Guilty, as charged

We have a rule in our house: No Christmas music until after Thanksgiving. I get irritated at seeing holiday decor decking the malls the day after Halloween. And I never consider getting a Christmas tree until one week before the 25th -- of December, that is. I have, in fact, been accused of being rather Scrooge-like in my regard for Christmas decoration.

But yesterday, I did the unthinkable. I bought a live Christmas tree. I don't know what came over me. Ed and I were shopping for some Farm Dover trees with friends Jackie and Paul. I spotted a 7-foot Hemlock and decided that it would make a grand Christmas tree.

Last year, we bought a live tree but it was rather Charlie-Brown-like -- small and crooked. And while I got kudos from my kids for getting any sort of real tree – a step up from the artificial one that I insisted on for years – they were clearly disappointed that it was so pathetic.

So Ed humored me and we brought the tree home. Paul, Jackie and Ed wrestled it into a tin bucket and set it on the front porch. There it will stay until Christmas Eve, when we will bring it inside. Then, before New Years, we'll plant it out near the front fence, close to last year's tree -- creating our own Christmas tree forrest.

So, I suppose that Christmas has officially come to Farm Dover. Only 44 more shopping days....