Christmas Trees & Traditions

Well, we finally got our Christmas Tree. We usually get a tree by the end of the first week of December, however, this year we've been waiting (and waiting and waiting) for our new floor to get put in before we bought a tree. We had no idea how close to Christmas it ended up being. And, fortunately, we could still get a tree here in town. Even 5-6 years ago, the whole town would of been out of trees if we'd waited this long. Many stores were actually out yesterday, but we did manage to get one "Ka-ching, Ka-ching".

The previous 2 years we'd bought our tree at Home Depot. Great trees, never frozen (outdoor lots have frozen trees), half the price. And, what was even more fun, was that last year we didn't even have them unravel the net, we just grabbed one and got it home and "opened" it. That was fun! Bald spot to the back and "voila" a beautiful tree!


Really glad we did get our tree as it's been a little hard getting in the "mood" without all the decorations out. I haven't even managed to do much baking, as the contractors have been banging away on the floors this week and ripping carpet out all last week.

Now that we're in Christmas mode, we're planning on doing the usual driving around town to look at Christmas lights, either tonight or tomorrow night, that the Anchorage Daily News maps out. I'm in charge of the map, as all women should be as we drive all over the place looking at decorations, while listening to our kids whine, I mean christmas music. Oops.



In order to make the map, one has to have friends and neighbors submit your address. For several years, Bud has made a valiant attempt at getting such mention, but after receiving our electric bill for last year's display, Bud wisely has cut it back. Plus we're slowly converting our lights over to LED's.




This tree is in our front yard and is actually a tree that my husband and I "saved" when a lot by our condo (13 years ago) was being bulldozed. I had been taking our dog, Tonka, to the lot to do his business every day, carefully stepping around this tiny tree. When I saw the dozers, I hurried home grabbed a shovel and a bucket and took the tree. We then ended up renting an old homestead for a couple years and kept the tree in a bucket out front. Then when we bought our house in '97, we realized we finally had a permanent home for our tree. For the last few years, it's finally become big enough to not get completely covered in snow and, therefore, it's now our outside Christmas Tree.




This is how the house looks at the moment, though, I've just been informed by Bud that there are more lights to go up soon.





Now this is an Ice Tree, directly across the street from my house. There is no actual tree. Our neighbor is an artist and he has made this tree from beautifully crafted wood rings, fishing line and led lights. He ran water over the top on and off for several weeks to make this tree. How lucky and I!