🙂 We have our Christmas Tree
😦 We haven’t even put lights on it and certainly no other decorations.
🙂 It is the first live tree I have had in a long time
🙂 My house smells good.
🙂 I’m also thinking of getting a “real” tree this year, my first in a while, but mine will be much smaller than hers.
🙂 Hooray for stay-cations. And I managed to link up with the family I needed to interview yesterday on our unsolved homicide project, so my final story (for now) on that project was turned in before I left. Whew.
🙂 Our weird & dry-as-a-stick hot days/cold nights weather pattern should be breaking soon. And rain is in the forecast for sometime early this next week, at long last.
🙂 Advent begins Sunday. I do love this time of year.
It’s over!
We’re glad we did it, but we’re glad it’s over. Everybody has gone except Elvera’s sister. They are cleaning up and talking about relatives. This is the best part for them.
😦 We don’t have a plan yet as to where we will get one this year – hopefully we can take one from our neighbour’s pine forest
😦 Children won’t be home until after Christmas so do I just put up with our many slightly smaller fake trees and just get the real one closer to Christmas?
🙂 Love the smell of a real tree
🙂 My basement smells like a forest right now – husband just loaded in another pile of firewood. Love that smell
🙂 Electricity. Something you only appreciate when you don’t have it, seemingly. Ours was out (and expected to stay out until 10 tonight), but it came back up around 1 p.m., thankfully.
🙂 Chas, glad your gathering went well — had to laugh at the ladies “talking about relatives,” that always seemed to be a holiday staple when I was growing up. My college boyfriend grew up in a similar, working class family as mine (though they were Italian-American) and we used to always laugh about that.
🙂 Kim’s tree sure is looking gorgeous, one of the fun perks of FB I guess (along with getting the scoop on the power outage, it’s very good for that! — group pages in different areas will post the notices when things like that happen, very handy to know; I was worried at first I was the only one and it was a house issue since we have no weather going on that would normally cause something like that).
🙂 Got a Monday morning grooming appointment for the dogs.
I’ve always had a real tree, too, when I’ve had one at all. In Nashville my front window was perfect for a tree, but I still only had one three out of eight of my years there (when you’re single and driving out of town over Christmas, it isn’t necessarily worth doing). But alas I married into a family that uses artificial trees and has a female angel for the star. Some year she is going to get broken accidentally. (Just kidding. But I heartily dislike female angels, and I don’t much see the point of artificial trees.)
🙂 We had good visits with family, too, including phone visits with three of my siblings.
🙂 Everything put away. Everything back to whatever normal is.
🙂 Twenty three people and a dog.
🙂 A special stuffing for me with no onions. I expected that.
🙂 ideal weather. Sunshine and 59 degrees for the kids to play outside.
🙂 Little guy I mentioned yesterday is walking about three steps at a time. He will be one in January. .
😦 A favorite niece of Elvera’s is divorced. They were married 43 years. That’s all we know.
🙂 People who brought stuff took a lot of it home. But we still have enough leftover for a week.
😥 South Carolina lost to Clemson. I saw about half of the game. Actually, I saw more than I wanted to.
I have some small ‘fake’ trees that look cute on a table top — and I have to say, they’re making them much better nowadays than in the past.
It was almost a point of religion in our house that only a real tree would suffice (though we also had the angel on the top, I suppose it was female, I’m not quite sure, but most angels are when it comes to decor). I still remember when my aunt and uncle, who were kind of hip for their age (this was in the mid to late 1960s & they were the managers of one of those new-fangled “singles” apartment buildings) got a white (very) artificial aluminum tree that featured a colored light disc that would rotate at the base, changing the tree from pink to blue to green … and back again.
My grandparents next door when I was growing up had one of those kinds of trees and the rotating colored light disc that you describe, Donna. I always thought it was kind of cool looking. 🙂
” … many embraced the shiny trees as an expression of the new Atomic Age. The trees appealed to a Jetsons-style notion of modern living where life was clean, automated and easy; with an aluminum tree, needles never fell, it could be stored compactly and re-used every year, with none of the fuss of a real tree.
