Snow

Again, we have snow. I've lived in NJ for 18 years now. I don't remember having two snows (that stuck) by the first week of December. Ever, really. The kids are thrilled, and I must say it does help get in the Christmas spirit.

We have our tree up, possibly the earliest ever. It's not decorated yet, but most of the lights are on. Yes, we have an artificial tree - I grew up with one, John grew up with one, and somehow buying and throwing away a tree every year seems wasteful and expensive, even if it gets chipped into mulch. Our previous tree lasted us about 15 years, and is still going strong at the church as the "mitten tree". The only reason we bought a new tree last year was to get a taller one. After doing renovations, we have a 12 ft. ceiling in the great room and our old 6 ft. tree looked dinky, to say the least. So now we have a 10 ft tree - John wanted 12 ft, which would have just about brushed the ceiling. I thought that was too much so we got the "smaller" one. This year, I'm thinking we could have gone at least a foot taller. Oh well, it looks good anyway. And it actually has room for all my ornaments - so far. If I keep collecting, it could get a little crowded!