Lori wanted a big Christmas tree this year.  She figured it was our first Christmas in the new home and we have a lot of open space in the living/dining area so a tree of appropriate scale was required.

I helped with a few of the logistics: securing the DOT permit to transport the tree to the house, renting hoist and scaffolding, adding structural support, etc., but Lori did all the decorating work.  I’ll help again in a couple weeks (rigging and chainsaw work, hauling pieces out of the house, etc.)  after Lori transitions from pleasure of scent, lights, and festive celebration to cursing at the carpet of needles on the floor.

Will Lori want to go jumbo scale again next year?  Who knows?  That’s part of the fun.

Lori and I offer our best wishes to friends, neighbors, and family at the end of what has been an “interesting” year.

Winter has descended in Newfield, promising a white Christmas.  (I hope Lori doesn’t notice the foot of snow–she moved to Newfield with the understanding that there would be no snow.)  We were surprised by the postal arrival of a small Christmas tree lit with tiny LED bulbs, thanks to friends Pat, Steve, and Todd.  I had it turned on when Lori arrived home and it was a huge hit; I think it instantly got her in the holiday spirit.

Speaking of Lori, she got a new work laptop recently (issued every couple years) and has had to spend time configuring it, getting acquainted with the different operating system, and so forth. Now, a laptop may sound rather pedestrian but a well-honed laptop in Lori’s hands becomes a battle axe.  As a technical project manager she routinely machine-guns status demands, deploys code, inflicts meetings, and velvet-steamrolls impediments.  Sometimes fragile egos get bruised but that’s just collateral damage in the heat of battle. The laptop is a weapon in the arsenal to Make Stuff Happen. Defeatists beware.

Meanwhile, it snows and winds howl in Newfield.