Sitting on the front porch, outside my office window (how strange it is to be able to say that), is an artificial pre-lit Christmas tree. It is the one we used in the house a few years back that was replaced last year by a thin tree to try and fit our space better. And yes I am torn by the real/fake dichotomy of American Christmases. Be that as it may, when we replaced the tree last year I could not relegate the older still usable tree to the local recycling stream (place it out by the road on Friday after the garbage truck has run and see how many minutes it will last)… So I set it up on the front porch and just plugged it in. It was the extent of our outside decorations and I liked the look of it.

The reason for that whole rambling first paragraph is that this morning as I sit reading the news and email at my desk, my fake Christmas tree ion the front porch has served as seating for an orchestra of house sparrows. and finches. I imagine they think the colored lights are berries. Whatever the reason it has made for an interesting show.

Sherry had a hard time figuring where she wanted the inside tree to go. Before we moved in she had decided to put it in the “family” room with the fireplace. That was going to be the only thing in the room besides the china cabinet of her mom’s. And we were not going to worry about adding anything else until after the new year. Once we were in the house though, that carpeted room became the baby’s “drop” room. So she decided to put the tree in the entry just outside my office doors. So now, as I sit here working, the fully decorated Christmas tree is to my left front and the just lights outside tree is to my right front. one is all white lights and one is multicolored lights. And now one has fake birds in it and one has real birds.

Since we finally have a bit more room in the house, we will probably retire/relegate both trees to the front porch next year and try a real tree again. It’s been a while since I tried my hand at decorating a Noble Fir, my tree of choice in years past. Though, I suppose with my love of the Blue Ridge Mountains I should give a Fraser Fir a shot one year. You know, bring the smell of the mountains home to SE Texas for Christmas one year…