It's the Holiday Season...

and a whoop-dee-do, a dickory dock, don't forget to hang up your sock... (inside joke with my sister Karen).

We are in full swing and a bit sad that Thanksgiving fell later this year. Since we travel for the holidays (and therefore must have our act together even earlier) we really don't get much time to enjoy our decorations and quiet family Christmas time. Both Don and I (and subsequently our kids) love to get festive (as Don says) so we cram a lot in without trying to make it feel pressured or rushed (multi-tasking skills go into overdrive)... but it always kinda does (at least to me).

However, we LOVE to see our family and friends (and get gifts ;) and Don would NEVER stay in warm weather for the holidays (and snow is preferred - can you all make that happen this year - PLEASE?!). I however think it might be fun to escape, just once. Christmas in the islands perhaps? Maybe even Christmas Island. Or even Iceland for Don. Just kidding everyone (except for maybe just a teeny tiny bit), and I'm sure I would regret it if I did.

So, I'm squeezing in ONE MORE thing (this posting) before we head out on Saturday. I just ran out of time to get other Christmas posts up and many of our busy events weren't even photo-documented since I forgot the camera most of the time (my multi-tasker broke down).

And one of my goals of this post (decided midway second paragraph) is to see how many parentheses I can use (even if it is annoying). I think I'm losing it a bit.

Cutting the Tree

We started a new ritual last year when we found a quaint Christmas tree farm - cutting our own tree. These trees are Sand Pines (or Scrub Pines) and they are native to Florida. Their needles are similar to a white pine. They aren't a deep, dark green - more of a "Florida" green as I call it - lots of sunshine mixed in.Grants favorite part was pulling the cart...Chosen, cut and conquered... Grant inhaling some fresh pine...
They have a nice scent - at first - but unfortunately it doesn't last like I remember my trees of youth. But we like having a native tree.Heading out...We even got a bit of education. The owners have bluebird houses and martin houses around the property to control insect damage without using pesticides. These are some of the nests and eggs found in the houses.Heading home...