'tis the season

yay! it's almost christmas! i freakin love this time of year - especially when it snows. i used to love christmas so much as a kid, but after a while it became kind of a burden. i've been thinking lately about the whole concpet of xmas and after some research have decided not to teach my children that santa claus brings them toys and of course baby jesus was not born on that day. what a confusing holiday, huh? so many traditions from different cultures just got meshed together and now all people know is they need to start shopping in october. since i am not christian, it seemed a bit hypocritical to celebrate xmas, so i decided to learn about the history of the holiday and see if i can find the real meaning somewhere hidden and disguised by the church. well, there's a lot. and it's way too confusing to go into here so i decided to make up my own christmas. to me, it's a day to celebrate winter, to celebrate the warmth and bounty of the hearth and family and friends. it's a day where you can show your appreciation with a thoughtful gift. it's a season where you can decorate the house to look alive and pretty despite the dead branches and cold wind outside. i think santa claus is a fun story character but i am not going to have my kids seriously believing that a fat man in a red suit is going to jump down our chimney. i'm sure they will wonder what's up with all the mangers and babies and mules so i'll explain the christian version of the holiday too. it's hard to resist the shopping binge especially with all the sales but i don't want my kids thinking that it's all about presents. it's about making other people happy.

so today johnny and i went up to dry pond and let the dogs run around and play. we were going to try to find a tree to cut down but luckily we saw a small sign for xmas tree farm right up the street. for $18 we spotted ourselves a nice little cedar tree which we cut down and strapped to the roof of my car. we like this tree. it's so cute in its own little way. i felt bad for having to cut it down, though. we have a whole month to decorate it and i think it will be chock full of good times for us.