Butterflies, snowmen, chickens.
Lots of angels big and small.
Wind chimes and roosters.
My Blogger ID.
You say you want a hippopotamus for Christmas? I've got one here on the tree!
Always a star at the top, and at least one bird somewhere on the tree. Merry Christmas to you! 
Welcome to my home for Christmas! I'll post a virtual tour this week to share our holidays with everyone. First, meet my extended nutcracker family.
There's always room for more, too, and I add at least 1 new one each year.
This year's newbie is the one on the left on the mantle - the peppermint soldier. 
This is the hummingbird trap. Volunteers stand about 10 feet back. The trap door is held up with fishing line, and then let the door down when a bird enters. Then they reach in and gently grab the bird and put it in a net bag so the bird can wait its turn for meeting bander Fred Hound.
After Fred bands, weighs and measures the birds, he treats them to dinner. He said first-year birds rarely take a drink when offered, but older birds always slurp up free food - and it was true! This is a mature black-chinned hummingbird.
At the home where the banding took place, there were not only a lot of feeders, but a lot of plants popular with hummingbirds. This is an agastache with a black-chinned hummingbird at it. The banding takes place every year and we'll be there again!
