Friday, December 2, 2022

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!

37 comments:

  1. Your Christmas tree is so pretty, and I love the little personal ornaments you are putting on it :)

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    1. Now that I have been reading your blog for a while now, I am learning so much about life there. Do you have the same Christmas songs or entirely different popular classics?

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  2. It’s Gay…your tree is so pretty and I can just imagine how woodsy and good it smells. I don’t miss the mess of needles, but I do miss the smell of a real tree. We had sand dollar ornaments…lots of them…that were all claimed by the kids when we set out on our full-time adventure. Your work shop is awesome! And the pups are so cute. Sleeping IS hard work and chasing rabbits and chewing on bones is way fun!

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    1. My advice to you is to start buying ornaments from your travel adventures now. I wish we would have started sooner!

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  3. A very festive household! Great tree.
    The workshop looks very durable and shiny. A heater is a grand idea.
    The dogs look exhausted, you must be working them too hard.
    I like the pelts hanging on the peg, they look very much at home there.

    Deb

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    1. Each of those pelts have a memory attached to them. There is a red fox, a fisher and two mink in that group.

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  4. Your decorations from your travels are a great idea. Love the family ones too. Your tree is a beauty. Costly but worth it.

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    1. I wish we would have started the ornaments from various travel locations sooner but at the time we did not have a house nor anywhere to hang that many ornaments. Now we have to play catch up!

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  5. You childhood memories of decorating the tree sound identical to mine! I hated taking the mounds of tinsel off to save it for the next year. Great job on the workshop! Hope Barb is back to 100%. Cheers!

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    1. Funny, I do not remember taking the tinsel off the tree. I was probably off playing with my toys somewhere!

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  6. Merry Christmas, your tree is lovely.

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  7. What? No TINSEL? I guess there are some traditions that should be left in the dust. That is one of them. I had to take that stuff off every year. Nice tree! I do love a house decorated for Christmas, especially when it's not mine. You're decorating skills are excellent also ... that's a great shop!!!

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    1. We have never been tinsel people. Not sure why, it is just something that never transferred over from our childhood.

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  8. I love this time of year also! It's so festive and brings back memories. The tree looks fantastic! We had over 200 ornaments, most from our adventures over the years. Our tradition was we would buy 2 identical ornaments and place them on the tree. Whoever found the ornaments would get a dollar gift. It was a hit! The little ones found it faster than the adults. Sadly, we pared down. Gave the kids the ornaments and kept a few for ourselves. Your home is so beautiful. Merry Christmas, Jim and Barb. 🌲

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    1. What a cool tradition, especially for the kids. That would not work in our case as none of our kids visit us.

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  9. Now if you could only teach those girls (not Barb) how to keep that tree 'watered down' so it does not dry out! lol Sure love everything you all have done with your house!

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    1. How did you know we always forget to water the tree? If it weren't for Barb it would never get watered!

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  10. The place looks festive! 🌲
    Nice job on the shop. You’re going to need a bigger freezer! Barbs Elk will need it! 😉

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    1. I better get an elk tag before her. I've been applying for years and have way more points!

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  11. You guys have the ultimate Christmas house - warm and cozy and beautifully decorated and you're probably gonna be buried in snow on Christmas. As long as I didn't have to actually go outside, I'd be in heaven.

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    1. Teens are a bit chilly, 20's are quite bearable and 30's is just sweatshirt weather. 40's? We break out the shorts and suntan lotion!

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  12. Your house looks so festive and cozy. For your Christmas present from me, I will wipe away your debt of the case and a half of beer that you owe me. It's not like I was going to see it anyways. I like your ornament collection. I wish we would have thought of that. The workshop is coming along. How do you get to the top of it to store stuff?

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    1. I refuse your Christmas present as I always pay my debts! I am going to build stairs to get up to the loft but for now it is just a ladder.

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  13. You have the perfect house for that beautiful tree! We always buy ornaments when we travel :) I always tell my kids if they don't know what to get me, get an ornament. Every year as we decorate we're able to look back on history :) Love how the workshop is turning out! The pup pictures are adorable too..

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    1. Ornaments as gifts are a great idea, especially if they are personalized with pictures of your kids and grandkids. Who am I kidding our kids will never read this comment and see this hint!

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  14. this is a favorite time of year for me as well!! our home is all decorated, inside and out, soon i will share some pictures. your tree is beautiful, i'm glad you did not have to dig it out of the ground like they had to on chevy chase's christmas vacation!! we now have several "fake" (not a fan) 4 foot trees scattered about the house. it's easier. the hubs was grumpy decorating this year, but he did his part and i applied all of the finishing touches.

    all of the hallmark movies are the same...ALL OF THEM!!! did you watch the new movie with lindsay lohan...i have heard it is painful to watch!!

    i am a little confused with the workshop, all pictures looked like the interior space. in the first 2, it looks amazing...what a great space for working, you could add shelves now for storage!! i went back and read again, i see the 3rd is the garage!!!

    you guys must be as exhausted as the pups!!

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    1. The workshop is in the garage, we carved out a corner and built it in there. The exterior picture you see is the outside of the shop which is inside the garage. Confused yet?

      We tried watching the Lindsey Lohan movie, twice. Could not even get through the first 30 minutes both times. Just can't do it.

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  15. Your tree looks beautiful. Love all the ornaments.

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  16. I love the idea of having Christmas ornaments from places you have been. We decorate our little tree in the boat with shells that we find. Now that I get your blog entries via email, I have to remember to come to your blog to comment. It does not seem like your comment #'s are down. You have some very loyal readers.

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    1. Seashells are a great idea as well. We have a few, but I bet you have found some beauties out there!

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  17. Love your tree! We've started getting real trees again once we bought the house, it's nice to have that lovely smell! We, too, used to collect ornaments before we started on the road. We had two trees at the farm and they were both filled with those wonderful memories. Our company, well, the company we sold before setting off on our MH adventures, makes the bones that sweet little Zoey is so enamored with!

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    1. So, you are to blame! Zoey loves that toy, but she drops it all the time making a loud clatter on the hardwood floors.

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  18. Compared to what we were getting for trees last year $200 isn't too bad for 8' tree. Decorations and tree look awesome.

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    1. Barb and I were actually talking about you two this week when we were looking at trees.

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  19. Love the tree. Contessa. PS yes I am reading all that Ihave miissed.

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