Oh Christmas tree, oh Christmas tree

The Christmas tree farm we used to go to seems to have closed down. We were headed to Higginsville to get a precut tree (I was pouting about that; I wanted a fresh-cut tree) when Cliff's brother who lives there called on the cell phone. I had Cliff ask him if he knew of any Christmas tree farms nearby, and he did! In fact, this was the best one we've ever found. The trees were all very nice, and they had any size a person might want.

Cliff was just happy to have heard the last of it for this season.



The tree was $35, and they didn't charge extra for shaking the dead needles off.

I thought we should have taken the pickup, but Cliff said the trunk would work just fine.

Indeed, it did.

Oh yes, and my bubble lights work great.




Decorating a Christmas tree with no children around isn't nearly as much fun, but it's still worth the effort. I had "It's A Wonderful Life" playing in the background while I trimmed the tree.

The pine scent is divine. But it makes me hungry for fruitcake.

Christmas tree time

I have some of the Avon Christmas plates on the walls; I have the candles in the windows; I brought in the holiday coffee mugs. And today, I re-arranged the living room.

I can't really say I like the arrangement, the way I pushed the couch into a corner. But I wanted to put the Christmas tree in a front window this year, and that's the only way I could make room there.

I hope we can go to the nearest Christmas tree farm and cut our own, because that's the only way you get the full benefit of the fresh pine scent, which is the only reason I stubbornly insist on a real tree. That smell takes me back to all my childhood Christmases. Honestly, the memories are the only reason I mess with any of the holiday things.

The grandchildren don't care whether I have a tree, and I doubt if Cliff does. But so far, I do all this stuff every December in hopes I'll find a second or two of my childhood in the process. Because I really do wish I was a kid again. I wish I still believed Santa was real.

I'm especially anxious to decorate my tree this year because a kind reader sent me some bubble lights last year, and I can't wait to see them on my tree. Hmm, maybe there is a Santa after all.

Time for a Christmas tree

Three years ago, we bought a little bitty artificial Christmas tree, the first fake Christmas tree I've ever had. I missed the smell of the genuine article and just didn't have the heart to drag that little tree downstairs anymore, so we haven't had a tree the past two years. When we moved out here, I tossed the little tree I never did like.

So this year I've had the urge for a Christmas tree, but I found out the place where we usually go cut our own isn't doing business this year; some sort of insurance issue.

We'll be in Lexington and Richmond today, but I don't know where to go to buy a real tree. Google has let me down on this issue. I guess we'll just ask around.

We don't really do gifts, other than to give the grandkids some spending money. Cliff says it'll seem strange to have a tree with no presents under it.

It's OK, I told him. This tree is for me, because I want it. I'll put my manger scene underneath it, and it'll be just fine.

The little-girl me in that picture is still around, someplace. Maybe I'll touch bases with her during this Christmas season.

That's my nephew, Larry, with Santa and me.