“Another important accessory was the color wheel. Because adding strings of lights to an aluminum tree was a fire hazard (metal tree + electrical sockets and wiring = not safe), another means of lighting the tree was developed. The color wheel was a device that sat on the floor next to the tree and shone a spotlight on the branches. A slowly spinning panel of translucent colors created a constant variety of effects on the reflective surface of the tree. Two wheels could be used simultaneously to heighten the effect. …
“Charlie Brown may be in part to blame for the decline of the popularity of the aluminum Christmas tree. His small, scraggly evergreen was seen as superior to the gaudy aluminum version: a triumph of the true and authentic over the fake and commercial. The 1965 airing of his Christmas special occurred at the peak of aluminum tree production, as the trend was reaching its saturation point. …
I wonder if my mom and dad still have that tree. Probably not, though who knows — maybe it’s down in the basement somewhere. (They live in the house my grandparents had lived in.)
Kind of interesting my conservative Midwestern grandparents may have been sort of hip like the 60’s LA crowd at Christmas. 🙂
Fall decor taken down, Christmas tree (not aluminum!) and decorations put up. With new family photos in frames in the living room. Our church puts out a photo directory of its members every four years or so, and every family who gets their picture taken gets a complimentary 8 X 10 of the pose that is deemed the “directory photo” (the first shot). We had our pictures taken a couple weeks ago, and one of the pictures of the four girls turned out very nice, so we bought an 8 X 10 of that pose. And the one pose of the two boys was just wonderful. It is hard to get a good picture of our younger, special-needs son, but he was looking right at the camera and smiling so beautifully, our hearts just melted seeing him pictured with his big protective brother behind him, smiling just as nicely, so we bought an 8 X 10 of that, too.
Then we got 50 picture Christmas cards of the best of the whole-family shots. So I suppose next week will be Christmas-greeting sending-out. 🙂
Wandering Views 
Family. That is all.
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This must be the day for family for everyone. We’re ready now. Waiting for them to show up.
Soon.
🙂
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😦 Had to postpone baby shower due to heavy snowfall
🙂 Maybe now more people can come
😦 Spent a lot of time and $ decorating for the shower – now I’ve switched the venue and have started undoing and changing decor for Christmas
🙂 Still worth it for my friend
🙂 The snow is beautiful
😦 -27F with windchill
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🙂 We have our Christmas Tree
😦 We haven’t even put lights on it and certainly no other decorations.
🙂 It is the first live tree I have had in a long time
🙂 My house smells good.
LikeLiked by 2 people
🙂 Kim’s tree is gorgeous.
🙂 I’m also thinking of getting a “real” tree this year, my first in a while, but mine will be much smaller than hers.
🙂 Hooray for stay-cations. And I managed to link up with the family I needed to interview yesterday on our unsolved homicide project, so my final story (for now) on that project was turned in before I left. Whew.
🙂 Our weird & dry-as-a-stick hot days/cold nights weather pattern should be breaking soon. And rain is in the forecast for sometime early this next week, at long last.
🙂 Advent begins Sunday. I do love this time of year.
LikeLike
It’s over!
We’re glad we did it, but we’re glad it’s over. Everybody has gone except Elvera’s sister. They are cleaning up and talking about relatives. This is the best part for them.
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I will probably never (split another infinitive) but will never eat anything again.
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🙂 We always have a real tree.
😦 We don’t have a plan yet as to where we will get one this year – hopefully we can take one from our neighbour’s pine forest
😦 Children won’t be home until after Christmas so do I just put up with our many slightly smaller fake trees and just get the real one closer to Christmas?
🙂 Love the smell of a real tree
🙂 My basement smells like a forest right now – husband just loaded in another pile of firewood. Love that smell
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🙂 I like the smell of a real tree, too.
🙂 Electricity. Something you only appreciate when you don’t have it, seemingly. Ours was out (and expected to stay out until 10 tonight), but it came back up around 1 p.m., thankfully.
🙂 Chas, glad your gathering went well — had to laugh at the ladies “talking about relatives,” that always seemed to be a holiday staple when I was growing up. My college boyfriend grew up in a similar, working class family as mine (though they were Italian-American) and we used to always laugh about that.
🙂 Kim’s tree sure is looking gorgeous, one of the fun perks of FB I guess (along with getting the scoop on the power outage, it’s very good for that! — group pages in different areas will post the notices when things like that happen, very handy to know; I was worried at first I was the only one and it was a house issue since we have no weather going on that would normally cause something like that).
🙂 Got a Monday morning grooming appointment for the dogs.
LikeLike
I’ve always had a real tree, too, when I’ve had one at all. In Nashville my front window was perfect for a tree, but I still only had one three out of eight of my years there (when you’re single and driving out of town over Christmas, it isn’t necessarily worth doing). But alas I married into a family that uses artificial trees and has a female angel for the star. Some year she is going to get broken accidentally. (Just kidding. But I heartily dislike female angels, and I don’t much see the point of artificial trees.)
