Evergreen Hunting Season Begins

We always go hunting for our Christmas tree the day after Thanksgiving. No license necessary to kill the poor, defenseless evergreen. The weather report predicted snow showers. So we dressed accordingly. This was my son's first wearing of long underwear. We all wore snowpants and were excited to be out in the first snowfall of the year. As you can see by the photo it was blue skies- freezing cold- but sunny. I think our tree is a bit compact. It's taller than my husband but I think we usually have one a couple feet taller. I found one almost immediately that I knew we would have to trim a foot or two off the top but was vetoed. Tim prefers to spend hours searching for the perfect tree- which we would do before kids. We always ended up selecting one of first trees we marked. I am by no means an interior decorator but I do have a good sense of space. Here's our 2010 tree:

Tim found this tree farm online: Renick's in West Sunbury. It was a bit farther than we usually drive but it was worth it. We had to drive to a field a half a mile away and hike through a field to the trees. Once cut the owners will twine it so it fit in the back of van.We prefer a Fraser Fir because of the short, soft needles and the limbs are sturdy enough to support large ornaments. (I don't think we'll get many large ornaments on this tree.) Usually it stays fresh for over a month. Last year we didn't have good luck with the fir tree. Needles were dropping a week before Christmas! But there were brown needles on it when we cut it down. That's why we had to find a new tree farm.

We found this carcass in our tree: It looks like a horseshoe crab shell! I've got evolution on the mind while reading Bill Bryson's *A Short History of Nearly Everything.

Back to the day's adventure: Af ter our tree was situated in the back of our van we turned the GPS on to find a nearby restaurant. Our GPS hates us. We don't always listen to its instructions and I think it holds a grudge and gives us bogus directions. Today we missed a turn, which would take us into the parking lot of a mall. We turned 100 yards farther along into the same mall. It kept telling to make a u-turn, which we did not do. Finally it told us to take the road out of the mall and onto the highway where we were suppose to make a U-TURN!!! It's been a long time since I took my driving test but I can't recall when it is legal to make a u-turn, if ever? We retraced our route and went into the mall the way the GPS had originally instructed and lo and behold there was the Texas Roadhouse to our left! We'd driven right by it!

We enjoyed our lunch- I highly recommend the Portabella Mushroom Chicken. It came with the largest sweet potato I've ever seen. We brought home enough food for the next several days. The weird thing was we saw our next-door neighbor there! We were 42 miles south of our homes and we ended up at the same restaurant at the same time. I think that's bizarre.

We ended up shopping at this mall (Clearview Mall) since we had a fantastic parking spot. We didn't purchase a thing there but since both kids were so patient they were rewarded with a sit in a massage chair. It's funny, neither child likes the kiddy rides where you insert a couple quarters and it throttles them about. They saw these chairs as soon as we entered the mall and they were hooked. If they behaved they could ride the chairs before we left.























We took a different route home: Rte. 8 the whole way! We did stop at a strange-looking place along Rte. 8- a large, silver, saucer-shaped UFO would be a good description. It was called Playthings Etc. We spent a couple hours there. They had some of the most unusual and interesting playthings. Sarah bought a whoopee cushion for Jacob for Christmas. They're a bit obsessed with those things. Although they call them "Whompie Cushions."

Twenty-nine days until Christmas. Something has happened to make time speed up. That's bizarre, too.

Hormonally yours,
Peg