Hey, Mom, I did my annual christmas eve trek to the neighborhood garden center and asked if they'd sell me a tree for $10 today since they'll be on the curb after tomorrow. They always do. This one was originally $130. Whew! Who can pay that kind of money for a dead tree? I put it up this afternoon--we had an absolutely spectacular trees a couple of years ago, and this isn't going to rival it, but it is nice. They prune them too much causing such dense foliage that the ornaments can't hang from the branches. Anyway, I've not completed my baking either. I need to eat a regular meal, all I've done is eat an occasional cookie as I bake. The kids will be back later tonight, later than I like, but this is how they do it, xmas eve at their dad's and xmas day with me. A boyfriend will be here this time.

The tree will be up for a couple of days and we'll have it down before New Year's. They're a fire hazard, though this one doesn't seem to be too dry. There was another one there that was great as far as branches, but I was afraid the base was too fat to fit in my tree stand, plus it had some pretty bad holes in the bottom couple of whorls. A real Charley Brown tree. They had been asking nearly $250 for it--I guess no one took a look at that one except the customers who walked past it.