Blessing of the Christmas Tree

In honor of our putting up the tree, here is the latest web background pattern. Pine. What do you think?

We celebrated the season yesterday by putting up the Tree. It seems like every year it gets a bit earlier. I used to have a personal tradition of putting up the tree on my birthday, and that lasted a few years. But with the challenge of having holiday parties attendance level higher came the realization that we may have to be more flexible on what dates we used. So this year, since we are going to Vegas for my bday, the party is even earlier than last year. Blah blah blah, we got our tree yesterday and spent the evening decorating, listening to christmas music, and drinking wine and snacking. Christy showed me a new way to hang the lights, even though it was my year to decorate the tree. We chose all white lights and only red and white ornaments. She did a fabulous job with the lights. It is very professional looking. We have spent three years together, obviously we are still together 'cuz we got married, duh. But as I was going through iPhoto looking at past years Tree blessing pictures, I noticed a few fun similarities.

Here is a collage of the last three years with Christy.



The day could not have started off better. When I woke up and opened the door to get the papers, it was snowing. Big flakes were coming down, a little winter wonderland. It snowed until around noon, and like most colorado days, the sun made it's appearance. I had just received a new movie in the mail, 12 Days of Christmas Eve, with Steven Weber ( from Wings and more recently Studio 60). It was such an unpopular movie that not even Netflix carries it. I happened upon it last Christmas at Best Buy, but decided not to get it. Well this year, I thought, why not try it out, but since Netflix did not carry it, I ended up buying it. Christy thinks it views like an ABC afterschool special, a cheesy one at that. I, on the other hand, liked it's message a lot and the acting was not horrible. But I did notice that she did not complain much and managed to sit and watch the entire movie. I have a penchant for bad movies. Especially holiday/snow movies.

Basically it is about a guy that took his family business from Chapter 11, to the #2 discount chain in the country. After pitching to a Brazilian business woman about investing and opening up stores in South America, he spends the entire day with her showing her his stores. Like any story with a message, he puts his family on the back burner, choosing money first. The day ends and he feels superior and proud to have almost landed this account. As he is leaving his building, the sign malfunctions and lands on top of him. He awakens to a dark "hospital room" where his nurse, Molly Shannon gives him his options. He now has 12 days to make himself a better person.... you see where this is going. Anyway, it was a good movie, and I am watching it again right now.

I hope you are all getting your trees, either artificial or real, soon. We chose a Frasier Fir this year from the Optmimists Club tree lot, just like last year. They do a lot of good for the community so it is a win win situation.