A VERY Happy St. Nicholas Day

Christmas, 1999

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For the last two years, we’ve set up our Christmas tree outside on the patio, but this year I decided I wanted to put it inside.  We have a little more room in the garage now, and if we went with a smaller tree, we figured it wouldn’t be a problem.

 

After walking through a dozen or so motorhomes all morning, we were tired and didn’t feel much like tree shopping.  Since we were going with a little tree anyway, we just picked one up at Walmart.

Not quite the adventure of traipsing through the snow to find the perfect tree and cut it down . . . but it’ll work!

 

 

 

We put it in the trunk of the car for the ride home (THAT was a first!!), and when we got there, Bryce gave it a fresh cut and got it set up in the stand . . . then he went to watch football! 

I guess I’m decorating the tree!! 

For a little Walmart tree, it didn’t look too bad!

I actually can’t remember the last time I decorated the tree myself . . . Nicolas has been doing it for quite a few years!  But, without him here to help me, I got busy with the lights . . .

OK, not a bad start . . . next came the ornaments . . .

It turned out really pretty!

I guess the garage is going to be my Christmas room . . . I used Nicolas’ desk as a display table.

Just watching me wore Casey out, I guess!

So, that was a nice way to spend St. Nicholas Day . . . but the highlight of the day was a phone call from Nicolas! 

I knew that Saturday is usually the day they get to make calls when they earn them, and on facebook I was seeing that lots of recruits in Nicolas’ training group were getting to make calls this afternoon, so I was anxiously waiting for my phone to ring . . . and then it did!

It was SO wonderful to hear his voice!  He sounded good, and he says things are going OK.  His RDCs aren’t too bad, although they’ve had quite a bit of extra PT this week.  He’s a section leader in his division, so he hears about it when somebody does something they’re not supposed to!  I asked how the food is, and he said it’s actually really good . . . today he had french toast, eggs and bacon for breakfast, and fajitas for lunch.  On Thanksgiving they had turkey AND prime rib!

He’s got a little bit of a cold, but he passed both his PT test and his swim test on the first try.  He sounded very confident and comfortable, and that’s a huge relief to us!  He was mostly concerned that we had gotten his phone (which arrived here very quickly) and his letter with his address (which took over 2 weeks to get to us!), and he was wondering why he hadn’t received any letters yet.  I told him that we just got his address, but now that we have it, we’ll be sending lots of letters – I sent 4 this weekend!

This conversation with my boy was the best St. Nicholas present ever!!

It was wonderful to talk to him, and we’re looking forward to his graduation on January 16th!

Oh, Christmas Tree . . . what a challenge!

Once again, we find ourselves in a state where we cannot cut down a Christmas tree, so we ended up at Home Depot to pick out our tree. 

 

The selection process was pretty easy this year, though – they had a new shipment of Douglas Firs and we found a nice tall one (relatively speaking, that is).

 

 

We got it out to the car, and the Home Depot guy met us out there to secure it on top.  We asked for twine, but he assured us that shrink wrap would work much better.

 

Our first mistake was listening to him . . . but it LOOKED secure!

As we drove out of the parking lot, we could hear the plastic flapping in the wind, but thought it would be OK.  Before we got too far though, we suddenly saw shrink wrap flapping in the breeze on both sides of the car.  That wasn’t a good sign, and Tom pulled off the side of the road as the tree rolled down the back window!

OK, so now what . . . we didn’t have any twine on us!  We ended up using the plastic as rope, and tied the tree to the roof of the car . . . and hoped for the best!!

 

Luckily, we made it the rest of the way, and the tree stayed securely on the roof!  What a relief that was!

The guys got the stand put together while I got the lights and ornaments out, and then the tree was up and ready for decorating!

The boys took care of that job!

 

 

All finished . . .

too bad it didn’t stay like that!!

On Monday, the wind picked up and started whipping through our carport like a tornado!  We kept checking on the tree, but it was hanging in there . . . for a while!  After dinner, I was standing at the kitchen sink and saw the tree fly past the window and heard it land on the steps! 

We all ran outside and tried standing it back up, but ultimately decided to leave it laying down until the wind stopped . . . it was safer that way! 

Late this afternoon we were finally able to stand it back up . . . we straightened out the bent legs of the tree stand, added extra rocks for weight, and tied the middle of the trunk to the picnic table.  Hopefully that will hold it!!

Amazingly, none of the lights went out, and we only had one broken ornament!

The rest of the decorating went much easier, and Nicolas even had time to make some chocolate-covered pretzels, too!

Now I just need to get some shopping done!

Christmas Decorating

Back at “home” we cut down a fresh Christmas tree every year.  Even the year I had my broken ankle, I hobbled out into the field on crutches with Tom and the kids to pick out the perfect tree.  Sometimes it was snowing, and it was almost always cold!  We would walk around the field several times, “tagging” trees that looked like good possibilities, until we found the one that was “just right”.

It was a tradition that we all looked forward to every year, and one that none of us are ready to give up!  We knew it was going to be harder this year, but not as difficult as it turned out to be!

Being in southern Florida, we knew we weren’t going to be able to cut our own tree, but thought we would have several “Christmas Tree Tents” to choose from.  As it turns out, there were 2 that we found . . . and both were ridiculously expensive!

