Rochester, NY
2:36 PM
Snow now blankets the beach. Upstate NY is getting its first winter precip since I’ve been here. We had a dusting around Thanksgiving time, but this is the most wintery it’s felt. It’s pretty to look at. It’s also nice to look to my right and see a fresh Christmas tree sitting there. The ornaments and lights aren’t there, but the tree and smell is. I hadn’t been here for a tree hunt in years, so it was a good time as my parents and I roamed the neighborhoods looking for that special tree. We ended up driving out to the smaller towns and found a house with a big row of Douglas fir’s. They were used as a shield to block the view of the neighbors. We saw that the lights were out inside and the neighbors were spaced out pretty good. So dad pulled into the driveway, mom got out and went down to the sidewalk to keep a look out. I got out the saw and we picked our new companion for the next few weeks. I felt kind of bad because it was right in the middle of the fence/tree line, but as I look at it now, it was worth it. It’s perfect, maybe 7 feet high and 4 or 5 feet in diameter. The branches have fallen just right. My partners in crime smiled, hooted, and hollered as we stuffed the tree into the trunk, tied it up, and sped back home. Of course we left the family a thank you note. And we said this would give them an opportunity to see more of their neighbors. What a day, topped off by some pizza from Mark’s and some cider. That’s what you call good old family bonding.
We did get a tree, on Saturday. But it was much easier and less glamorous than that. We went to the store that people from our church own. We looked at a few, picked one, and were done. It lasted all of ten minutes. We did get pizza from Mark’s.