Well…that’s not quite the truth. No FRESH tree.
Dear Husband seems to be allergic to evergreens. Each year when he puts up the Christmas tree, he’s swathed in a zipped hoody sweatshirt, in an effort to keep the sap off his arms and back.
This year we will not be hosting any holiday parties. I don’t know how that happened, it just seemed to evolve that way. I’ve been out to dinner with the Quilting Bee, and the exercise group met for brunch at our exercise leader’s home. We’ll be spending part of the Christmas weekend with family. It seems that this was the year for everyone to go in different directions.
So, our decorating has been proceeding at a slow pace. The other night I turned to Dear Husband and asked if it was important to him to have a “live” tree. He shrugged his shoulders and tried to weasel out of the question. I took pity on him and said that since we weren’t having the family here, we might consider not putting up a fresh tree. After all, we have three fake trees in the front half of the house. That ought to be enough.
We decided that the fake trees were adequate this year. So, in a short conversation we resolved the issue of having to clean up the pine needles from the trees being carried in and out. And no one has to worry about watering the tree. I can water the Norfolk pine and ficus trees instead (which won’t have to be moved), and pile presents at the base of their stands. It’s possible the Christmas tree skirt might drape around the base of the pine.
I’ll miss the wonderful scent of a Frasier fir, but I won’t feel guilty watching a beautiful tree die. Merry Christmas, Mother Nature!

I envy those of you who are organized enough to have your house decorated and Christmas gifts purchased and wrapped by December 1st. I bet you’ve been enjoying the season while the rest of us have been running around like crazy people!
I tend to decorate gradually, rather than doing it all in one day. I’ve been thinking about what it must be like to survey your home for almost a month, enjoying the seasonal decorations. Elegant Mother is in the habit of taking her decorations down on New Year’s Day. If I did that, I’d barely have one week to enjoy the completed decorations, so I let it linger just a bit.

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Wednesday, December 7th was Elegante Mother’s 89th birthday. We didn’t plan a special activity this year, but did a number of low-key things, instead.
In our household, the birthday person gets to choose where we will go out to dinner to celebrate their birthday. We went to dinner on Tuesday night, thinking that the storm might make travel difficult on Wednesday evening. EM chose a small chain called “Redstone.” They serve American cuisine and feature a lot of wood smoked or roasted items. She chose to take home a huge chunk of bleu cheese encrusted fillet, so that she could have the flour-less chocolate cake with raspberry coulis.
Wednesday morning, my siblings and some of their children called to wish Elegante Mother a happy birthday. One of her granddaughters (the one from the car crash) picked her up to do some Christmas shopping, and then I met them for lunch at the mall.
My niece went on from there, and I was in charge of getting EM home again. I wanted to make a stop before we left the mall. Unfortunately, it was the full length of the mall away from where we had eaten lunch. Elegante Mother was up for the trek, because it ended at Christopher and Banks, one of her favorite stores.
My errand was to buy her a sweater. Since there was no way I could do it without her knowledge, I put her to work, and we shopped together. Mother has always said that she was easy to buy for. Just be sure that it’s red. We ambled through the sweaters, and I picked up one for her approval. When I realized it was on sale for half price, I held up a second. She liked them both, and we were out of the store in ten minutes. She’s my kind of shopper! I left her seated near the entrance and hiked back for the car. By then, it was time for both of us to head home.
She told me the cutest story on the way home. It seems that my youngest sis called to wish her happy birthday after I’d left the house. The cute part was that she had her entire classroom shout “Happy Birthday, Mrs. ———‘s Mother!!” so that Elegante Mother could hear it over the phone. And then she did it again when the bell rang and her second class was ready to go. Cute, huh?? I hope the kids had as much fun with it as we did.

I’ve been a long time recovering from the cold that took me down after Thanksgiving. I’ve been short of energy, and interest in anything that required concentration or commitment. So, I was relieved to have a sense of second wind last night.
We were watching “National Treasure” on cable. I realized about half-way through the movie that I could iron and watch at the same time. The ironing basket has been overflowing since Thanksgiving, and one of the things I wanted to do was to get things ironed so that we’d have napkins and linens should we do any spur of the moment entertaining.
I was about two-thirds of the way through the basket when the movie ended. Frankly, it gave me such a boost that I sent Dear Husband off to bed and took care of the dinner dishes on my own.
I also did three loads of laundry, cleaned off the counters, finished a little office work, and planned the chores that needed to be done today. By then, it was 1:00 and seriously past my bedtime.
I can feel my “clock” getting out of sync with my life. I almost had the 5:00 rising down pat, when I stayed up until 2:00 in the morning. It only takes one of those days to wipe out all your good intentions. I’m on a medication that makes a good eight hours of sleep almost a necessity, and it’s hard to do when you’re up until 2:00 and you have to be out of the house by 8:00.
Still, I feel very virtuous about having gotten so much done. It spilled over to my day today, and kept right on through the evening. Tomorrow, we start wrapping gifts, so I’m glad that I got so much cleared off my plate.

