Going, going, and before we know it December 2025 will be, gone. We will be starting a whole new year. But today I’ll just catch up on a few things from this month.
Finishing What We Started
Back in February, I wrote about our adventures in shopping for a used car. At that time we did not find a vehicle that was what we were looking for so we decided to have some repairs done to our 2006 Honda Odyssey and continue to drive it. After some inexpensive repairs it continued to serve us well until a few weeks ago when the cold weather set in.
When my husband told me the van was not running good, we decided to restart our quest for a different vehicle. After about a week of searching online and at dealerships, discussing what type of vehicle would serve us best, how much we wanted to spend, and waiting two days for the snow to stop so we could safely travel the 45 minutes to view the vehicle that we hoped was best, it finally happened.
We purchased a 2016 Toyota Highlander. It’s been a week since we brought it home and I am so thankful every time my husband comes in and says, “I love that car”. I have to give a shout out to Jim Riehl’s Friedly Chrysler Dealership in Lapeer, Michigan and our salesman, Mike Lamet, who made the car buying experience pleasant and seamless. We couldn’t be happier.
Preparing for Christmas
Wednesday was our nicest day this week. My husband and I went to the farm to cut our Christmas tree. I know it’s late for putting up a tree, but we thought it best to wait because we are concerned that the tree will dry out before Christmas. We will keep it well watered, but we had a very dry year, and the tree is already excessively thirsty.
The temperature was near 50 degrees (10 Celsius) but as you can see there was still snow on the ground.
The sun was doing it’s best to break through the heavy cloud cover.
We did see bits of blue sky.
Some of the chickens even came out for a visit.
After looking at a few trees, we finally selected this one. The first one we looked at was nice until my husband went to start cutting and discovered a crook in in the trunk near the bottom. The next one was also a nice tree, but I thought it was too tall for our space.
The one that we brought home was full but still short enough that we could put it up on the table we have been using for the past several years. I like the idea of having the tree on the table thus Ranger isn’t tempted to lift his leg on it. Male dogs are known to do that with real trees.
Once we got the tree home and up, I discovered I only had one strand of lights that worked (and two that didn’t). Not enough for the tree. Since we planned on doing some shopping on Thursday, we decided we would pick up some lights then. Decorating the tree would have to wait.
On Thursday our first stop would be Hobby Lobby so I figured we could pick up some Christmas lights there. My husband asked me several times that morning “are you sure we can get lights at Hobby Lobby?” Since they always have a huge Christmas section, I was sure that they would have Christmas lights. What I didn’t realize was that they had all of their Christmas items on sale for 60% off. The light section was cleaned out.
Since our next stop was Culvers for lunch we decided we could run into Walmart (next door) to grab some Christmas lights. I truly realized how late we were getting the tree up when Walmart was sold out of the lights we were looking for as well. We were looking for strands of the muti-colored mini lights. They had None. They had a lot of strands of all white, but we didn’t want that. We also found, hiding on a bottom shelf, some strands on multi-colored lights with the larger bulbs. Since we didn’t want to spend the whole day running into stores that may or may not have what we were looking for we decided to go with the larger bulbs.
It was late in the day, and we were pretty worn out by the time we got home so decorating the tree would wait another day.
On Friday I decorated the tree while my husband made a delicious pot of chicken soup for our dinner.
This year our tree is decorated with lights and angels. It’s been several years since I decorated with my Snow Angel collection, so I decided this was the year. Incidentally the angel on the top our tree is older than some of my kids. My best guess is it’s around 35 years old and I have never replaced the lights in it.
The rest of the shopping we did on Thursday included picking up a few gifts for the grandkids and making sure I had things I need to make Christmas brunch.
I still have a few gifts that I am making that need to be finished but I should have time to finish things up by the 25th, even if I take time out to watch the Lions game on Sunday. I might even have time to do some baking. 🙂
Thanks for visiting.
Did you put up a tree this year?
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I put up two trees and a lot of our lights were out too. It was hard to find color lights, at our Walmart there were only all white lights too.
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It seems like colored lights are no longer the in thing or they are trying to push people in all white. No sure why.
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It seems that way to me too. Like all the colors are being removed. Vehicles aren’t as colorful as I remember when I was younger and also the fabric patterns and clothing choices, everything seems to have more grays added to them if there is any colors. I love floral prints.
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Putting up the tree is such an emotional thing. We have had many years since the kids are grown that it did not go up. This year it did . But we did not go all out decorating because, as you know, my husband surprised me with a trip home to Michigan. I can’t wait to see your tree in person this week and get my much needed sister hugs. 🎀
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Hugs will be the best gift!
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I thought I was the only one driving a 2006 Honda! Mine is a civic and still running okay, according to the mechanic, but I know its days are limited, so car shopping is on my New Years agenda! Your tree looks nice! I don’t bother with a tree, as I don’t have the right space for it, but I do lots of other decorations so no one notices.
