Yucatan Christmas Tree

Hello everyone!
Our first Christmas in Mexico is fast approaching and reminds us that the two main things we miss about the U.S.A. are our friends and families.
As we were packing for this trip we had to be very careful in selecting what were essentials and what were necessities and Christmas ornaments were left behind. While beach combing it occurred to us that maybe we could incorporate some of the flotsam and jetsam scattered about into yuletide cheer and that's what we have done.

Behold the spiny sea urchin:
We find these occasionally and sometimes the spines are still on as in this fine specimen collected by Indra, or the spines are worn off leaving behind a beautiful pattern.
We decided these looked enough like ornaments and they are certainly fragile enough to qualify but needed a measure of "brightening up" to bring them up to code.





Enter the silver spray paint. Look closely and you'll also see a long, bean-like object getting the paint treatment as well. We don't know what these are so we call them beans and they wash-up on shore along with the other former sea life.

We tried some red paint just for contrast but it didn't work. It was just a matter of some thread, a needle and some glue to get them ready for hanging.

Click on this one to enlarge it and marvel at nature's handiwork. It rivals a Fabrege' egg for delicacy.











The "beans" as icicles and the urchins along with some store bought goodies and lights and there you go!





















And the finished product.....

And with that we wish you all a very Merry Christmas and a great 2008.

(YVC Tee Shirt courtesy D.W. Clark, KOMO TV)