O Christmas Tree, O Christmas Tree…

With our artificial trees aging and appearing more and more dilapidated, we just could not bring ourselves to dragging the old things out of the basement this year.  I don’t care for pre-lit trees which are all the rage in the stores these days, and I wasn’t eager to “shop around” with our days being as busy as they seem to be these days.

We decided to do something “crazy” and go for a real tree.
I sent out an email to many friends seeking information on purchasing a real tree, and we got quite a bit of responses! 
We’d heard on the radio that 80% of the people who put up Christmas trees each year go with artificial.  I have to say that well over 50% of the people I asked sung the praises of real trees. 

We ended up at Wilbert's because we'd been to their live nativity scene so many years John felt like we should go back there.  So go back we did.  Sunday night.  In the dark.  With two piddley flashlights and an iPhone bulb.  We trekked around far longer than sane people should do in the dark and never found the Austrian Pine we were after. Now - they DID have an Austrian Pine all cut and ready to go for $30, but it wouldn't be FUN to just take that one.  Not when they have SAWS you can use and wagon-like-things you can drag around in the dark.  We wandered further and further from the lights of the sales area, and I began looking for lamp posts and talking beavers.

After about 40 minutes of taking turns carrying Katriel (who decided it would be fun to poke around my face in the dark naming facial parts) and Johanna, (who was "fweezing"), we found something green and tree-like.  As our batteries started to fade, we deemed that it was indeed the PERFECT TREE for our home thank-you-very-much and the kids took turns sawing.   After what seemed like a LONG time, we hear Nigel say, "Whoa Marie, stop!"  (They were each on a side.)  "It's half-way through; save some for Tabitha to do."  John then looked and the blade wasn't even buried in the trunk.  What can I tell you... they were doing it by penlight.

There will be memories.  I'll make sure no one forgets...

I forgot the real camera.  So there won't be good photos.  But Nigel told my mom proudly today that he is 5'3".  She was pretty impressed to hear he clocked in at that number, until I mentioned that he measured himself against a candy cane. 
The kids didn't even get candy canes to eat on the way home because they'd run out by 6:30 P.M. on the Sunday of Thanksgiving weekend.  Go figure.  But that is how we roll.

We learned a lot.  We remembered to take the online coupon and get a tree bag.  That would be really fabulous if we'd remembered to put it under the tree.  Either the first time we put it in, or after we'd taken it out to make adjustments.   We also don't plan to see the cats for the next 30 days.  (I can live with that.) 

 
It really is a pretty tree.  And it looks quite elegant in the living room.  Maybe looking in the dark is the way to go?

 

     

It took three more days and cancelled afternoon school to get it decorated.  I also had to cancel my birthday to get the house decorated. 

Overall I like it…. but what I don’t like is how all the ornaments keep falling off the tree.

Oh – and get this – AFTER we decorate it with a hodge podge of stuff, the kids mention to me how they would like to see it decorated ELEGANTLY.  Really?  Um, your mom can do elegant… I just haven’t had the chance in the last dozen years!

Thanksgiving 2014

Thanksgiving Day, I worked a day-shift.  Much of the food was prepared the day before, and John did the turkey during the day.
We were joined by my mom, my sister, my Aunt Betty, my Aunt Jackie, and my cousin David.
There was only a bit of after dinner shopping.

   
Because we had to leave time for rides in Uncle Dave’s wheelchair…

And Christmas Gift exchange.

Being the resident 4-and-a-half-year-old, Johanna exuded that special kind of joy that comes from getting presents. 
 
If she were any happier she’d break her face.

This dolly sings Itsy-Bitsy-Spider.  Over and over again.
It was a great evening.  :)

EXCURSION DAYS!

Monday and Tuesday were port days.  Again we were up early each of these days (one day Emily skipped the gym and one day I did).  We had breakfast in the Coral Dining room every day of our trip but the last.  Here, the hostess grew to recognize us and knew we were not up to sharing a table at that hour of the morning.  [For those of you who have never cruised, you possibly don’t know that table sharing is not only offered, it is pretty much expected; although that trend seems to be waning some in the cruise industry.  We DID enjoy our dinner companions at the table for six we signed up for when booking the cruise.  I will share more about that in the dining post.  For breakfast, however, we eschewed the idea as for the most part, we were in post-work out condition.]

