Working my way into it

We bought our Christmas tree this evening. Kev and Sammy are working on bringing it into the house right now. Our house is going to smell sooooooo good. I think I am finally starting to feel a little bit of the Christmas spirit.

We always go to the same place to get our tree, VanderSys Tree Farm in Mt. Pleasant. We used to go out to their farm and cut our own tree, but now we stop right in town to where they have a lot set up and buy our tree from there. Their trees are always so fresh and perfect! They also make the prettiest wreaths.

We get a Fraser Fir every year because they hold their needles very well, and there are lots of strong branches for ornaments. I think we looked at every one they had on their lot... but none seemed big enough. We told the guy we wanted about a 9 or 10 footer, and he took us over to the side of the lot where he had trees that he had just brought from the farm that afternoon. A freshly cut 10-footer became our Christmas tree.

It was funny, the guy showed us a 9-footer and then 2 10-footers, and it seemed to me there was a real big difference between the trees... more than a foot. I liked the first 10-footer, and I said, "that's a big 10-foot tree." He said, "Well, how tall is your ceiling?" I wanted to say, "8 feet, do you think it'll fit?" But Kev answered him first with, "oh, about 22 feet." The guy just looked at Kevin for a couple of seconds and then told us we'd have no problem. Here's your sign.

Know what else I like about VanderSys? They gave us one of those big bags for free. And they recognize us. They see us once a year, granted for the past 20 years, but they recognize us. I like that. I also like it that we usually find a bird's nest in our tree from VanderSys.

Joycie left us at the tree lot and went on home to study. Exams next week. She's feeling the pressure.

Kev, Sammy and I drove down the road to Starbucks to get some festive hot holiday drinks. Kev and I heartily recommend both the eggnog latte and the peppermint white mocha latte. Yummy. Sammy got a hot chocolate and a penguin gingerbread cookie.

The young woman behind the counter at Starbucks slid open the little glass door to get Sammy's cookie, then she looked up at me and asked, "Do you have a preference in scarf color?" Oh yeah, red. It's Christmas. I was amused by the question, though. Have you seen those cookies? They're almost too adorable to eat.

But Sammy had no trouble, and he bit off a flipper right away. The 3 of us were back in the truck, heading home, and Sammy had by that time ate a whole arm off. He passed the cookie to his dad to take a bite. Kev passed the headless penguin back to Sam, and Sammy said, "You ate his whole head!" Kev said, with a mouthful of cookie, "I like your Mom's better."

Cookies, not head flavor. Just so we're clear.