Monday, December 14, 2020

 It is windy and colder now. When I got home from work and went out to the chicken coop to check for eggs, the hens were already roosted. It couldn't have been much past 4:30 or 4:45 in the afternoon. It was so dark this morning at 8:50 when we went out to the line-ups to collect our students and bring them in, one cohort at a time, that I thought there was something wrong with the universe. It was eerie. We are in for some weather, or not, depending on what weather site you look at. One sight said somewhere between 1 and 3 cm of snow tonight. Another site said 3 to 10 cm. It doesn't matter. We have very little snow at the moment so 10 more cm won't be an issue. 

We are in the home stretch before Christmas holidays. It's all still so different. Normally we would have either been part of a Christmas concert and had our time taken up with practising and dress rehearsals, or we would have been watching the dress rehearsals of other classes. There are no concerts now. We cannot gather in the gym to watch. We cannot gather together on the stage to perform. As well, we usually have carol singing in the gym for a few days before the holidays begin. No gathering. No singing.

I have books I like to introduce my grade three classes to at this time of year. However, because they can't sit together in a tight little group in front of me while I read, it takes away from being able to see the details in the beautiful illustrations. So I have found some You Tube videos of the books being read aloud, so I can project on the white board and make it large, so they can see all the wonderful details. Jan Brett is one of my favourite illustrators. I enjoy her writing as well, but it's the illustrations that are so captivating. I could live in a Jan Brett world.

On a different, but somewhat related note, husband and I went to go pick out our Christmas tree at the local grocery store which always has a very nice selection on the evening of December 8. There were NO TREES. Not a one. We went to the local F and S (formerly the Co-Op, where you purchase feed and seeds and rubber boots and plants...). Again, no trees. There were some sad small trees tied up with twine at the Food Basics. The needles fell off as we were shifting them around. I've honestly trimmed larger branches off my shrubs. And there couldn't have been more than eight of those. We drove to the next town to check out a different grocery store. None.

December 8th, and no trees. Our mouths were hanging open. We couldn't believe we were too late. We even contemplated having to (perish the thought) buy a fake tree. When we got home, I went online to find cut-your-own tree options. I noted that husband was eyeing up the odd pine tree here and there growing at the side of the road as were were driving home and I said something along the lines of "Don't you dare!" The cut-your-own options were quite far afield and one even declared they were "sold out". 

Daughter, who is living at home presently, finishing university online and working part time (online) would not hear of a fake tree, so she set to finding better options. She did end up finding a place that was offering cut-your-own trees for the first time. She and her father went the next day while I was at work. When I drove in the drive way after work that day and saw what was in the back of the truck, I was somewhat shocked. There lay a blue spruce! A rather big blue spruce.

It found its way from the back of the truck to the porch for a day or so. 

Then, prior to the annual shouting and cursing event of putting up the tree, husband re-engineered the tree stand to accommodate the giant tree.

This weekend, the tree was put up in the den. Furniture had to be moved. It is enormous. But, is it ever fresh! I really was expecting a family of squirrels to be in that tree. And yes, I know the whole thing was a bit "Christmas Vacation."

source

But it is a beautiful tree and we ended up not having to put some of the ornaments away because the tree looked too crowded. There was room for everything. Mind you, it is a bit tough to see the tv if you are sitting at the far end of the couch. 

The cat was a bit freaked out. The rest of the house is "decorated" now and some baking has happened, but that can wait for another post. Don't want to give away all my events in one post. Did anyone else notice that Christmas trees were sold out early this year?