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We bought used Honda Civics for two of our daughters first cars. I’m sure they both had well over 250,000 miles when they got rid of them. Our minivan worked well for the dogs especially when we had Trooper, our extra-large, old dog. It was low enough to the ground for him and we were able to remove the middle row seats to give him lots of floor space. Up until recently, the biggest problem with the van was the electronic sliding doors stopped working. We think that road dust from driving on gravel roads got into the system and gummed it up. It seems that all vans now have the electronic doors so we wouldn’t buy another van.
My husband is really enjoying the Toyota and like Hondas they are known run for 250,000 to 300,000 or more so were hopeful we don’t have to shop for another vehicle for a long time.
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A Toyota will be my second choice if I can’t find a Honda Civic that I like. Many of my friends drive them and really like them, and they age well too!
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Ruth, I like the idea of going out and cutting down a tree … you picked a nice tree. What type of evergreen is that? I like all the branches that look like spokes and have plenty of room for all your ornaments. Did you plant the tree or other trees at the farm with the intention of harvesting them for Christmas when they were big enough? The lights look fine and what an ordeal to get the lights, but at least you got them. No, I didn’t put up a tree, but will do so next year. I did intend to decorate this year because just hanging a wreath and putting up a few ornaments does not give much of a festive flair.
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When we began planting evergreens our intentions were to add varieties of trees we did not already have, to provide wind blocks, color in the winter and maybe more habitat for birds. We had always had artificial Christmas trees so weren’t thinking about cutting our own. We began planting them in 2012. We buy seedlings from our local conservation district when the have their spring tree sale. In 2016 we decided to cut one for a Christmas tree. I wrote about it here. https://donteatitsoap.com/2016/12/27/our-christmas/#respond
This year the tree that we cut is a Norway spruce. I don’t remember what year we planted this tree, but I think it is probably 6 or 7 years old.
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Ruth, thanks for the explanation. Norway Spruce … I like how it is shaped. We had a real tree when I was young, but “went artificial” when the silver aluminum trees came out. When we moved to the States, we got an artificial green tree. (At least it looked like a Christmas tree.) That’s nice you’ll be able to go out every year and get your own tree now. Also, thank you for forwarding the link to your blog from Christmas 2016, before we “met” here in the blogosphere. I wrote the below comment, but I wasn’t able to post it there, so I’ll leave it below.
Ruth, I like the tree and it is so petite and perfectly formed out in the snow and it looks festive on the table, just as you have it for 2025. I have always liked that you created gifts made from the heart for Christmas and birthday gifts. The quilts are beautiful and thoughtful. My boss collected tee-shirts over the years from 5K events, places visited, but mostly from clients, even opposing unions when negotiating a contract … at the end, when they signed the contract, he’d ask for a tee-shirt as a souvenir . He had so many tee-shirts, that he had them made into quilts at a company called Campus Quilts. He intended using them as a quilt or comforter to keep warm, etc., but liked the quilt that was work-related so much that he used it as a wall hanging at the office.
P.S. – It was nice to see Trooper and Scout again, both who were in many of your posts after we discovered each other’s blogs.
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You’re welcome, Linda. It was nice to revisit that post again for me too. I did remember writing about cutting our first Christmas tree. It’s hard to believe it was 9 years ago.
Thanks for remembering Scout and Trooper. I still miss them.
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It’s good to revisit that past. We’ve been following each other for a long time, not quite 9 years, but I was around for the Scout and Trooper years.
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Thank you for being here, My friend. 💞
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Thank you Ruth – I feel the same way about you. 💞
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I haven’t put up a tree since John died, and I am very happy with that. Tree decorating was one of his specialties. Showers have their Christmas curtains, and I’m eating from Christmas plates at every meal. I’m playing Christmas CDs every waking hour. At least half the holiday mugs have been used at least once. This type of celebrating is just what I love now. Merry Christmas!
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Well, you certainly have the Christmas spirit, Anne. It’s not all about the tree. They are a lot of work and if my husband wasn’t here, I don’t know if I would put one up. Merry Christmas to you!
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I enjoy your post and the photos. I have not put up a tree for several years. I will be spending Christmas with some of my children and grandchildren and will enjoy their tree and most of all just being with them. I hope you have an amazing Christmas with your loved ones.
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Thanks, Mags. As I just commented to Anne, I don’t know that I would put up a tree if my husband was not here, especially if the family was not coming here for Christmas. I hope you have a wonderful Christmas as well. That time with family is the best gift!
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You are welcome Ruth. Time with family is precious time.
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I am spending the holidays with my parents, mom put a small tree up, a fiber optic one, and she also put a crib up! Merry Christmas, Ruth! Hope you have a wonderful time with family!
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Thank you, Carol Anne. Merry Christmas to you and your family.
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