getting ready for christmas...

The weekend was dedicated to putting up Christmas; lights, tree and decorations. I decided that I would only use the silver and blue ornaments this year - so it would be different. Jerome didn't seem too sure about it at first thought, but once it was done, he seemed to be OK with it. It just means that all the Hallmark ornaments that I've acquired over the past 25 years are not being used. Next year, only Hallmark ornaments!

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Last year we wanted to buy a real tree – not a real “cut” tree, but a real one with a root ball that we could plant in the spring. We were trying to be "green".

At the nursery, a forklift had to put it in our car.

12 9 2007 : I look happy now...it took us an hour to remove this living tree from the back of our car. It weighs about 500lbs! Jerome says I'm exaggerating but that whole root ball is a block of ice. We used several methods including tying a rope around it and trying to pull it out of the Golf with our MINI. All we could think of was being in the 2007 Darwin Awards.

12 16 2007 : We haven't brought the living Christmas tree into the house yet...so it's enjoying the new fallen snow. Actually, they say that you shouldn't have one in your house for longer than a week. It will come out of dormancy and then get shocked when you take it outside.

12 18 2007 : Yes, it's inside - but not without a lot of pain. Do you see, it doesn't even fit inside the box that Jerome made last year...and that box is BIG! The weight of the tree actually is breaking the box at the seams. And the tree is crooked. You can't tell because it's not crooked from this side. We thought that getting a living tree rather than purchasing a dead tree for nearly the same amount of money would be a great idea. It's not worth it. We will be buying a fake tree with integrated lights after the season!!! Oh, and we gouged big scratches in our floor! And it's not the end...we have to get it out of the house before we go on vacation and then in the spring, if it is still living, we have to plant it!

We planted the tree in the spring and did everything that you are supposed to do…and after all that struggle it still wound up dead. Here's a picture of it from earlier this summer...today it's totally brown.

After Christmas last year, we went out and bought a fake tree from KMart. It’s very nice. Picture perfect.