Christmas tree has all-outdoors theme

Last modified: Saturday, December 27, 2008 1:06 AM CST

Christmas tree has all-outdoors theme

By LAURIE RITGER
The Associated Press

MOUNT CALVARY — This lady's Christmas tree is an outdoorsman's, or in this case, outdoorswoman's, showpiece.

Turkey and pheasant feathers, rabbit feet and squirrel tails are just a few of the items adorning a tree decorated by 86-year-old Ellie Langjahr of Mount Calvary.

"I've always wanted to do an outdoor theme," she said. "I've always liked outdoor things and I thought someday I'm going to have a Christmas tree like that."

A one-woman dynamo, Langjahr (who said the name means "long year" in German) starts thinking about her next Christmas theme around the time decorations get packed away. For as long as she can remember, she's had themes surrounding her decorating.

Last year, she crocheted all the ornaments. Langjahr said she can crochet "pretty fast."

She taught herself knitting last year and she is proficient with crocheting and making doilies.

The year before, she used cheese graters and cookie cutters — one decoration read: Have a "grate" Christmas!

One year, she used seashells she collected from Florida, where she used to winter.

And another recent Christmas, wishbones from "all different animals" graced her tree.

Langjahr, a hunter herself, saved wishbones from ducks and geese, pheasants, turkeys and other birds.

"Every time I go somewhere and see something interesting I collect it," she said.

All items on this year's tree have been gathered, since spring, from the 68 acres where she lives with her partner, Victor Sippel.

Langjahr and Sippel knew each other as teenagers, but made a more solid connection seven years ago. Each of their spouses had passed away. Langjahr raised three children and was a 46-year caregiver for her first husband, Bob Langjahr, who contracted polio early in their marriage and was a quadriplegic.

Besides her three children, Langjahr also has four grandsons and two great-grandchildren.

Langjahr said her partner likes the outdoor tree "real well."

Besides all the distinct feathers, tails and feet, the tree features pampas grass, milkweed pods, corncobs, corn tassels, wishbones, burdocks, pinecones, acorns, hibiscus seedpods and a turkey beard.

Some feathers were saved from birds she shot; others were from hunting trips taken by her son or nephew.

Never one to sit still, she has a large garden, and still cans and processes the produce. Flowers are a passion and she tends to hundreds of calla lilies and gladiolas. The bulbs of these plants are lifted each fall and brought indoors.

During the past 10 years, Langjahr taught herself how to use an electric keyboard. She's played occasionally for birthdays, Christmas parties and for one wedding.

But a true sportsman, Langjahr processes animals she or her relatives kill and knows what she calls "rough taxidermy." She said a sheriff's officer once told her too many cars were slowing on the highway to check out a display of stuffed pheasants near her garden, so she had to move them out of view.

Artistic talent spills into every part of her life.

And now, she said, her children carry those qualities. A daughter in Colorado is decorating a very large Christmas tree.

"Oh, I like Christmas — I always did," Langjahr said. "Most of my friends don't bother (with a tree) anymore."

Langjahr will decide next year's Christmas theme by the spring thaw.

For now, she said, she hasn't got an "idea in the world" what that theme will be.

She promises it will be interesting.