It's Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas!

 Love, love, love this time of year. The period between Thanksgiving and Christmas. Barb has been busy decorating the house for the holidays with all things Christmas. 

With all the money we have been putting into the house the past month, we decided that we were going to try and find out our own Christmas tree somewhere out in the National Forest. You are allowed to cut one with a permit. We spent a few hours wandering some likely spots but did not find any worthy candidates. All the trees in our area are long needled ponderosa pine with branches that are 2+' long and basically go straight up, making them challenging for a Christmas tree. 

There are other locations in the hills that have spruce, but they are further north, and we have no idea where to go look. I guess we should have done some homework. Next year we will scout out a few locations beforehand and be better prepared. 

So, Barb went off to Rapid City in search of a tree. She came home with this beauty which she already decorated. Trees seem crazy expensive this year, but she was able to pick this one up for $80, plus she had $35 in gift cards bring it down to a reasonable price. Most of the trees over 8' were almost $200!

She has other decorations up throughout the house as well, making the place quite festive!

Pandora plays Christmas music in the background as we work in the house and garage throughout the day. Our favorites are the classics; Gene Autry, Burl Ives, Dean Martin, Frank Sinatra, Nate King Cole and the like. There are a handful of more recent songs that we like but it saddens me to think that with each passing generation these classics will be fading into history. 

This time more than any, I reflect on my childhood, growing up with my brothers and sisters and my parents. My parents had their hands full with 7 kids, several of us giving them challenges along the way but overall I have nothing but fond memories of my childhood. Christmas memories include treading popcorn on string, making a chain of rings out of construction paper, making snowflakes out of folded paper and an ungodly amount of tinsel on our tree.  Great memories....

This was also the first opportunity for us to hang some of our recently acquired tree ornaments from our Great Summer Adventure. We try to find ornaments that bring back special memories of our trips. 

                             Painted Sand Dollars from Newfoundland and Nova Scotia

Glass Float Ball from Prince Edward Island

Then there are the very special ornaments, the first two are over 30 years old. 

In the spirit of fully embracing the holidays, we have been watching our share of Hallmark movies. Almost one a day, at the end of the day while we unwind. Since we have seen all the one from previous years, we have been trying to stick to ones from this year. There is a noticeable difference in the increase of 'wokeness' when compared to years past. Most are not bad, but others are just over the top this year. If you want to see for yourself, watch Christmas at the Golden Dragon. Still entertaining but you cannot help but notice the forces story plot. 

Our other big news for the week is that the interior of the workshop is done! Well, I still have some finishing touches to do like installing a heater and getting some more stainless-steel tables, but I am really happy with how it turned out. 

Next up will be the exterior. This is how it looks now.

Thursday, Barb and I spent the entire day cleaning the garage. With the colder weather, the garage has become our main work area and as you can imagine it becomes quite a mess. Although not perfect, it is a heck of a lot cleaner than it has been in quite a long time. 

The girls spent the day out there with us helping us cleaning. We were all exhausted at the end of the day. The girls were so exhausted they could not even drag the whole bodies on their beds.

They do get out for their walks, Dakota's favorite time of the day. She runs from brush pile to brush pile looking for that Rascally Rabbit. She usually finds one which she chases for about 50' before she loses sight of it. Zoey on the other hand likes to show off her bone to anyone who shows the slightest interest. 

That's it from the Nelson household this week. Time to get back to it, so much work to do!