Tis the season to be jolly

It's that time of year again. Pat loves the Christmas season. We just finished putting up the lights around our new (rented) house. We've had a couple of traditions in the Bliss household. The first began in Northern New Jersey, On the second Saturday after Thanksgiving (oftentimes the first Saturday in December) we would get up early, make some hot cocoa, put it in a couple of thermoses, and drive to a tree farm in Pennsylvania. On the way we would count the number of cars coming back with trees. Maybe we would sing some songs or listen to Christmas music (usually everyone else but me, I focused on driving). Once at the farm we would begin our search. Sometimes it would be very cold, sometimes rainy, and sometimes slightly mild. Sometimes we would argue over which tree and sometimes we wouldn't. Sometimes it would take us hours to find the right one and sometimes we would find one in a relatively short time. Once we moved to Southern New Jersey we found a tree farm within 10 miles. We kept our tradition alive. But once the kids began to go off to college, our trips to that tree farm grew less and less. We finally we went to the farm stand about 1/4 mile down the road. We usually found a good tree so we were happy. Pat discovered icicle lights and talked me into climbing onto our roof and stringing the lights. So we've been hanging those icicle lights ever since. And we have continued the tradition right here in Florida. I put up a little fuss over doing it but I'm happy to make Pat happy. So we are jolly this season, even though it was 75 today (and probably will be on Christmas day).