Thank you for the gift of patience.

To my readers who are still here, "Thank you for your patience." I think I am finally ready to make a comeback here. (I know, I've said that several times in the last few weeks.)

It seems the busy holiday season, some quirky twists in my normal daily routine and an inability to go 'round the clock without sleep and still be productive (a recent development in my old age!), caused some things to simply drop by the wayside. Blogging was a good ways down on the priority list. Here's to hoping I'm now back on track and back in control of my time. I've really missed our daily chats!

We're lucky to have a full and loving circle of family and friends with whom we gather throughout the holiday season. At this point we're still in the midst of those get-togethers and I'm loving every minute of them. I'm sad to have missed a few due to scheduling conflicts but I haven't quite accomplished being in two places at once yet.

There's still a small pile of presents yet to be dispensed but we hope to see those folks within the next week or two. We used to have a big family party on Christmas Eve but it became harder and harder for those with young children to squeeze that one into their busy schedules so we moved it to the weekend after Christmas for several years. Gradually, it slid into January and has now settled into the mid-January time slot and the size of the event has also gotten smaller. It now seems to serve the purpose of a wrap-up party to the season and those last few gifts finally slide into the hands of their recipients. So, we'll still be Christmas-oriented for a little while longer.

Don't get me wrong. We do see most of the family multiple times throughout the season including our "Round Robin Trek" on Christmas Day! We generally make 5 stops, beginning at about 9:30 a.m. and we don't get home until at least 10 p.m., covering about 140 miles round-trip! We've talked about cutting back on this but who could we eliminate?

Ultimately, we, personally, would miss it. The rushed journey has become tradition and it just wouldn't be Christmas without it! After all, isn't it the traditions we all look forward to?

I hope your holiday was filled with fun, laughter, love and lots of hugs. I hope you spent time with those who matter most in your life and I hope you celebrated those time-worn traditions that make your family's celebration unique!!

Christmas Tree Lots!!!!

I couldn't believe my eyes yesterday. We passed at least 6 Christmas tree lots that were already well-stocked with CUT trees. What's worse? Folks were looking at them!! At least we didn't see any tied to car tops yet. Don't get me wrong. I LOVE real trees and I wouldn't have any other kind in my living room. (One day, I'll tell you the tale of our short-lived artificial tree experiment.) I just feel they're pushing it when they're open for business the week BEFORE Thanksgiving.

I mean, isn't it tradition to see all those lonely empty wooden frames sitting around this week just waiting to be piled with trees on Friday morning? What's happening to TRADITION? I know the trees have actually been cut for quite some time (in most instances) and they really aren't going to be any fresher if they don't put them out until Friday. Yes, I know that tractor trailer sitting on Walmart's lot for the last week has been full of trees just waiting for the Lions or the Kiwanis to get their stands set up. (At least they've had the good manners NOT to do it yet!)

Let's review some REAL Christmas Tree facts:

• Real Christmas trees are an all-American product, grown in all 50 states, including Alaska and Hawaii. Most artificial trees are are manufactured in Korea, Taiwan or Hong Kong.
• Real trees are a renewable, recyclable resource. (For every tree cut on a tree farm, 2-3 trees are planted as replacements.) Artificial trees contain non-biodegradable plastics and metals. (Most artificial trees are replaced every 3-5 years.)
• There are about 15,000 Christmas tree growers in the United States and they employ over 100,000 people, either full or part-time, in the industry.
• There are approximately 5,000 cut-your-own farms in the United States.
• The top Christmas tree producing states are Oregon, Michigan, Wisconsin, California, Pennsylvania and North Carolina.
• The air at a Christmas tree farm not only has that great fresh pine scent but also features lots of freshly oxygenated air. The process of photosynthesis removes carbon-dioxide and other harmful gases from the atmosphere and releases oxygen into the air. This helps delay the earth-warming "greenhouse effect."
• Just one acre of Christmas trees produces the daily oxygen requirement for 18 people. Young trees in their rapid growth years have a high rate of photosynthesis and produce more oxygen than older trees.
• After the holidays, you can use the branches as mulch in the garden. (Many urban areas offer a chipping service at certain locations to turn your tree into a bag of mulch.)
  

So, for these reasons we will once again have a real cut Christmas tree. However, I refuse to go buy it this week!!

(I understand if you insist on going with the balled live trees. You may be younger and more energetic than us or maybe you have softer ground this time of year and can manage to dig a hole large enough to accommodate the new tree after the holidays.) What I can't understand is a silver aluminum tree!!!

A busy holiday weekend --

Okay, we're just going to have to accept irregularity when it comes to Summer weekend posts from me! (Remember that old flexibility thing!)

We started the whole holiday weekend with music. (What a surprise!) As we've done for the last 25+ years, we attended an annual 3-day holiday festival that always takes place on the first weekend of July.

I've actually been attending this event for longer than that, predating my relationship with The Big Guy. I remember back before the event was fenced in, was free and you could carry your own cooler in. It's slowly climbed to a $5 admission fee and no outside food and beverages. Seriously, the admission fee was $3/day for many years with a 3-day advanced-purchase pass for $5. They always featured many hours of quality local entertainment for all three days and a headliner each evening. The quality of big names has gone down a bit over the last decade - the combination of both the rising cost of talent and a few rainy weekends that cut way back on the profit margin and, thus, the next year's budget. But then, what do you want for $5?!?

While we've heard many great feature acts there, I have to say Blood, Sweat and Tears was the absolute best. (We've even paid full concert prices for them since that time!) If you ever get a chance to catch them (even these days) go for it!

Friday's featured group was The Mahoney Brothers, a regional favorite out of Trenton, New Jersey. They do a Jukebox Heroes set that includes impersonations, complete with costumes and wigs, of folks such as Neil Diamond, Jerry Lee Lewis, Buddy Holly, Willie Nelson and, of course, The King.

After an intermission, they come back out with their signature Beatles Tribute in which they highlight the Fab Four's career from the Ed Sullivan Days right up to their final performances together. There are several costume changes involved and they produce one of the best Beatles shows we've ever seen. You can catch their tours throughout the country and they can frequently be found at the casinos in Atlanitc City. I tried to get a few decent shots but was hampered by the darkness and couldn't get super close due to the large crowd.

As The Big Guy's brother and sister-in-law live right down the street from the festival, we wrapped the night up with a short get-together at their house after the concert (This is family tradition.)

Tonight, we definitely plan to see some fireworks (and probably catch some more good music)!

Go out and enjoy your holiday! Be safe and have fun.

Happy 4th, y'all !!!

I'll catch y'all later.