🙂 We had good visits with family, too, including phone visits with three of my siblings.
LikeLiked by 1 person
🙂 Everything put away. Everything back to whatever normal is.
🙂 Twenty three people and a dog.
🙂 A special stuffing for me with no onions. I expected that.
🙂 ideal weather. Sunshine and 59 degrees for the kids to play outside.
🙂 Little guy I mentioned yesterday is walking about three steps at a time. He will be one in January. .
😦 A favorite niece of Elvera’s is divorced. They were married 43 years. That’s all we know.
🙂 People who brought stuff took a lot of it home. But we still have enough leftover for a week.
😥 South Carolina lost to Clemson. I saw about half of the game. Actually, I saw more than I wanted to.
LikeLike
I have some small ‘fake’ trees that look cute on a table top — and I have to say, they’re making them much better nowadays than in the past.
It was almost a point of religion in our house that only a real tree would suffice (though we also had the angel on the top, I suppose it was female, I’m not quite sure, but most angels are when it comes to decor). I still remember when my aunt and uncle, who were kind of hip for their age (this was in the mid to late 1960s & they were the managers of one of those new-fangled “singles” apartment buildings) got a white (very) artificial aluminum tree that featured a colored light disc that would rotate at the base, changing the tree from pink to blue to green … and back again.
My mother was horrified.
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My grandparents next door when I was growing up had one of those kinds of trees and the rotating colored light disc that you describe, Donna. I always thought it was kind of cool looking. 🙂
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Chas, I found out too late that the stuffing had raw onions in it. Who does that? One of the best parts of the meal, inedible.
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I had to chop 2 onions tonight for the casserole to bring to church — crying.
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6 arrows, those trees were pretty cool. And it was a perfect look for Christmas in L.A.
Of course, now they’re considered a “vintage” look, probably will be the crowning touch for someone’s “old-fashioned” Christmas decor someday.
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Oh, here’s a history of the aluminum artificial trees from that era (with pictures):
https://blog.etsy.com/en/2013/history-lessons-the-aluminum-christmas-tree/
” … many embraced the shiny trees as an expression of the new Atomic Age. The trees appealed to a Jetsons-style notion of modern living where life was clean, automated and easy; with an aluminum tree, needles never fell, it could be stored compactly and re-used every year, with none of the fuss of a real tree.
“Another important accessory was the color wheel. Because adding strings of lights to an aluminum tree was a fire hazard (metal tree + electrical sockets and wiring = not safe), another means of lighting the tree was developed. The color wheel was a device that sat on the floor next to the tree and shone a spotlight on the branches. A slowly spinning panel of translucent colors created a constant variety of effects on the reflective surface of the tree. Two wheels could be used simultaneously to heighten the effect. …
“Charlie Brown may be in part to blame for the decline of the popularity of the aluminum Christmas tree. His small, scraggly evergreen was seen as superior to the gaudy aluminum version: a triumph of the true and authentic over the fake and commercial. The 1965 airing of his Christmas special occurred at the peak of aluminum tree production, as the trend was reaching its saturation point. …
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Fun article 😉
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More fun…
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Yep. They’ll probably be coming back into style one of these days.
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I wonder if my mom and dad still have that tree. Probably not, though who knows — maybe it’s down in the basement somewhere. (They live in the house my grandparents had lived in.)
Kind of interesting my conservative Midwestern grandparents may have been sort of hip like the 60’s LA crowd at Christmas. 🙂
LikeLike
Fall decor taken down, Christmas tree (not aluminum!) and decorations put up. With new family photos in frames in the living room. Our church puts out a photo directory of its members every four years or so, and every family who gets their picture taken gets a complimentary 8 X 10 of the pose that is deemed the “directory photo” (the first shot). We had our pictures taken a couple weeks ago, and one of the pictures of the four girls turned out very nice, so we bought an 8 X 10 of that pose. And the one pose of the two boys was just wonderful. It is hard to get a good picture of our younger, special-needs son, but he was looking right at the camera and smiling so beautifully, our hearts just melted seeing him pictured with his big protective brother behind him, smiling just as nicely, so we bought an 8 X 10 of that, too.
Then we got 50 picture Christmas cards of the best of the whole-family shots. So I suppose next week will be Christmas-greeting sending-out. 🙂
LikeLiked by 2 people
🙂 Calgary Stampeders!!!!! Winners of the 102nd Grey Cup!!!
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Yay!! And your hometown, Kare, I see from the daily thread! 🙂
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