Dairy Daze...and Now Beyond

 Isn't he cute?  This is the real thing from back in the 60s.  I regret greatly that when my mother stored her Christmas decorations back in the day she used cardboard.  I am not sure how many of these she had originally, but rats in the attic of our storage building destroyed all but the two elves that I now have. At the moment for some reason my Google picture account from my phone isn't jiving with the laptop to show the other elf.  He is solid red. I should write a story about the elderly elf and his survival in the attic.  Haha...  If I were to make it true to life it would, unfortunately, be a horror story.  Imagine watching all your friends being made into rat's nests.  Ugh! At the very least I am glad Ellen has been able to enjoy them and has this small Christmas connection to her maternal grandmother.   To continue on with Christmas memories though...  Fetching and decorating the Christmas tree is my prevailing memory ...

 Today, as our after Thanksgiving activity tradition, Ellen and I went Christmas tree hunting. We were unsuccessful in finding one that we needed.  To avoid allergy issues we try to find a female cedar tree; one that has the berries on it.  The males tend to give off pollen.  You might say I am crazy to believe this; but every year...EVERY FREAKING Y EAR prior to two years ago we have had just any tree and Ellen had had extreme allergy issues in the month of December.   Two years ago we managed to choose a tree that had berries on it and; wonder of wonders, she didn't have severe winter allergies.  So we found another berry laden bush last year and the same lack of allergies happened. This year we went looking for the same and were unsuccessful.  So we decided to try our fake tree this year.  I told Ellen that if we did the fake one we could set it up earlier, in early December instead of waiting until in the 20s of December to put up a real ...

My husband has all but accused me of being the above when it comes to Christmas trees. Here, in my own words, is my story: One of my favorite Christmas pastimes as a kid was going to get the tree. Depending on weather conditions and time we would either get one from the National Forest Service land a mile or two from our place, or we’d pack up and go for a long drive into the mountains. We lived in the Pacific Northwest, on the rugged North Coast of Humboldt County. Dad would pack up the old Ford truck, a couple of us kids would pile in and off we would go, further inland, higher up into the wild. Up, up we would go until we’d break through the coastal fog layer into the sun, the fog a roiling gray sea below. And still up we would go. Eventually we’d get to Willow Creek, a town whose fame has something to do with the Bigfoot legend. I remember every year we’d see the town’s life-sized wooden statue of the furry creature, and we’d speculate on the possibility of seeing him fo...

Yesterday morning husband says: " We need to get a Christmas tree for Ellen. Today would be a good day. I'll get the 4-wheeler and the saw out and you can go get it. Men aren't any good at picking out Christmas trees" So he took Ellen up to his mom's and I, being the dutiful wifey, went out and got the tree. He saw me coming buzzing back up the road and laughed and laughed. What a wonderful romantic my husband is. Look at my hair! It certainly looks like I went for a long ride on the 4-wheeler, doesn't it. Ha! It, my hair, always frizzes out in humid weather, and it has been kind of humid here.