A small red box

is the object of interest over at the Wordsmiths page. why don't you take a few minutes and see if you can open it and tell us what's inside?

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There's something about picking out a Christmas tree and grilling outdoors on the same day that simply doesn't seem right. Not that I'm complaining, mind you, but I'm used to cold and snow at Christmas. This, the second holiday season in North Carolina, is even warmer than the first one was.

Picking out the Christmas tree here is strange for me, because there's no such thing as a cut-your-own lot here, unless one wants to drive 4 hours to the mountains. Me, not so much. In Connecticut we'd head out on a cold/snowy Sunday afternoon, saw in hand, to the local Lion's Club lot down by the post office/country store or to Mr James' farm that he sold trees out of, even though most were too big now to sell as Christmas trees, so he'd top one for ya and fell the rest for firewood. Those places would give away the trimmings, out of which I'd make real garland to hang over the porch rails. Down here, they charge for that stuff, IF you can even find it. Up there, there's hot chocolate and homemade doughnuts at the checkout stand, and more often than not somebody's got a fire going in a 55-gallon drum, into which they shove twigs of spruce and pine, making showers of sparks rise in to blue-gray afternoon sky. Down here, there's a guy in a baseball cap who's going to practice bondage on the tree of your choice and may or may not take your check. Up there, a tree is $20, regardless of size. Down here, a tree STARTS at $30 for the ones parked out from of the Food Lion, and go up to $100 for the 8-footers from the commercial lots.

Yeah - while there are some things I LURVE about the South, there will always be things I miss about the North. There is, apparently, no satisfying me.

UPDATE:

Apparently, of one waits long enough to buy a tree, one can get it for 20 bucks at hte food Lion, and it's reasonably fresh. Most excellent.

Also, the boughs from the bottom of said tree will be enough to make plenty o' garland. I am, for once, happy.