Fun and Games Dept

A beautiful tree, warm sentiments, friends near and far and a wonderful evening with family; these things help me find the spirit of the season.

Merry Christmas to all. Thank you for reading. Thank you for being part of my joy.

Remember, a smile is contagious. Even though this film is over 40 years old, the principles still remain the same.

And as a kid, I always wanted to wear one of those uniform hats. I never got to.

I figured today was as good as any day to turn into “Super Shopper”. This shirt helps me get into the shopping mood.

Well now, this looks fun.

During this holiday season I have been trying to take a more positive spin on what I say and write. In the past I have been hesitant to give praise but quick to give critique. I figured people should buck up and be perfect (like me?) and stop embracing mediocrity and that it was part of my duty to let the know that. The hesitation to give praise was due to an internal struggle, I was afraid that I would be seen as too gushy. I’m not a huge fan of gushy.

In an effort to bring positive change to our metropolitan area, I recently reached out to local politicians at various levels regarding some suggestions that I had that I thought would make our area more attractive to the industry that they’re trying to bring here. These changes are small things: the renumbering of a road, the relabeling of some highway interchanges, the inclusion of connecting paths between walkways, but I believe that every little bit helps, and if we take a bunch of small steps, we can all grow by leaps and bounds. Today I received a letter from one of the local politicians in regards to my suggestions and there are meetings now taking place with planning boards and such. Small steps.

While I’m always quick to rely on electronic means of communication, I’m starting to savor the amount of time it takes one to sit down, write a letter and mail it out. I recently had an amazingly customer experience at a small retail establishment. I took the time to type up a letter and to thank them for their customer service. I don’t expect to hear back from them but I’m sure they appreciate positive feedback in this whirlwind society we live in. No need to point and click, just write neatly on the line and make sure it’s legible.

I recently watched a video of a speech that moved me. The message of the speech was clear: we need to start being nicer and stop focusing on the negative. I took a moment to drop an email to that individual. I never expected a response, I’m sure speech givers such as him are very busy people, but I was surprised when he wrote back, thanking me and wishing me a wonderful holiday.

Sharing positive vibes. Isn’t that what this season is all about? Shouldn’t that be what love is all about?

I read things about wars on Christmas and church going people punching other people for saying “Happy Holidays” instead of Merry Christmas and others mauling one another so they can get the cheapest television on the block. We can tsk-tsk all we want, but instead of focusing on those negative experiences, maybe we can counteract it all with many more positive experiences.

Don’t be afraid to share the happiness.

Today I went for a ride into the Lake Ontario Snow Belt to see where I could find the most snow. My ride included the eastern shore of Lake Ontario, the city of Watertown, and then along the northern edge of the Tug Hill before heading south along the “other side” of the Tug Hill to get back home.

The winning area of “observable” snowfall was the small village of Turin, New York, the home of Snow Ridge Ski Resort.

Here’s a few shots taken along NY Route 26, the main route through Turin. The pictures with the Jeep are to give an idea of how high the snow banks are, which weren’t piled that much higher when compared to the adjoining fields, they were basically just flat across.

Back in 2007 I was looking out in the woods behind our house. It was spring time and the leaves were just starting to pop out. Being comprised primarily of maple trees and a lot of underbrush, it wouldn’t be long before the leaves and other greenery would fill up the woods. The season wasn’t quite there yet when I gazed in the woods so that’s when I had the opportunity to spot the little evergreen tree.

Obviously spawned by the evergreens several hundred feet farther back into the woods, this little guy had found himself in the thick of the maple trees and the greenery. He wasn’t quite “Charlie Brown” material, but it was obvious that he was struggling with holding his own during the summer months. I sensed that given the right amount of light and TLC, he could thrive and be a big strong tree. At the time he was about two feet tall.

I dug a hole in the middle of our yard near the garage. It was a nice deep hole with plenty of room for the roots that I knew would come along with the tree. I had never transplanted a tree before, but I hiked across the little creek the runs behind the house and dug in a big circle around this little guy. I gathered up as much of his native dirt that I could, tried to keep all his roots intact and after crossing the creek with him in tow, I planted him in the newly dug hole in our yard. For several weeks I watered him regularly until I was sure that he was holding his own. That first Christmas in his new home, I decorated him with a set of miniature Christmas lights. There were only 50 lights on that set but it was plenty.

The next year he was taller and we upgraded to 100 lights.

The third year it was obvious that he had grown some more and we added more lights to accommodate. I didn’t really pay much attention to the fact that we were decorating the tree every year, after all he is an evergreen tree and when we decorate outside for the holidays, we decorate the evergreen tree. But that was the year that Earl was stopped by one of our neighbors. It’s rare that we speak to the neighbors, we’re not in that type of neighborhood really, but she stopped Earl to let him know how much her family loved that we were decorating that tree each year. Looking out their back patio door, they had a perfect view of the ever growing evergreen, and seeing lights out their back window carried the intended Christmas spirit into their home. It’s good to share the spirit that way.

A couple of years ago I let Earl know that we would need to buy more lights for the evergreen tree. He’s been thriving over the past 18 months and we just didn’t have enough lights to do him justice for the season. We purchased two new big spools of lights and last Sunday I decorated what has become my favorite evergreen tree on the property. He’s over eight feet tall now and he’s doing wonderfully. This evening, when we pulled into the driveway after a most excellent gathering with some dear friends, a flash of motion caught my eye as I saw the neighbor looking out her patio window at our tree.

Our little evergreen is growing more beautiful and stronger every year, and apparently he continues to delight all during the holiday season.