Oh Christmas Tree, Oh Christmas Tree

Today we went hunting for our Christmas tree. We went to a large nature preserve where thousands of trees were "put out" for us! In no time we had brought down one tree .  The weather was perfect and it took us only 15 minutes for Jim to get on point on this tree. Five minutes later, with the tree in our sights, we bagged this short-needled, pinecone carrying tree. 

Some of you may be thinking "those poor trees, they didn't stand a chance." Well, that's the idea. These trees were planted with the intent that someday some saw-carrying yahoo would boldly stride out into the field and without a thought or care, saw through the mighty trunk of this once-living oxygen producing evergreen! And for what purpose? To hang gaudy balls and bobbles from.  Yes, it is the American way!

The preceding account of the harvesting of this year's Christmas tree was written to give my brother, Bob, a chuckle! Are you laughing, Bob? I hope so because I had a good time writing it.

Today is nephew Zach's 15th birthday! Happy Birthday, Zach! Jim reports that Zach is taller than Maryanne! Don't worry about this, Maryanne. When my boys got taller than me, I just told them to sit down when I wanted to yell at them!

Sick Bay Update: Jim is feeling better! He actually went for a run yesterday and today. Of course, after hunting for a tree this morning and a run earlier in the day, he took a serious nap this afternoon. 

Our neighbor put up his holiday decorations today, including this inflatable Grinch. We were hoping that the Grinch came with a rake seeing as our neighbor has not raked up his leaves (as usual) and they are slowly blowing into our yard. However, we are big fans of the Grinch and he makes me smile when I look out my windows and see him glowing in the darkness!

I started working on my gingerbread house today. I got all the pieces cut out and baked. I did some research on the internet and  got some new things to try. I will post photos when I have it completed. 

Some of you may be wondering how we transported our Christmas tree now that we no longer have a mini-van. One of the reasons that Jim selected this particular Vibe was that the one or both of the back seats can be folded down and the front passenger seat can also go flat. This was an important feature, which would allow Corey to carry his kayak inside the car. It also allowed us to put the tree in the car easily. By this time next year, we hope to have a roof-top carrier for this car which will allow us to carry our tree and Gram and GrandDad's tree on the roof. Thule, the company that makes roof-top carriers, is currently working on the unit for a 2009 Vibe.

Hope all is well.