Today's ornament{s}: jazz musicians Story: For those of you who know my husband, these ornaments make complete sense to be on our tree. For those of you who are new facebook friends, let me introduce you to my husband. Patrick Prouty. Bass player. Jazz musician and composer.

I may be biased because he is my husband but he is pretty amazing....I actually met him on a gig. At a little martini bar in downtown Plymouth, MI. 336 main. I went out with my girlfriends for a 'who needs a man' kind of night and ran smack dab into my future husband. He was playing with Al Hill at the time {amazing piano player and singer!} and I was smitten with his playing...and his smile...and his kind eyes.....at the risk sounding like a complete loser who quotes Tom Cruise movies....he had me at hello. Literally. I knew on our first date two weeks later {yes, it took him 2 weeks to call...something about his car burning up in a garage fire and not wanting to call and ask me out on a date while driving his parents borrowed mini-van....we will save that story for another day...} that I was going to marry him.

He is a very talented and serious musician who has managed to eek out an actual living with music. This is a hard concept for many to understand and often times when I say my husband is a musician I get the look. The look that says "oh... so he is in a band with some of his friends that drink beer in a garage on Saturday nights...what does he REALLY do". No, his career is REALLY music. And he is passionate about it. And successful. And I totally admire him for that.

I found a set of five jazz musicians at Cost Plus World Market and gifted these to him our first Christmas together after only dating 2 months. So glad we ended up married because it would have been slightly awkward to ask for these ornaments back should our relationship not worked. {just kidding. kinda.} These musicians have survived 2 tree crashes and they definitely have their collection of battle scars {look at the trumpet player's shoulder. see the gaping hole? this is actually nothing compared to the saxophone player who is missing his entire lower half of his body...}. Miraculously, the bass player has survived both crashes unscathed. Since we seem to have bad luck with ornament breakage, I have a backup bass player tucked away in bubble wrap in the basement...just in case tragedy should ever strike again.

I like the symbolism of the intact bass player on our tree. Being a musician is tough. Many times musicians are under paid and under appreciated. But through all the bumps in the road, my husband has hung tough and stayed true to his talent. And so his music remains intact. Unharmed. Unscratched from life. And for that I admire him.

Interested in hearing my husband's music? You can check out his website www.patrickprouty.com to find out where you can purchase a copy of his latest CD...

Become a fan on FACEBOOK to see more of what I have been up to! ~jen