Can It Be Christmas If You Don't Have a Tree?

We had a simple Christmas this year with no tree, just one batch of sugar cookies, only a few presents to open, and most decorations left unpacked in the closet.  I just felt lazy and the warm snow-less weather didn't put me in the holiday spirit.  So with no little kids to charm we took the easy way out and really simplified this year.  We didn't even cook holiday meals, choosing to go out instead with friends on Christmas Eve and Ben's brother's family on Christmas Day.  

And you know what?  It was great!  If it was important to me, I made it happen; otherwise I just sat back and relaxed!  

Christmas lights are always important to me, so we got a few up.  

And we did put a tiny live tree out on the patio with a strand of lights so we could see it from the house.  

Seeing friends is important to me, and we did plenty of socializing, including a wonderful "splurge" dinner out with Ray and Paula.  Someone (not me!)  even had the seasonal truffles. 

Hanging out with Paul is always important and I was happy that he made time for us, joining us for both Christmas Eve and Christmas.  Of course, Turbo is a big draw!  Did you know that Australian Labradoodles like to lay on their backs with their paws up in the air?  Well, they do and they look darn cute when they do it.  

Since I was feeling so lazy this year I watched a few holiday TV episodes or movies.  After some research I can recommend The West Wing's "In Excelsis Deo" (Season 1) as the best TV episode.  In addition to showing beautiful holiday decorations at the White House and being just plain funny in parts, it contains two touching stories.  The first is about how Toby breaks the rules so that a homeless Korean vet is honored with a funeral at Arlington, and the second reveals why Christmas makes Mrs. Langeheim (the President's secretary) sad. 

As for holiday movies, my research (conducted primarily while snuggling with Turbo in front of the TV), included watching the new-to-me Nothing Like the Holidays and rewatching The 12 Dates of Christmas.  

Both were very entertaining, but neither knocked out my frontrunner, The Family Man.  Hard to beat out Nicolas Cage and Tea Leoni starring in such an engaging story.   

And now we're anticipating the New Year and our first real snow.  It's finally been snowing like crazy up in the mountains and it's a great relief to watch our snowpack growing deeper and deeper.  But down here we still haven't had any more than a dusting.  With some excitement I've been following NOAA's latest predictions which is still for  4-8" to fall on Friday.  Our plan is to take the bus down to Union Station in Denver to meet a friend for dinner and then stay overnight rather than slog our way back home.  We never manage to stay up to midnight, and will be tucked into our nice warm hotel room by 9:30 or so watching the snow drift down outside our big windows.  

from Denvercenter.org web site

 Like everywhere, our Covid positive tests numbers are up due to Omicron.  Boulder County now has a 9.6% positivity rate and we know several people who are sick.  Fortunately, they aren't sick enough to be hospitalized, but being sick is never fun even if it is "mild."   Ben and I take our risks in going out to eat, but otherwise avoid indoor crowds and always mask in public interior places.   I wish I'd thought ahead and bought a cool mask/hat/glasses set like this to wear on New Year's! 

photo by Andrew Kelly, Reuters