The Pre-Lit Christmas Tree . . . NOT!

We drive the same route weekly to my writing group, and the way takes us through a mostly rural area. Tonight, for the first time ever, a deer stood in the dark by the side of the road. I hope he had enough sense to wait until all the cars had passed.

Of course in the fall one notices the leaves and the shortening days, and now we notice the bright Christmas lights, making the world a cheerier place. Some houses are lit up, well, lit up like a Christmas tree.

I made lentil soup today, a mess of pottage as the Bible would have it. This was served up with sauteed croutons and kielbasa with a bit of parsley for color. Very nice and tasty. The beef barley was also tasty. What shall I do for an encore?

Our guest this weekend is bringing a whole red snapper along, and I had to scramble to find a recipe. I'm making a special iceberg salad with a buttermilk dressing. The snapper is cooked with thyme, lemon and garlic and sounds wonderful. I'm trying to keep the meal medium cal, not high-cal.

We'll get the house decorated. Coming home we passed a big outlet that has patio furniture in the summer and pool tables and Christmas stuff in the winter. They had a big sign advertising pre-lighted Christmas trees, and we said, "Yuck!" in unison.

When it comes to the holidays, I believe in a real tree with lights and decorations collected since Great Grandma Hess put up her tree. We still have some of her ornaments, old victorian santas and angels, very cool. I have a collection of animal ornaments I've been working on for many years. Everything from a jack rabbit to an armadillo.

Picking out the tree, bringing it home on the roof of the car, putting it up, decorating the tree and the house, wrapping the packages, baking, entertaining--no doubt about it, there's a lot of work involved, and when I was putting in 50+ hour weeks some years I would always wonder if I could get everything done. But I did. Still do. A real tree, and real food, home made cookies, soup-to-nuts, the whole holiday enchilada. There is something to be said for tradition, and tradition is not a pre-lit tree.

Bah! Humbug.

We like to make sure the kitties and the creatures share in the feasts, so outdoor edibles are a must. We hang up the stockings, and decorate our own wreath. We don't go crazy, just make things nice, pleasant, trying to create some warmth on the cold earth.

Driving home tonight, the temperature was 10 degrees, and the frigid air puts one in the holiday mood. Even with pared back presents. Buy everyone a book. Books are such a great gift.

The cats like to sleep under the tree and bat a few ornaments around. We put the cheap, not-very-fragile stuff at the bottom, with the lead tinsel out of reach. Kitties rule. Meow.

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