Some Holiday Postings

Some Holiday Postings

(Nov 27, 2011)

The holidays are delightful. And they come and go so quickly. With much of our family living nearby, we have found spreading out the Thanksgiving dinners over the course of a week or so allows us to enjoy the food and company without exploding our stomachs. We hit Cam's extended family the Saturday before Thanksgiving, Kristin's dad on that Sunday, Kristin's mom on Thanksgiving day, and Cam's family on the Friday after. 

We also obtained a cute, living Christmas tree yesterday (Saturday) and have put up the Christmas decor. The 'living' aspect of our tree came almost on a whim. We were at Home Depot Friday morning (at about 10:00 am because we surely were not going to wake up super early for the Black Friday rush) to purchase a washer and dryer (as ours have reached the point of exhaustion and are calling it quits) and saw outside the entrance a variety of Christmas trees in red pots, still in soil. I didn't even know it was a possibility to buy a tree that was still living. We have generally gone with a live tree, the kind that have been cut and smell nice, but get put on the curb to be picked up by the city the week after Christmas. So on Saturday, we decided we would give a living one a try. A fresh cut tree is easy to transport home if you wrap it in a tarp and tie it to the roof of the car. A tree in a 10 gallon planter full of dirt is a bit more complicated. We ended up wrapping the whole thing in a tarp, tying a rope around it to hold the limbs up, and stuck it in the front passenger seat laying down. We spilled dirt all over the front seat (which vacuumed up nicely) but got the tree home without too much incidence. It is all decorated now and we think it looks pretty spiffy. Here are a few pictures. 

Our task with a living tree is to, of course, keep it alive. We plan to plant it on our property in Wyoming (that is currently tree-less) and we think we will make it a yearly tradition to do so. 

Cam also competed in his elder's quorum's pinewood derby. Here's a video of a race for your viewing pleasure:

And finally, here is the beautiful surprise Veteran's Day cake Kristin created: