Santa's copter

To swing or not to swing

35 degrees will not deter a determined 2 y/o from an outing to the park. It was so cold snot froze and I'm pretty sure his tongue would have stuck to the handles on the swing.

Clause and Paws

We visited Santa and his reindeers this weekend. Liam, Grandma JJ and I rode the bus downtown and stood in line all of 10 minutes before seeing the big man. Liam hopped on his lap, spoke right up and told him he'd like 'Big Jake' for Christmas - (for those not in the know- that's an airplane that lives at Tarrytown airport on PBS). Thankfully Santa's helper confirmed Liam was not a Leah so we didn't have that embarrassing Santa speak 'have you been a good little girl this year'. When it came time to take the picture Liam chuckled ho ho ho and he and Santa both laughed

After our Downtown event we went to see hometown Santa at Swanson's and got to see the REAL reindeer, and holiday trains- Liam quickly identified that train as the Polar Express..

To tree or not to tree

I didn't write this, but sure found it amusing as I was googling my way through the great tree debates.

Trees Belong In The Woods
It seems that a California woman was bitten by a Christmas Bat. She ordered a real tree from some farm, and it arrived with a little something extra. At no charge. The tree farm uses bats for pest control, and her tree was delivered occupied. As she was decorating the thing she thought that some pine needle or something stuck her. The next day she noticed a bat hanging in the tree. She called the farm and they said that several bats were removed from the tree before it was cut. But not all the bats it seems.First off, POOR BAT! Here is this bat, minding its own business, hanging out at home. Then some jackass with a chainsaw comes along, cuts down the bat house, and delivers it to some human house. As for the other bats "removed" from the tree? Well I say that the proper word to use is EVICTED. The tree was the bat's home. They were evicted. Without proper notice. If someone cut down MY HOUSE I would bite the crap out of them too. I am on the bat's side here.Really people - trees do not belong in your house. For starters, they are a major FIRE HAZARD. Do not believe me? Try this little test. After everyone throws out their tree in a few weeks, pull one off the curb. Using a match or a lighter, set just the very tip of one branch on fire. In 60 seconds or less, there will be a raging fireball. You will be amazed. If you want a better simulation of what COULD happen in your house, put the dead tree in one of those metal tree stands and set the tip of a lower branch on fire. A 6 foot tree will make a fire at least 12 feet high. It will burn hot and it will burn fast. The whole event will be over in 1 1/2 - 2 minutes. The only thing left will be a smoking tree trunk. Once you see a real tree go up, you will seriously think twice before ever taking one into your home again. Next reason to not have a tree in your house. Do you know where the idea of decorating evergreen trees in the winter comes from? Here is a link to Wikipedia, covering the general history without getting all long winded and full of every single detail. In short, ancient people thought that since all the trees EXCEPT pines lost all their leaves in the winter, some kind of powerful spirits must live in the pines. Some cultures made human and animal sacrifices to the tree spirits, some just decorated them and/or left food offerings for them. Whatever. When Christianity replaced the pagan religions, outright tree worship had to go, but in some places the evergreen tree just became associated with Christianity. For those who would refute this, find a single passage in the Bible about killing a tree, dragging it into your home, and decorating it.And lastly - all those needles fall out and make a mess! And if you have pets - they are a pain in the ass. Cats like to attack the ornaments, and have been known to attempt climbing trees. And pets seem to LOVE to eat that tinsel stuff, making for some great festive holiday decorated poop.But the decorated trees are deeply ingrained as Christmas symbols. They make your house feel all Christmas-ee and stuff. They are a good place to stash all those gifts under. They add a festive feeling. Kids really like them. These are all reasons to put up a tree. So, I can understand why so many people do have a Christmas tree.But really - a fake one does the same thing a real one does. Only a fake tree is fire resistant. Cats do not try to climb them as much. The needles do not fall off. Critters are not made homeless. And there is a zero percent chance you will get attacked by an angry bat.

Der Weihnachtsbaum

This is the kind of tree that makes you want to burst out in song. Check out the snow!

When I told Liam we were going to decorate the tree, he ran upstairs and told me 'I will get the decorations'. He came back with a boxful of Xmas gift tags w/ strings so that he could hang them all over the tree! One smart christmas cookie!
The blown glass candy cane he's reaching for has since broken. He kept trying to eat it. Makes me understand the popcorn and cranberry traditions.
That's Mickey Mouse circa 1970's. Just like the Velveteen Rabbit Mickey was loved so hard that his eyes wore off. Liam de-tree'd him since he was clearly so special.

Little Angel

Don't think we've ever mentioned our cat. We got him last January around our birthdays, his name is Saul Rosenberg. He's a really good cat, soft fur, hardly ever strikes out at Liam, and besides a brief stint in a cast last summer he has been in good health. Best thing is he pees in his box! He is one smart and respectful cat. He's Jewish, so just humoring us with the Christmas costumes here but he's in the holiday spirit too.

Skis please

Liam got his first pair of skis this weekend. Complete with edgy wedgies and a Marker ski suit that would make any 2 year old pee with envy..

Tree Hugger

We got a tree this weekend from Harry in North Bend. There was no caroling, sleigh rides or hot cocoa, just a hand written sign on a paper plate that said 'give us a chance' and instructed us to honk when we got to the house. Harry had Parkinsons so was not able to help us much- but he gave us a saw and a rubber car mat to protect our knees while we cut it down from his backyard. Lambs and ducks witnessed the big event, and Liam was gleeful. It's the best tree we've ever had, beautiful and fragrant; it also came with bugs they live on our ceiling now.

We've had a 'living tree' the last 2 years, it was great except it didn't actually live if you brought it indoors for more than 24 hours. So we planted it at our old house, and lit it up in the old yard, and then put up a fake tree in the living room.

I've been trying to decide on our Christmas card theme this year and when I saw these little tree hugger shots- thought of course.. a nice environmental message- maybe say something like 'May your Christmas be Merry and Green' featuring our tree hugging boy- very Washingtonian of us.. but then I was plagued with holiday hypocrisy. We went to an old mans house who was sick mind you, and chopped down a 7 foot tall living tree from his backyard- - our Christmas lights are not solar powered, and we drove 80 some miles round trip instead of to the boyscout lot across the street. Talk about the inconvenient truth...