Fresh as a Baby Pinecone Bud

When I was undecorating Kendrick the Christmas Tree this weekend I noticed all these little greenish yellow bits on his branches. At first I thought they might be mantis or mantis larvae or some such, maybe because I am always thinking of NieNie the amazing lady I do not know (she is home now, but please keep sending positivity her way), but they weren't. Upon closer inspection of their intricacies, I realized they were baby pinecones or baby pinecone bud thingies! I have undecorated fresh trees in my childhood and never noticed these amazing ittie bitties.

Awestruck, I insisted my husband come have a look. He humored me, but was decidedly less impressed. So, I grabbed my camera and, as grateful as I am to have a camera at all, snapped away wishing I had a more professional camera with a crazy lens that could capture all the little details up close, no blurring.

Blurry Baby Pinecone Buds




Then I held them in my hand...

and marveled at how after being
chopped down,
brought to a store,
set outside in the cold without water waiting to be bought,
wrapped in plastic netting,
tied to the roof of a car,
driven to my house,
shoved into a tree stand,
decorated,
and put on display for two weeks
(though I did talk to him & we watered him several times a day)
Kendrick the Christmas Tree was still fresh and fragrant, and producing new life.

Talk about resilience and miracles of nature.

I would like to be like Kendrick the Christmas Tree when I grow up.

Undecorating

Yesterday I "undecorated" the house. Down came the garland. Into a scrapbook went the holiday cards. Off the tree and into storage went the ornaments, lights, and tree topper. Onto the front porch went an "au naturale" Kendrick the Christmas Tree.

Undecorated - A story in pictures

Dads Were Kids Once

This holiday season I have been thinking a lot about this time of year really being for the children and how important it is to make it as fun for children as possible. I even posted about it on my other blog Notes on Nannying here.

My dad publishes a weekly newspaper in his neck of the woods called My Backyard. Every week he writes a column titled From the Publisher's Desk. This week he recalled holiday memories of yore and I found it delightful. Even at 27 years old it can be hard to imagine my parents as children so this glimpse into my father's childhood is such a treat. It also made me realize how strongly our childhood holiday memories stay with us as we age (my Dad is nearly sixty-six). For this reason and many others, making the holidays as special as possible for the children is so very important. Read my dad's column here.

Happy Holidays!

Kendrick the Christmas Tree

Yesterday Mr. B&B and I finally went to Russo's to pick out our Christmas Tree and Christmas Tree stand. Mr. B&B found Kendrick and spun him around for me to have a look. We knew Kendrick was the one. After a quick trimming of the trunk, the nice tree man wrapped Kendrick up and secured him tightly to the roof of the Saab for the journey home.

Once home, Mr. B&B removed Kendrick from the roof and brought him inside while I assembled the makeshift snow batting tree skirt and the tree stand. Once Kendrick was securely fastened into the tree stand and given a drink of water, we began considering names for him. I suggested Phil for a boy or Carla for a girl. Mr. B&B pronounced them "awful" suggestions for our tall, strong, green tree. He suggested Kendrick "'cause the tree is just like Kendrick Perkins of the Boston Celtics." I could not deny the tall, strong, and green commonalities. And so it was that our Christmas Tree came to be called Kendrick.

Since I am without camera, I can not provide pictures of our luscious Kendrick the Christmas Tree. Instead I give you a photo of Kendrick Perkins of the 22 and 2, best record in franchise history, best record in the NBA, World Champion, Boston Celtics:



Now just picture Kendrick Perkins bedecked in red and gold LED lights and some gold, silver, green and red ornaments with this...



on his head. Yep, that is about what our tree looks like. What a perfect tree it is!

If I could I would...

send holiday gifts to blog friends.

For example:



Black Bird Notecards to Sam at blackbird fly.



Support Your Local Salad t-shirt for Crunchy Chicken



Grocery Bag for Vegan Lunchbox.