Merry Christmas

"I am not alone at all, I thought. I was never alone at all. And that, of course, is the message of Christmas. We are never alone. Not when the night is darkest, the wind coldest, the world seemingly most indifferent. For this is still the time God chooses." ~ Taylor Caldwell

We finally brought a Christmas tree home over the weekend. It is a rather long story on why it took so long, but the good news is we have one.

We waited until Sunday to go looking and because the Vikings were playing some team in some big important game, we were short of time. One suggestion was to just go out to the woods by our house and cut one down.

The 150 acres we call "our" woods does belong to us — in a way. It is our association land. We are not allowed to cut any trees from there. So what my husband meant was to cut one down from the state land that is nearby.

Now, I truly believe there is something wrong with having a stolen, illegal Christmas tree. I refused and put up a fight.

I won. Sort of.

So we thought we would just drive the 20 miles into town to the gas station at the Hwy 18/25 junction. I saw 3 trees there just the day before and they looked fine. Nice full balsam firs with soft fragrant boughs.

Well, by the time we got there, there was only one tree left.

There is a reason it was the last tree.

But not to let my son down, I said, "Oh look! They saved the best tree for us!"

He looked at me like I was a martian. A green one.

It is a tall skinny tree, perfect for our small living room with vaulted ceiling. The first Christmas we were at the house I wanted the biggest tree. So we got a 16-foot tree. It looked a lot smaller in the field let me tell you. By the time we got it home, up and decorated, it took over our whole house. We had to tie it to the wall to keep it from tipping over.

We wont do that again. But it is funny to remember.

So, now we have this tall skinny tree with miss-placed branches. It is like parts of it forgot to grow.

I told my son that the holes in it are perfect! Because if you are sitting at the dinning room table and look through one of the holes, you can still see the TV!

He bought that.

But there really is no such thing as an ugly Christmas tree. Look at Charlie Brown as an example.

Once we got it decorated, it is the most perfect tree we have ever had.

Well, maybe that is a stretch, but it looks nice. A simple, silly, sort of looking tree. But it is the thought that counts.

I am off for a few days to spend Christmas with my family. I am so looking forward to that. All of the LaMoore's and parts of our extended families will be together in Walker for at least one full day. We have so much fun, it is unbelievable.

My sister has a cabin on Leech Lake that can sleep all of us comfortably. The boat house sleeps about 4 people comfortably, but no plumbing in the winter. That can be a problem as it is a long hike back up to the main house. But the view is spectacular from inside the cozy warm room with a gas fireplace for heat.

The rooms of the cabin are filled with laughter whether we are all playing games, preparing a meal, unwrapping gifts, or just sharing stories over bottles of wine. I can just hardly wait to get up there.

I hope all of you cherish your memories of past and make new ones.

God bless you all and Merry Christmas!

Peace.

"The only real blind person at Christmas-time is he who has not Christmas in his heart." ~ Helen Keller