When Christmas trees first became common in the United States, the Norway Spruce was the most popular species.  It was sought out for its nice smell and symmetrical shape.

Unfortunately, early Americans did not have Google.  Because if they did, they would know that Norway Spruces do not hold their needles very well.  We, in fact, have Google but neglected to check the characteristics of the Norway Spruce.  Besides, we had already tagged and paid for the tree at our local Christmas Tree farm.  But, the fact that it was the only Norway Spruce on the entire 120 acre farm and the cheapest out of any of the trees, should have raised some red flags.

We picked up the tree in early December.   The tree was decorated and lit without any issues.

By Christmas Eve, we noticed that it was losing some needles (yes, we provided plenty of water!).  On Christmas, if anyone approached the tree within 5 feet, a shower of needles would fall off  the tree and onto the floor.  After New Years, we thought it was best to get rid of the tree before it came a fire hazard.  This is what the tree looked like after removal of the decorations and lights.

Ethan was very proud of our rather large pile of needles.

I took the tree outside, but we were embarrased to put it out at the curb for pickup!  But this morning everyone else had their trees at curbside, so I reluctantly put our dead, needleless tree out too.  Next year we are getting a white pine!

Back away from the cookies…

Christa and Ethan continued with their tradition of baking Christmas cookies together.

The first astronomical day of winter brought icy weather to Pitman.  The good news is, the days are now getting longer!

A picture from a recent snowy evening.

This is the only picture I could find of Great-Grandpa Guenther.

If you look closely at the sign on the porch, you can see what type of business he owned.

No, this isn’t some weird halloween decoration.  We are drying herbs from our garden!

A few weekends ago, I started the process of weeding and edging our herb garden. I exposed a brick that was completely covered with grass. Then another. And another. Pretty soon I uncovered a brick pathway that was entirely overgrown with grass. Christa and Ethan were out while I was doing this.

When they arrived home, I excitedly told Christa to go out back to see the surprise I found.  She walked over to the little pond and I pointed her in the right direction.  She was nearly on top of the new pathway and asked “What am I looking for exactly?”.  I said, “that new brick pathway right next to you!”  To her defense, she rarely goes over to that side of the yard.  Oh well, I think it looks nice anyway!

Mom and Dad gave us these old lamps a few years ago.  I never really liked the lamps when we were growing up.  And they never fit in with our furniture at our house in Middletown.  But when we redid the master bedroom in our new house, we thought they would look nice.  The problem was, the wiring was old and the lamps were pretty dirty.  So I cleaned them up and rewired them.  Now they look great!