Not Just Christmas to me

On December 25th, 1927 my father, Stephen "Pete" was Born. Now He would tell you that he was born on December 24th. My Grandma (aka : Shortie) swore that it was the 25th, and the mid-wife is the one who mistakenly wrote the 24th because that is when she arrived at the house. Grandma says it was the 25th, and she was older and wiser than my dad when it happened so I believe her.




Grandma :




Pete (Dad) :

"The Tree"

Merry Christmas

Pictured here is not my tree this year, but my favorite tree. It has always been known as "The Tree" in our house. It was one of our last trees in our home in Shelton Connecticut before moving to Missouri. The tree you see purchased at our favorite tree spot Jone's Tree Farm (http://www.jonesfamilyfarms.com/)

This was the year I went by myself (Big Big Mistake). When I cut it the tree stood 12' tall. In order to get it in to our 9' ceilings I cut it down to 9'2". Once erected it broke three tree stands. We finally found a stand that would hold it, and had to screw the stand to the floor. We then had to wire the tree to three points in the wall behind it. We cut the plastic wrap off and low and behold "The Tree" was exposed to its full size of 8' wide at the base and 9' Tall.

Also pictured in this tree are the countless Hallmark ornaments, and family heirloom ornaments that usually adorn our tree. This one pretty much used them all. Also if you look hard you can see the tree top that has been placed on our tree for the last 28 years. It was the tree top from my father's house, which was on our tree when I was a child. So it is know at this point to be 45 years old at least.

Also in the picture (front left) is my Santa Claus. He stand about three feet tall (life size) and is made of paper mache. Like the tree topper he is known to be at least 45 years old because that's as long as I can remember him. He of course has had some repairs over the years, but it makes him no less a precious item to me.

So why blog about a tree, because I can....... I love Christmas, and to me the tree is where it starts for decorations.

Just for reference here are some of our other trees through the years

And It Was Spectacular

Just got home from seeing the Radio City Christmas Spectacular at the Fox. It was a great show. The dancing was absolutely fantastic.

November

Ok, I am posting, but really do not know why. Nobody reads this blog anyway.

After winding up October with a trip to my High School reunion I have had a "work Filled" November. We are opening a new store in Oak Grove, and it fills my days up pretty well. I have been able to do a few things outside of work,

The family took in "Sweeney Todd" at the Fox. What a mistake it was HORRIBLE

Holly was in a play at ECC called "Last Mass at St Casmir's.


It was a great end to a trilogy of plays. Holly played (not really acting, the role was HOLLY). Annie. JT was Eddie, and Tyler W played Rudy much better than it had been played in the last play.

Ryan then had Mr OHS at which Joanne celebrated her FINAL Mr OHS by being a judge.

Then came Thanksgiving..... We had the family in for the usual fare. This year we fried a turkey. 44 minutes and very good. Thanksgiving fell on Holly's birthday this year so it was a double dipped celebration.

We ended November with a trip to
Ryan and I liked it a lot, Holly liked the dancing and music, but not the overall performance

Well, it's off to December...