Great Christmas Tree Tour: Lori DiAnni

Thank you, Cheryl, for inviting me to be a part of this tradition.  Although I’m not published, I enjoy reading and have found many authors I never knew before through Cheryl’s website and I thank her for that as well.

For years, my husband and I would take our two daughters out to choose a tree and cut it down until a few years ago when my husband’s knee gave out and he couldn’t trek through the tree farm to cut down the perfect tree.  So we purchased an artificial one which I love.  


Our tree is a hodge-podge of many ornaments, some handmade, some purchased and others given to us.  Each and every one of them holds sentimental value.  The oldest ornament is this Santa, which I made when I was 12 years old.  It’s made from a hollowed out egg, with a cotton ball beard, hand painted face and a knitted red piece from my baby brother’s hat.  It’s the part that goes under the chin and buttoned to the other side.  

Another very special ornament is the first ornament my husband and I bought as a newly married couple.  It’s very simple and was purchased at the mall which simple says  Our First Christmas 1984.  Next to that hangs my husband’s #8 fishing hook.  He loves fishing and it’s another tradition that he hangs the first ornament—his hook.


My tree has ornaments telling a story of my life and hobbies.  How much I love photography, hence the camera, and how much I love scrapbooking and paper crafting—note the butterfly and the vintage star.  There are other paper ornaments all over the tree made by friends.  I also LOVE Dunkin Donuts coffee so I had to hang a DD coffee cup as well.  


I have one other tree that I set out on my very small dining room table.  I affectionately call it my “Gingerbread Tree”, although it holds an assortment of faux candies and other goodies.  I just recently bought the Santa Baker to stand guard by the tree.  I certainly don’t need any elves stealing the goodies on the tree!  

I hope you enjoyed my tree.  Wishing all of you a very Merry Christmas and Happy New Year.  May it be Blessed with good fortune.  

Lori DiAnni is a voracious reader of several genres, but her first love is historical romance.  She read her first romance at the age of 13 when her cousin gave her a stack of Victoria Holt books.  She was hooked.  Lori has been writing since she was nine, and her first story was about a fairy named “Zeee."  She’s currently re-writing a time-travel that was requested by an agent and is working on two more stories of love on the Oregon Trail.  She continues to write, has attended many writer’s conferences, but is not yet published.  The dream still burns though, and she’s inspired by so many authors.

Lori lives in southern Maine with her husband of 31 years, her daughter Jaclyn, their grandson/adopted son Zachary and a  pet hamster named Brownie.  When she’s not writing in her spare time, she works full-time in a group home assisting women with various disabilities, and she babysits her grandson, Cameron—the new love in her life.