Letter from Santa

Santa wrote back! Well, the way these things often work, is that Santa's peeps actually wrote back. Santa, of course, was too busy, but we appreciated the gesture anyway. It was nice of Holly the Elf to send us a letter in his stead!

My sweet little boy, who never once asked Santa for anything and loved all his gifts, now thinks we can send Santa letters throughout the year to request refills. "Can we write him another letter and ask for more astronaut ice cream?" Stupid, uninspired mother response:  "Well, Duncan, I can just buy you some more astronaut ice cream." Why can't he write to Santa tomorrow to ask for more astronaut ice cream? Who knows what could happen? A boy can dream, can't he?

Freeze, Trees, and Santa's Knees

Last Saturday, we made our annual pilgrimage to Battenfeld Christmas Tree Farm. Just in time, the weather cooled enough that it felt seasonal to be out hunting for trees. Just in time, we got in, selected a tree, and headed home before the snow began. Shockingly, it never takes us long to find a tree although I am pretty indecisive. We narrowed our field down to two pretty quickly and then again to one and dug out our saws. I'm always tempted by the less traditional trees - the white pines and concolor firs; then I consider the commitment of living with that tree for three weeks.  What if it's just ALL WRONG. And then we wind up with a white spruce or a balsam fir.  (I don't know these trees by name. I just cheated and looked them up on Battenfeld's website. Just in case you wondered.) I do love the look of those long, shaggy ones; I simply cannot commit. Santa made an appearance at the farm, but Duncan was still too shy. Duncan picked out our wreath instead.

Sunday, we gave Santa another chance. He rode to the Amenia Library atop a fire engine festooned with Christmas lights and then entertained the children's wishes. The line was long, and I am certain that the two-room library's maximum occupancy was exceeded by parents, children, library board members, and the Elks' Club; however, everyone remained in pretty good spirits. The ample supply of cookies and punch helped. Each child received a book and a photo of him/her with Jolly Old Saint Nick. Duncan still would not sit on Santa's lap, but he did talk to Santa and agreed to stand next to him for a photo. The weekend could only be topped off by a viewing of The Charlie Brown Christmas. The Christmas season is off and running.

Festival of Trees

Duncan's preschool has an intergenerational program with the local retirement community, Noble Horizons. Ever other week, the preschool kids go to Noble Horizons for activities and snacks (always, it seems, graham crackers and apple juice). Noble Horizons also hosts an annual festival of trees. Residents and local schools and business people donate decorated trees, which are displayed during the week after Thanksgiving. Then the trees are sold in a silent auction. We stopped at Noble Horizons last weekend to see the tree that Housatonic Child Care Center decorated, and Duncan tried to show us which ornaments he made. It was fun to see the wide variety of decorating styles.

Here's the HCCC tree:

And a few of my other favorites...a pressed flower tree.

A Tiger Woods tree, which probably netted a hefty profit after the scandal:

My favorite was this organic, entirely natural tree. If we didn't own so many ornaments with sentimental value, I'd be tempted to do this myself. Maybe some year I'll decorate a small tree like this one.

On our way out of Noble Horizons, we ran into none other than Santa himself! There was an awkward moment as he was dressed in his suit but carrying his street clothes, but Duncan didn't notice, and Santa took it in stride. Duncan was a little too shy to talk to him, but Santa admitted he hadn't received Duncan's letter yet. We said we'd see him this weekend (at the Amenia tree lighting). That Santa gets around. For the rest of the afternoon we chuckled about how funny it was to run into Santa at Noble Horizons. What a great way to ring in the holidays!