to the points.  This was a good job for me since I didn't like gumdrops and my mother could be fairly sure that the tree would end up full.

I am not sure where the tree we had ended up but I did eventually find a similar one in a catalog and ordered it for our family.  Some years we would set it up at Christmas.  There was just one problem - no one really liked the gum drops and they would just sit there.  I may still have that tree in the attic and thinking about it now makes me want to give it another try this year...we'll see...

The candy tree that we do keep filled year round is this one.  When we lived in England, I had the chance to go with some friend to the Paris flea markets. I came across this heavy wooden cone with lots of holes drilled at an angle and had no idea what it was for.  The stall holder told me it was from a candy shop and was used to display "lollies" to sell.  It holds more than 100 and is very pretty when it is totally filled.

I had been buying these large boxes of Tootsie Roll Pops at Costco - the candy aisles there are a little overwhelming with so many choices!  The last time the tree was looking empty, I took out the new box I had on the shelf and our son and his girlfriend filled it up.  Notice the color pattern (I don't know where he gets that orderly instinct!).

Well, they ran out of lollipops before they ran out of tree and I planned to get more on my next trip to Costco.  I discovered that they no longer carry Tootsie Roll Pops - they weren't a big seller.  So now I have to find a new source for candy to fill the tree.

I have been thinking about putting together a small album with photos of some of the objects we have in our house that have a story that I want to record.  I think it would be fun to be able to look through and remember the "back story" to special items.  I may end up making some background paper for the page about the lollipop tree with one of these close up photos.

The other album I keep thinking about making would be one to record the stories behind some of our Christmas tree ornaments.  When we were first married I took photos of the ornaments we added each year.  Over 30 years we have accumulated hundreds of ornaments.  I did take some photos last year but that is where the project stalled.

Most people scrapbook photos of people, events and places - have you ever done a book to "catalog" some of your special possessions?  I'd love to hear about it if you have.

We made a lot of progress on the gift purchasing today - I think we are nearly finished.  Now I need to get the rest of the trees decorated.  I hope you are having a lovely weekend - good luck with all of your preparations!

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