What a Bust Butt Week

I've been on call all week; there's always one week in December that sucks up 7 days of holiday enjoyment. I suppose I should be glad that I'm off call for Christmas and should look upon these days as the payment for time off around the 25th. I do, of course, but....when there is so much to do and so little energy for the task at hand, the Christmas season turns rugged.

The other night (when it wasn't dripping a cold rain) I told D; "It's time to go out to get a tree. Now. Right now." He willingly accompanied me to the tree lot we've used for the last half dozen years; less than a mile from our house with fresh cut trees from Olalla tree farm in Kitsap County. The lot was quiet, the guy in the trailer half asleep when we pulled up. This was two nights ago.

I told the guy, "Looks like you've got some Christmas trees here."  He laughed and told me to take a look. I think I surprised him when I took a two second overview, put my hand on a tree in plain sight, and said, "we'll take this one.". No fuss. Tied to the top of the car, we headed home with the yuletide tree and labored it into the stand along with a bucket of water.

There she (?) stands, lovely and green, unadorned in our living room. A true beauty, this one; almost too pretty to decorate.