Dear Husband and I were watching TV last night. The movie “National Treasure” was on cable, and I went to the Internet to find a synopsis of the story line. The first two paragraphs were written by critics or press agents, but the third one was written by a movie buff.
The story line was a spin off of “The Da Vinci Code” story, suggesting that the Knights Templar sent a HUGE treasure from the era of the Holy Grail to the infant United States for safe keeping. Supposedly Benjamin Franklin and other early leaders left a slew of clues showing where the treasure had been buried.
The movie buff was explaining the plot, and wrote that the “Four Fathers” of the United States had left clues. I had to go back to read that line. Obviously he thought there were 4 (four) fathers who had started our country. He’d heard the words, but had not seen it written out. Four fathers…..let’s see…that would be Benjamin Franklin, George Washington, John Hancock and….???
It reminds me of other goofs I’ve heard that have brought smiles. Have you heard about the child who came home from Sunday School to tell his mother that they had sung his favorite hymn, “Gladly, the Cross-eyed Bear”?
We love puns because of the word play, and Four Fathers seems to fit right in.

Cowtown Pattie was a visitor today. In her comment under “Cinnamon Ornaments,” she mentioned that she has lost her sense of smell. My Dad had the same problem. I know we take that particular sense for granted.
Think of all the celebrations and special times and family days that have scents tied to their memories! I can’t imagine Thanksgiving without the scent of roasting turkey (and neither could my sister, the day we forgot to turn the oven on, when 25 people were coming to Thanksgiving dinner.) There are two other scents that I strongly identify as Thanksgiving smells: onion and celery cooking in butter, before they are added to the dressing, and the scent of pumpkin pie or pumpkin bread baking.
Those of you who are coffee drinkers….would your day start out as well if you couldn’t smell the coffee perking?
Autumn wouldn’t be Autumn without the scent of cinnamon and nutmeg and cloves and allspice in the air. Think of all the harvest baking that would be bland and uninteresting.
The smell of burning leaves reminds me of Fall, followed by the scent of evergreen as we decorate the house with wreaths and garland and trees.
I live in an area where gardens are put to bed for the winter, so summertime is the time I think of herbal scents. Late in Spring I can begin to smell the perennial herbs, but the garden doesn’t come into it’s own until June and July. Then, you can just brush your hand over the herbs to release their fragrance. Basil, oregano, sage, lemon verbena, lemon balm, scented geraniums, dill…even the cherry tomatoes are wonderful!
Marigolds are a summer smell to me, but I love lavender and alyssum more. Chrysanthemums have that tart, clean scent that marigolds and home grown tomatoes have.
A freshly washed and powdered baby has to be one of the best scents of all.
Pizza.
Old Spice. Dad wore it….and so does Dear Husband.
Cowtown Pattie…..I’m so sorry that you’ve lost your sense of smell.

We just finished making the cinnamon dough ornaments. This year I added a tablespoon each of cloves, nutmeg and allspice to the dough and the house smells marvelous.
I rolled out the dough and used cookie cutters to create Christmas shapes. And then I made my mistake. I asked Dear Husband to give me a hand putting the holes in the ornaments for the ribbon I’ll use to make hangers. I was laying ornaments on the pans to dry when I realized that all the angels looked like snowmen. He felt the “wings” on my angels weren’t pronounced enough and had added indentations where the coal would be on a snowman.
So, if you get to see these ornaments, you’ll know just where to address your comments.
Did I tell you what he did at Thanksgiving?? The counter is covered with food, and he brings out a platter of White Castle burgers….the ones that are called “Sliders.”
I’m perfecting my “evil-eye.”

I love TV mysteries. I can remember when Columbo, McCloud, MacMillan and Wife and Hec Ramsey alternated through the year so that we had a new mystery every week. Perry Mason, Ironside, Rockford Files, Cannon, Banacek, Miss Marple, Murder She Wrote, Hercule Poirot, Magnum, P. I., Nero Wolfe, Dragnet, Due South, Hill Street Blues, Quincy and Remington Steele were all favorites.
We have the TV on now, and Dear Husband settled on “The Cosby Mysteries.” I had forgotten Bill Cosby had made this series. I love the shows that skip all the blood and gore and focus on clever detecting, or intelligent, interesting or quirky detectives.
Gene Wilder did several mysteries set in the 1930s. The character he played, “Cash Carter,” was the director of a small theater in Connecticut. He solved mysteries because he was an observant man.
John Larroquette has a series out now on the Hallmark channel called “McBride.” His detective is always short on money because he’s willing to help those who need help, and can’t pay for his services.
“Monk,” is our current favorite. Tony Shalloub plays Mr. Monk, brilliantly!
Perhaps we’ve enjoyed these series because they are gentle. There’s not so much focus on blood and guts. The characters show some humor, and we occasionally have to wait to find out who-done-it
I’m ready for the new season of “Monk” to start.

We made our first trip out to shop for Christmas today. We actually found a few of the things on our list! Unfortunately, not as many as we had hoped for.
One of the best finds was a group of small gift bags that we can use for the gift cards that Elegante Mother will be giving. That resolves a major wrapping issue for the year. I used to object to gift cards, because I felt that the giver wasn’t choosing something specific for the recipient. I’ve finally been persuaded that a gift card for a specific store is an acceptable gift. Still….I wish I had the ability to find the PERFECT GIFT for everyone.
Which brings me to an interesting question. Do you feel that a giver should be responsible for returning a gift that is a duplicate? Or should the recipient make the exchange? That’s assuming that the gift is a gift that CAN be returned, and that you’ve supplied the gift receipt.
I had to adjust to a practice in Dear Husband’s family when I joined them. The women of the family would call to discuss what was being given, so that there were not duplicates to exchange. In my family, you buy what you want, and the recipient decides what they want to do with the gifts. One year I received two Sony Walkman cassette players. And another year I got two microwaveable gel pads for my back. I kept all of them, and they’ve come in handy.
So….do you return the gift, or does the giver?