Saturday, December 04, 2004

Oh Christmas Tree !

Today we're going to go out to one of the local tree farms and cut down our Christmas tree. Since I am a Christmas fanatic all year long, I really look forward to this day! The Boo will have several friends over to decorate it with the hundreds (my husband says thousands) of ornaments I have collected over the years. The place we go to is really cool. We get in a horse-drawn (sometimes tractor-drawn) wagon and ride out to the different fields and get dropped off to wander in the trees. We take our time and will pick one perfect tree out and use the saw to cut it down. Eventually the wagon will come by again to pick us up. There is hot chocolate waiting at the end. Temperature is in the 20's at the moment. We had snow a few days ago, but it mostly melted (darn!).

Fresh cut trees like this will last a long time if you water them. We have no problem keeping them fresh, with minimal needle loss for at least a month or more. Think of it this way--the trees you buy at the store were cut down somewhere up north (possibly Michigan or Washington state) about 6 weeks ago. When you buy them, they are often already dried out, and even with watering might only last 2 weeks before they drop most of their needles. The fresh- cut ones smell heavenly compared to the pre-cut.

I'd like the snow to build up to a foot or so by Christmas. IMHO, any snow up until about January 15 is a good thing. After about that time, I'm ready for warmer weather! Most people think I'm nuts, but I really love Winter about the best of the four seasons along with Fall.

Be back blogging later tonight! Meanwhile, check out Victor Davis Hanson's latest on "How Far We've Come." It is brilliant, as only VDH can be.


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