A "real" Christmas tree

For several years we have talked about getting a permit from the Forest Service and going up in the mountains to cut our Christmas tree. For one reason or another, it just never seemed to work out. This year we talked about it again. "Wouldn't that be a fun memory? We could take the 4Runner and go up in the snow level and tramp around looking for just the right tree..." We wanted to wait till just a week or two before Christmas so the tree wouldn't dry out too much before time to take it down.

As is usual this time of year, one thing and another came up and all of a sudden our weekends were full. It looked like our tree-cutting excursion wouldn't work out this year either. But DH had an idea. This past weekend we had a trip to Boise to deliver a print job. What if we could get a permit down there and cut our tree on the way home Saturday? That sounded like a reasonable idea to me, so I proceeded to try to find out what would be involved in getting the proper permit.

I got the phone book... turned to the blue government listings pages... under Forest Service there was only a website, no phone number! I was pretty sure the website wouldn't have the information I needed, besides I didn't have convenient access to the internet. So I called a "general information" number for the government and asked for a phone number for the National Forest Service in Idaho. Well, they didn't have a number for Idaho. They could give me a number for Ogden, Utah! Fine, what's the number for Ogden, Utah? I called Ogden, Utah and asked if they had a phone number for the National Forest Service in Idaho. (Keeping in mind that while Idaho is 75% National Forest, we do have such modern conveniences as telephones out here in the Wild West!) Ogden, Utah did have a phone number for Boise so I called them. Yes, Christmas tree permits were $10 but they were only good in the Boise National Forest, not the entire state. We could come by their office to buy our permit and they would give us a map of the cutting area in the Forest. Great!

We stopped by the office and looked at the map and discovered that the cutting area wasn't exactly along our route home. However, Payette National Forest would be. Could we get a permit for that Forest? We couldn't there, but they told us where to go to get a permit on our way home.

When we got to Payette National Forest on Saturday it was raining. A soft gentle rain, but cold and wet! Not only that, there was about 2 feet of snow on the ground. Okay, we've come this far... we are bound and determined to get our tree! We purchased our permit... only $5 in Payette National Forest... and started out. We drove down several roads looking for likely areas with appropriate sized trees at least 300 feet from the road (per the Forest Service rules). With the rain and the snow we weren't so anxious to tramp around in the Forest as we thought we would be! Finally we found a stretch of road that seemed likely. We all clambered out and hiked down the road a piece, pointing out prospective trees. Darlin' DH tramped out in snow, nearly up to his waist in places, checking out each tree that we girls were so helpfully pointing out from the relative dryness of the road. He wasn't too impressed with any of our selections once he got close enough to them to see all the flaws. However, pickin's were kinda slim in that part of the Forest, so we finally settled on one that "would do". DH quickly sawed it down and dragged it back to the trailer, and we were on our way again. I was resigned to having a "Charlie Brown" Christmas tree and camaflaging the whole thing with lots of lights and ornaments.

As DH was unloading it at home that night I could tell he was rather disgusted with it! I asked him if he was disappointed. He said, "Oh, no! Of course not! It only has one flat side!" I told him that was better than three flat sides!

Monday night we brought it in the house to set it up. It was just the right size with the tip touching the ceiling and just took a little trimming of a couple of the branches to be about the right size around. We put the flat side against the wall so it didn't show too much. Lovely! This was going to work out just fine... until... we started trying to decorate the thing! The branches were very slender and sloping ever so gently down, so they wouldn't support very much weight. So much for the idea of lots of lights and ornaments! We gingerly draped two strings of lights among the branches as best we could. DD had made a nice red and green paper chain that helped matters immensely. It was light-weight, but bulky to help fill in some of the gaps. And then I told the girls to choose just the lightest ornaments which we judiciously placed to finish filling it out. Forget an angel on top! But, oh what a memory we made! And DH allowed that it actually ended up looking better than he thought it might.

Christmas busy-ness

Well, I wanted to post about getting our Christmas tree... It was quite the ordeal! ...but I ran out of time today. Hopefully, tomorrow!

Spent most of the day working on the Christmas issue of our family newsletter. My goal is to have those ready to print, along with our Christmas cards, tomorrow night. I'll be doing real good if I get them all in the mail on Wednesday!

Our Christmas program is Sunday night. I expect it will take most of Saturday getting set up for that, and a final dress rehearsal. Oh! I have to build a "campfire" for the "shepherds" using a fan, an orange spotlight, and some tissue paper. I have heard of such things, but I have really no idea how to go about building one! It should be interesting to see what I come up with.

I have no idea when I'm going to finish my Christmas shopping! Mainly I need to buy some clothes for the kids. I hope the stores aren't too picked over by the time I get there. Maybe they won't be since I just need basics.

Horseback riding

We were at my brother's for a couple of days. He has horses... my 9-year-old is obsessed with horses... needless to say, she loves going there!

Saturday morning just before we were ready to leave, he took her down to the barn to see the horses. She is seriously convinced that she helps him train his horses every time we go. (Our visits may be 6 weeks to 3 months apart!) So she was "needing" to give Candy (the mare) a workout. My brother was just going to set Becky up on Candy's back and let her walk around the corral a few times. No, that won't do. Candy has to be saddled! But, really, Becky would rather ride Annie (Candy's foal who is about a year or so old). My brother explained to her that Annie hasn't been trained yet for people to ride her, she doesn't know how to carry a person on her back. Okay, well, in that case, Candy will do. So around and around the corral they go, and down the driveway a bit and back. In a little while, Becky says, "I think Annie's been watching us. I bet she knows how to carry a rider now!"

Silence?

I was just making phone calls and got a recording, one of those call screening things, "You will hear silence until you are connected." Excuse me? Hear silence? How do you hear silence?

So silly!

Monster Cookies

Holiday baking today. We will be seeing my brothers this weekend so I wanted to make some goodies to take them. I made the Holiday Pretzel Treats and the 7-Layer Cookies and Monster Cookies...

Monster Cookies

6 eggs
2 cups brown sugar
2 cups white sugar
1/2 tablespoon vanilla
1/2 tablespoon corn syrup
4 teaspoons baking soda
1/2 pound butter
3 cups peanut butter
8 cups quick oats
8 ounces chocolate chips
8 ounces M&Ms

Mix together. (No, this recipe does not have flour!) Bake at 350 degrees approximately 12 minutes.