A Merry Larew Christmas!

Here I am on Christmas morning, drinking coffee and having cookies for breakfast while Vlad the Wonder Boy sleeps.  He's obviously still on college time.  I expect to see the whites of his eyes sometime around 2 p.m.  But I'm not complaining... after all, he's the one who went out into the wilderness and bagged us a Christmas tree on Sunday.

I went along for the ride and schlepped through the fields on my crutches just out of general principle.

Then began the whole process of getting the tree back to the car and getting it home.  We brought it into the house and got it set up in the stand without incident. (i.e. nobody broke any more limbs... on either the tree or ourselves.) 

We didn't get around to untying it, so it stood at attention in bondage for a few more days in our living room.

I finally released it from its bonds on Wednesday, but since the decorations are in the basement and I can't yet manage the basement stairs, it remains undecorated.  But we kinda like it that way.  We can just say we were going for that "natural" look this year... going green and all.

My sister, Meowyn, didn't even get that far... although her tree has a bit of flair, too....

We Larew girls know how to do Christmas up right!
(We are so getting underwear from Santa again this year.)

The HBDC Christmas Carnival Begins!

The HBDC Christmas Carnival is in town! And the timing is perfect! Just yesterday I decided it was (finally) time to get into the Christmas spirit. So I talked Vlad into going with me to chop down a Christmas tree. None of that pre-cut, needles-falling-off, kindling at the Boy Scout Christmas Tree lot for us! Every year we go to the same place, Stokoe Farms in Scottsville, NY, just south of Rochester. Being the he-man and she-woman that we are, we blaze our own trail to find just the perfect tree. Lucky for gimpy me, the trail that was blazed also has a tractor pulling a wagon to take you over the rough parts.

(Here's Vlad enjoying the tractor ride as his mother once
again embarrasses him by taking pictures of him in public.)

Success! After searching for about three whole minutes, we found the perfect tree. Isn't it amazing how, as you get older and the weather gets colder, it takes less time to agree on what's the "perfect" tree.

When you get back to the barn there are free home-made cookies and hot chocolate to be enjoyed. Definitely my kind of place!

For the younger set, there's a straw maze that is built out of several hundred bales of hay. It stands about 15 feet high and is filled with tunnels that kids can crawl through. Occasionally, some even find their way back out. They keep a guard at both the entrance and exit, though, to make sure the same number come out as went in. Spoil sports! We saw several parents trying to sneak away while their kids were lost inside. Vlad and I decided to forgo that part of the festivities. Truth be told, we just don't fit too well between the bales anymore. Not to mention the fact that that's one scary ass giant fake snowman in the picture... no way was I going near that!

(Straw maze photo is from Stokoe's website.)

Then it was time to strap the world's most perfect Christmas tree onto the top of the car, (those kayak straps come in so handy,) and wheel it on home, where the Wonder Dog awaited our arrival. He was so enthused, he actually woke up from his 18 hour nap to see what we were doing.

The tree we got is tall enough to touch the ceiling in the living room. Already the house is filling with the aroma of Douglas Fir. Now, on to the decorations...