Alternative Christmas Trees

I've spent the majority of my day decorating the house for Christmas. The tree is trimmed, and the halls are decked, but there is still more to do. Hopefully I will finish up all the odds and ends tomorrow. Being in holiday mode, I've done some thinking about alternatives to the traditional Christmas decor. My son and daughter-in-law are planning to decorate a "Christmas Branch" this year. Its something her family has done before in the past, and apparently its common in Costa Rica and parts of South America....? I am not entirely sure of the details, but Stephen said he might research that particular tradition and write a blog about it. I am fascinated by holiday celebrations from other parts of the world so I am looking forward to seeing the actual Christmas Branch when it is finished.

I did a little online search of unusual Christmas trees and found a few to share:


-This was is made completely out of beer bottles. How festive....I wonder if they got a hang-over while creating this tree??



_ The Ladder Tree. Its really kind of a cute idea.




-S0me sort of modern odds 'n' ends kind of tree....Not my style at all.






-The Minimalist Book Lover's Tree.....




-And MY personal favorite....A tree comprised of over 22,000 actual diamonds and crystal beads. This one was decorated in China and is estimated to be worth well over a million dollars.
Yeah, I definitely like this one best!


And as for the weird blank rectangle in the middle of this post....??? I have no idea how it got there, or how to make it go away. HAHA.

I know...

I know I ought to write a post. Blogs are meant to be updated at least a couple of times a week, if not daily. But honestly? We have been so busy that I have not had the time. Between work, and trying to get a jumpstart on the whole Christmas season (we put our tree up, and I have been decorating it in fits and starts, whenever I have a spare moment or two)...Oh, and lots of time at the gym trying to undo a little of that Thanksgiving damage, we have barely had time to breathe much less attempt to string a coherent thought together in written form.

On Monday I have yet another mammogram (oh joy) to hopefully FINALLY determine whether or not this weird little spot that keeps showing up is just some random scar tissue or something to be more concerned about. I'm not worried, beyond the dread of the somewhat unpleasant sensation of having your breasts squeezed by pair of giant metal vice grips. But...IF everything is the same as it was 6 months ago, I will get the all clear to go back to a regular mammogram schedule instead of this twice a year crap. I just want to get it over with. I keep having the temptation to just cancel the appointment, but then I check in with my friend W. who is a breast cancer survivor. And she will give me a swift kick in the pants if I dare to do anything that stupid. She forces me to take this seriously, even when I don't want to. Thanks W. And congrats on another cancer-free scan this week, too!!!

The Weekend...

It was a busy weekend, being at Dad and Barb's with the whole rest of the family. On Saturday there were 19 of us there all together. We did a whole series of family pictures with a professional photographer that afternoon. It was fun...a little overwhelming at times, but thats what the holidays were meant for. I have to say a HUGE thanks to Barb for having us. She cooked, and fed all of us all weekend long. Rumor has it that she cooked for 3 weeks in advance just to get ready for the herd to descend upon Danville. And she put up with us bringing our dog into the mix without blinking an eye (well, she might have blinked once or twice when he did a rather bad thing on the kitchen floor. I really do apologize for that). So....yeah, Barb is a saint. We have to say a big Thanks to Dad, too. He put up with us, and our loud/drunken game playing into the wee hours of the morning. He did seem to find reasons to go hide out downstairs in his office quite a bit, but he never threw us all out into the street. We are all grateful for that. Seriously.

And now Thanksgiving is over for another year. I had thought up a list of all of my favorite things that I am thankful for. I was going to write a post about that, but I never got the chance to sit down at the computer over Thanksgiving. Which is probably for the best, because it made a serious point. No matter how many things I love or enjoy, its really all about family and friends. I hope all of you had a wonderful weekend, too.