Monday we visited Georgetown, Grand Cayman. 

This is a “Tender Port.”  No, that doesn’t mean it is soft and gentle and cries during commercials.  It means the ship doesn’t dock in any sense of the word.  It sort of parks itself out in the ocean and you use boats to get ashore.  Some people loathe this type of shuttle, and for folks with mobility issues it’s a legitimate barrier.  It was the first time I had ever tendered ashore, and it worked out well for me. 

An orange life boat was acting as the tender.  See if next to the cruise ship in the 4th picture.  That cruise ship is a MONSTER!
 

We lolled around in a commerce/port area for about an hour tapping into the free Wi-Fi.  Free = glitchy.  But still, we got to touch base with our families and I was encouraged to hear Sunday had gone so well for them.  (It was set up to be a crazy day for them all.)

After some time we boarded an air conditioned shuttle bus and drove to a section of the island’s Seven Mile Beach for our afternoon. 

This excursion was rather inexpensive, and didn’t include much.  But it was exactly what we were after and perfect all the way around.  The excursion included round-trip transportation, a lounge chair, and umbrella, and one non-alcoholic drink.  Our beach area was in front of a dive place called Calico Jack’s, which also served food if you wanted to.  Their beach house wasn’t any yuckier than any public beach house in the US I’ve been to.  And the beach was magnificent. 

(this above one is a photo I found online)

 

Can you see the cruise ships in the distance?  There were only two ships in port this day.  We were told by our shuttle driver that some days there are seven ships in port and that touring/beaching going can be far less enjoyable on those days. 

The water was almost as warm as the air, and I think it was about 84-86 degrees out. 

   

I spent more time in the water than any other beach I have ever been to.  I think you can see why.  Smooth sand, no grass, and level for a long distance.  There was a small group of tiny fishies that hung out near where we would enter and exit the water.  I failed to take a photo. 

At 2:00 P.M. or so we headed back to our ship and finished out the day by the pool, and then began our nightly preening ritual.  ;)

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Tuesday found us in port in Ocho Rios, Jamaica.  It was slightly overcast and rain was threatened.

For reasons we still have yet to figure out we somehow got off the ship at 7:36 A.M.  It was sprinkling, and our excursion didn’t start until 9:15 A.M.  Ocho Rios is NOT known for it’s gentle welcome of tourists, so we did an about-face and got back on the ship for a lesiurely second breakfast in the Coral dining room.  (We had previously grabbed something in the not-so-delicious Caribe Cafe buffet line.)

We disembarked again around 8:40 A.M. and proceeded to bus loop where we checked in with our tour operator.  But not before taking some photos. 

↑↑ *Sister ship, Coral Princess*

We booked our excursion though resortforaday, a broker for island resorts throughout the Caribbean.  It allowed us a day-pass (but not a day room) in a well-reviewed local all-inclusive resort.  I’m not sure how it got the glowing reviews it got, although it was far from hideous.  It DID cost about twice as much as the Grand Cayman excursion, but there were no other beach excursions we could find that sounded good.  And neither of us wanted to swim with sea creatures (just WHY is that so popular??), nor zip-line through the jungle.  This area is also not great for self-guided tours for people like Emily and I.  So – this really WAS a good idea, and it wasn’t horrible.  It just didn’t warrant the grand reviews you find online.

The beach was gross.  While the sand was flour-soft, it had gobs of small rocks imbedded in it, and the water was so sandy.  There was zero chance of us sitting in the surf as we had enjoyed the day before.  The customer service was also seriously lacking.  And while we were welcome to have all the alcohol we wanted (um, I guess technically we did have all that we wanted – which was none), the mocktails that were available were more or less slushies like you get at Target. 

 

What DID hugely rock was their buffet.  The food was better than anything we found on the ship’s buffets, and rivaled the dining room, as well.  It was just excellent.

 

It helped redeem the resort a bit, honestly.

At 2 P.M. we headed back to the ship (Emily and I steadfastly refused the opportunity to shop that the driver so earnestly offered us.)
And we took more photos.

We headed back onboard and soaked up one last hour of sun before starting the evening routine.