On our first trip out, we stopped at Walmart, where they had 1 (yes, 1!) tree left.  It was a 6’ frasier fir, already in a stand, originally priced at $30, but the manager said he would give it to us for $15, since it was a little spindly looking.  Nicolas wasn’t too thrilled with it, so we said we’d think about it while we shopped.  By the time we came back around to the garden center, it had been sold!  OK, so much for that one!

We went over to the one christmas tree tent that we had seen, only to find that they were not open until evening . . . OK, I guess we’ll try again tomorrow! 

The next afternoon we went back out, and decided to try Home Depot.  They had frasier firs also, starting at $33 for a 6’ tree.  Once again, we decided to think about it some more.  While driving around looking for a Big Lots to buy lights at, we found another tent.  Trees here were $60 and up, so Tom said “No way!”  Back to the first tent we had tried, they were open now, and their trees started around $50 for a 5’ frasier fir!  We were all starting to get a little discouraged!  I was ready to suggest that we just decorate the palm tree on our site!

Nicolas was determined, though, so after dinner we made one more trip to Home Depot.  We were shocked to see that the tent that had been full in the morning was almost empty of 6 – 7 foot trees!  We found one, though, had the guy unbind it, and said “We’ll take it!”  That’s it – it took all of 5 minutes to pick out a tree!  We got it back to the RV, and put it in our newly purchased stand, and that was it for the night!

It was a little tree (compared to what we’ve always had in the past), but Nicolas was happy!

The next morning, the boys got to work decorating it.

While they worked on the tree, I put up our stockings inside,

and a few Christmas quilts,

both inside and out.

When we were done with the decorating, it was time to make some cookies – gingerbread men and pizzelles.

Bryce helped with the frosting on the gingerbread men.

It took us longer than usual to get into the Christmas spirit (hard to get into it when it’s 80 degrees and sunny, and the beach is calling your name!), but it took us less time than usual to get our home decorated, so I guess it worked out OK!

The tree turned out pretty good!  Now I just need to do some shopping!

The search for the perfect Christmas Tree

This past weekend was our traditional weekend to find our perfect Christmas tree.  For years, we’ve been going to the same Christmas tree farm where we would pay $25 and could cut down any size tree – and we’ve come home with some huge ones – some years we would have to cut another foot or two off the tree just to be able to stand it up in our living room!  A few years ago, their supply of frasier firs dwindled and we had to switch to douglas firs – also a very nice tree, and with the added benefit of being not quite as heavy.  Last year, this wonderful family-run tree farm closed up because they didn’t have enough trees for people to cut, and the new trees they’ve planted will need several years before they are ready.

Last year, we found a new farm and for just a few more dollars, we had a beautiful, tall douglas fir for Christmas.  They were unsure if they would be open again this season, so last week I called and found out that they were closed.  Disappointed, we searched again for a new tree farm.  There are several about a 1/2 hour north of us, so on Saturday we headed out in search of our tree.  There was still snow on the ground from last week, but it was warming into the mid-40s on Saturday, making the round a muddy mess.  As we drove around looking for the various tree farms, Nicolas cringed every time mud splashed up on the sides of the truck!

The 1st tree farm we visited promised “The best trees at the best prices!”, and at $40 for any size tree, it wasn’t too bad a deal.  Unfortunately, as we walked around the farm, we realized that the pickins’ were pretty slim!

We gave up on this farm and headed down the road.  We stopped at a couple more that weren’t much better, and even at a house where a lady was letting people cut down trees in her backyard!  Her trees actually looked pretty nice, but with prices STARTING at $70, we decided to keep looking!

We finally ended up at the Broadview Tree Farm,

along with a hundred or so other people determined to get their tree before the rain predicted for Sunday!  The majority of the folks were jumping on the wagons and going out into the field to find either a white spruce ($40) or canaan fir ($45).

Any size, same price sounded pretty good until we heard that the tallest we would find would be “about 7 ft.” . . . then we weren’t so anxious to jump on the bandwagon!

We inquired about other fir trees, and she directed us to a patch of douglas firs over behind the barn . . . we walked in that direction, neglecting to ask about the price . . .

Mr. Christmas (Nick) wasn’t too thrilled with the available trees, but we were running out of options, and daylight!  We finally settled on a 9 ft. tree, although narrow and not too full, and Nicolas got to work with the saw.

The boys carried it (pretty much effortlessly, according to Nick!) back to the cashier, where she “oohed & ahhed” over the beautiful tree we found, and we forked over $63 . . .

. . . the most $ we’ve ever paid, for the smallest tree we’ve ever had!  Oh well, we have a tree, and it will look beautiful once it’s up and decorated!

We got it home, and after a quick dinner we brought it in the house and got it set up.

Nicolas was ready to decorate, so he got started and I helped him (role-reversal!!).  We had plenty of lights, and actually even had 1 strand left over that we didn’t use!

There were several benefits to having a smaller tree:

1.  We could get all the way around it easily (usually we have branches smashed up against the windows, and sticking out in front of the fireplace)

2.  You can see the whole tree (typically, the top of our tree is in the skylight, and you can’t really see it!)

3.  Two hours later (NOT two days later!) we had it all decorated!

Nicolas still thinks we should have gotten a bigger tree, but at least it’s up and decorated, so he’s happy!