Why I Oughta...

 I'll have more to say in a couple of days, but for now, I think a lot of people are celebrating the end of 2020.  And we're joining them.  Nat hung this ornament on our tree that reads:  2020 stink, stank, stunk.   I know others are marking 2020 with ornaments with masks on them, or toilet paper.  I think this one feels right for our house.  

Earlier this week, I posted a photo of some of our seasoned Ash Firewood that has been processed, split and on the rack for a year and is showing cracks at the ends - checking - in firewood parlance .  That Ash firewood was from our neighbor's house pre-tear down and besides the checking and cracks, the wood has taken on a much darker color and when you *clack* them together, they give you that good, seasoned firewood sound.   This year, we had a large(ish) limb come down from the Norway Maple in our front yard.  It dropped during the "El Derecho" wind storm that came through in August .   With the help my neighbor Matt (and his chainsaw), we processed some of that limb into rounds and stuck them up on one of the racks to begin to dry out.  My plan was to begin to process these pieces later this Winter when cabin fever got the best of me.   But, I was over by the racks straightening some things out earlier this week and noticed that some of these Norway Maple rounds have

 We have quite a few Christmas traditions in our house.  COVID has caused us to change, drop or modify a bunch of them.  But, it also provided us with some new opportunities.  One of them was this new drive-through light show that took place in the parking lot of Northbrook Mall.  We went right before Christmas to celebrate the Babe's birthday.  It is called the "Let it Shine" lightshow and you can find all the details here on their site .  I don't know if this is a one-year thing (because of COVID), but based on our experience, I'm hoping it isn't.   We really liked it.   We packed a dinner and packed the kids in to the van and went up there.  There is something akin to Disney's Fast Pass that you can buy to get a shortcut in the line.  But, we didn't wait that long.  Maybe 15 or 20 minutes of waiting until it was our turn to wind through the light show.  I have to say...I'm not sure that was a terrible thing.   It costs $39.99 per car - which see

This year, after a couple of years off, we brought back our front yard Christmas tree.  You can see it in the photo below, along with our guy Santa and three of his reindeer.  This is the second year for these blowmolds being up on tomato cages and they look great .   It appears that this is only the second year that we put up a front yard tree since we moved to Downers Grove.  That first Christmas - back in 2017 - we had one (here) .  But, I can't find posts from 2018 and 2019.   This year, Nat tried to get some of our neighbors to do a tree in their own front yards and we saw a few of them do it - which is really nice.  We always loved Indiana Street being lit up with these trees. Here's the history of our front yard Christmas Trees over the years on the blog: 2020 - this post showing the tree and our blowmolds are back. 2017 - our first year in Downers Grove, I picked up a little tree at Menards for the front yard . Here's the photo and post from 2016 when we were at Vic

 Just like in year's past , I wanted to take the space on December 23rd this year on the blog to wish everyone a very Happy Festivus.   I've posted about Festivus many times over the years here on the blog  and this looks to be the seventh (7th) year that I marked the moment.  Out of 16 years on the blog. Here's how I celebrated Festivus in 2019 . Here's how I celebrated Festivus in 2018 . Here's how I celebrated Festivus in 2017 . Here's how I celebrated Festivus in 2016 . Here's how I celebrated Festivus in 2015 . And the first post in 2010 about Festivus appears to be this photo of a real-life Festivus pole outside of a house in Elmhurst .  But, this year marked a new moment in our Festivus journey.  After many years of asking/hinting that we should include it in our Christmas card, she finally caved.  Our 2020 family holiday card included a tip-of-the-hat to Festivus.  Here's the back of the card with the kids all blurred out: Right there amongst Chr

Doesn't look like much progress, does it?  Feels like I've sat in front of this puzzle for multiple hours, but all that I have to show for it is PARTS of four scenes.  There are twenty-one (21) total scenes in the puzzle across five rows. I have one scene in four of the five rows started so far.  I'm running out of time but, I suppose that means that I'll have to focus even more on this thing in the coming days. As a reminder, I called my shot with a 'Christmas Break' project puzzle back on Sunday, December 13th .  Five days later, on Friday, December 18th, I did my first check-in that showed the border mostly done and some of the color pieces sorted into piles .  Today, it looks like this: I'm fearing that I did all of the EASY parts, so now the project might only slow down.  

 I own exactly one camouflage item of clothing.  It is this Doug Hayse for Illinois State Representative camo ball cap.  Based on the data on the Illinois Department of Elections site , it appears that this hat is from the 2004 general election cycle.  That means that I've kept this hat for more than 15 years.  But, I only wear it one day a year:  Christmas Tree Farm Day.   Just filing this away as one of my Christmas traditions  - I've successfully been able to file this hat away in with the rest of our holiday decorations.  Just to be pulled out when the tubs of decorations come out each Thanksgiving-time.   I'm pretty sure it started because we had (historically) went down to the Tammen Treeberry Farm in Braidwood.  That was in, or pretty darn close - to the district Doug Hayse was running in for State Representative.  If I was doing - (which...NOTE TO SELF: I should do one this year, right??) - one of the "my favorite Christmas things" from this year, this hat