Dominic the Donkey

This just may be my new favorite Christmas song!

Mele Kalikimaka

As the song goes. . .

Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say on a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day
That's the island greeting that we send to you from the land where palm trees sway
Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright
The sun will shine by day and all the stars at night
Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii's way to say Merry Christmas to you

Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say on a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day
That's the island greeting that we send to you from the land where palm trees sway

Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright
The sun will shine by day and all the stars at night
Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii's way to say Merry Christmas to you

Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright
The sun will shine by day and all the stars at night
Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii's way to say Merry Christmas to you

Mele Kalikimaka is the thing to say on a bright Hawaiian Christmas Day
That's the island greeting that we send to you from the land where palm trees sway
Here we know that Christmas will be green and bright
The sun will shine by day and all the stars at night
Mele Kalikimaka is Hawaii's way to say Merry Christmas
Merry Merry Christmas to you
Merry Merry Christmas to you

My parents got a Christmas Tree this year!

This is the FIRST time in my life that they have done so. Here are the stats!
• It is a beautiful Blue Spruce;
• It is approximately 75' tall;
• The ceilings in the house are approximately 9' high;
• It will NOT fit in the front door;
• It needs a little pruning!

All kidding aside! This is what my parents woke up to Sunday morning. Their neighbors' 40+ year old tree came crashing down to the ground Saturday night/Sunday morning in a wind storm!

The good news is, my parents huge pine tree seems to have deflected the tree from hitting the house and suffered the breakage of two or three solid branches. Good thing as if the tree fell in its path, it would have hit my parent's house and created much damage. As it is, it simply lies across their front yard. We cut a path through the tree so they can walk straight out their front door!

The police tape is for safety. When the tree was uprooted, very shallow root ball, it pulled up a power line to the neighbors outside lamp. And the tree is lying across the sidewalk. But is makes it look all CSI!

A Charlie Brown Christmas!

While at the HOW conference, I received a small pine tree in the conference bag. I brought it home, planted it, watched it grow for a short time and then slowly wither away!

I couldn't bring myself to throw it away so it stayed in it's pot on the porch all year! Well, here came Chritsmas and what a treat to actually have my very own Charlie Brown Christmas tree! I am hoping the neighbors help decorate it too.

Ho! Ho! Hostess!

Another holiday season, another Hostess Cake!

This year's Hostess cake took 24 Twinkies, 20 Suzy Q's, 30 Ho Ho's, four cans of Betty Crocker Chocolate Frosting, and four snowballs to make a Hostess Wreath!

O', as in Organic, Christmas Tree!

A quick disclaimer: I am not a scrooge! I love giving gifts and celebrating the season! Hell, if my cat would let me I would have a live tree. Instead I celebrate with my artificial tree. I love a natural tree, the smell, the natural beauty of it and all. That being said. . .

A neighbor of mine was telling us about their weekend plans. To the ooh's and aah's of some, he told us they are going to get a Christmas tree this weekend. . .AN ORGANIC CHRISTMAS TREE! They are going to jump in their Jeep Cherokee, drive 80 miles out to the country, cut down a tree; strap it to the roof and drive back another 80 miles.

Where do I start?! First off, aren't all trees by nature of being a tree ORGANIC? Yeah I know, tree farms use toxic pesticides to grow bigger better trees, but that is what people want.

I have also heard many times that the best way to be organic is to do so local! You have to consider your carbon footprint when buying organic. If the organic food you are buying is shipped in from California, consider all the resources being used to deliver that "better for the world" product to your table? It is considerable, from packing to shipping to marketing etc. Buying locally grown organics saves all of that and is truly better for the world in the end.

This Norman Rockwellian outing is loaded with bad things for the environment all in the name of being ORGANIC. Let's start with the less than fuel efficient vehicle. A quick Google shows an average MPG to be 16, 10 gallons of fossil fuel. On the Annual Greenhouse Gas Emmissions scale of 16.2/worse to 3.5/best it rates 11.4

At season's end, is that ORGANIC tree going to be composted properly? Every strand of tinsel removed meticulously so as not to add to the earth non-biodegradable materials? Or will it be out at the trash with all the wrapping paper, ribbons and packing materials destined to a landfill. How sad that would be an ORGANIC tree left to rot in a toxic landfill.

And lastly, would the best way to have an ORGANIC tree be to leave it growing in the earth where it can do the best for the environment? Cleaning the air, being a home and resource for all sorts of nature, removing airborn pollultants? The trees in all the tree lots have been cut down. If they do not sell they go to waste. The tree had to die for nothing! I say buy a tree that has been cut already. Why waste one of nature's creatures?

I think the best organic tree is an artificial one! Families have done this for years and typically keep and use the same tree year after year after year! That's my kind of organic tree. Leave the living ones alone to do their job in the world.

New York Christmas

Light

Fire

Earth

Air

Water

Nothing says Christmas in any big city like department store windows all decorated in their season finery! New York does it rather nicely, although I have never seen them all in full glory. They reveal closer to Thanksgiving and many were under wrap this past weekend.

Bergdorff Goodman, however, had theirs showing in full glory! Two years ago I saw them at night and the pictures were much better as you did not get the reflection from across the street.

This year they used the theme of the Elements. They are spectacular!