On New Year’s Eve I’d decided to take the candles out of the windows on New Year’s Day, as I have always done. Several reasons, the first being the heat loss through the windows without the heavy shades for 3 - 4 hours every night. The second reason was they are a bit of work at the end of the night, first turning them all on, then turning them off and pulling the shades. It’s much harder to do the shades with them in place. And thirdly, they had been up since before Thanksgiving and I was ready to put them away now.
On this Christmas tree, while not being one I particularly like (I call it the Charlie Brown tree), I did do a very good job with the lights this second time around and I love seeing them the whole length of the house as I move about.
Even with lights on, or during the day, it is a happy sight. So I decided to leave it up until January 6th, at least. Plus I had just put it up the week before Christmas and wasn’t up to taking it down yet.
On Thursday the carpenter’s helper arrived with his 4 year old son. So I played with him while his father cut the kindling needed to start the masonry heater. Somehow, the process filled the house with a haze that had no smell. So we set up a fan in the cellar and I opened the back porch doors and we got most of it out. But it eventually drifted into the office by evening. It has to be the dust from cutting the wood, as there’s no scent at all.
On New Year’s Eve my friend called in the afternoon to see if I wanted to go to the fireworks the next town over. I’m not particularly fond of fireworks, seeing them once a year is fine with me. I’d seen them during our Luminaria tour so I decided to stay home.
She had made more of her wonderful seafood chowder and brought me some for supper. She varies the recipe each time, but there’s squid, a white fish, clams, artichoke hearts, onions, and butter beans in this one, as a guess. There’s probably a lot more in it.
On New Year’s Day I decided I’d make an effort to do something. So I worked on fluffing the tree some more. I finished the bottom section and was quite pleased with how full it is.
I put the third section on and discovered the hinges holding each branch section had not been fully closed. This would not allow the branch to drop into position. So I spent a while looking for long handle pliers or vice grips to close each hinge. I ended up using pliers and was surprised I had the hand strength to close the hinges on the third section. So I tried to do some on the fourth section but that’s heavier metal and I could not. When I went to the barn to do the cats, I found vice grips and will do it on Sunday.
I got about half of the first layer in this section done before I had to stop. So the left side is still unfluffed.
The 2 wood heaters dry this house out quickly. I’ve been trying to water all the plants each week, something I never do. I got most of them done on New Year’s Day.
It’s been foggy here all day on New Year’s Eve and Day and warmish, 40’s in the day. I’ve not had to use the masonry heater much, but have kept a fire in the wood stove in the office. The addition is 2” x 6” construction and the extra insulation makes a huge difference. The old side is all 2” x 4” and though well insulated, one can tell the difference easily.
I’ve got all too many really large plants, but now have 1 less as the rosemary brought in this year has died. I had my son take the large pot to the back porch. I’ll have to get it out to compost before it freezes out there.
On Sunday I plan to get laundry done, fluff the tree some more, and putter around. I’ve finished all the books I got from the library and have resumed reading the Robert Parker series. I’ll probably read some, as it now requires a lot of standing to fluff the tree and that wears me out fast.
Monday the carpenter and his helper will be here and we will be working on the kitchen tile. I have to dismantle the kitchen again so we can finish sealing the tile.
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Good morning @goldenoakfarm. I don't know where to start.
Your home looks awesome, love the wide planking floors, your tree is perfect, the lighting is so calming, good choice to keep it up a little longer. Our tree was outside on top of our fire pit, @thebigsweed built a solid wood lid that I was able to screw down the tree stand into, this tree has been snowed on, rained on, hailed on and wind blown. The dang thing is still perfect. Since hubby was unable to help this year, hip thing, I had to get it out of the car and stand it myself, so I backed the car up in the front yard right next to the fire pit, that was as far as I got alone, so up it went.
So proud of myself, hehe
Have a great day!
Yeah, if I had had to bring the 8' real tree in by myself and put it up, it would not have happened. But I am surprised yours has survived so well outside! At least you have been able to enjoy it. :))
I didn't think I would even have a tree this year with the hubby still healing. I was pretty exhausted with doing double duty. But I found a new place that was selling smaller trees for just 20 bucks and all money went to local hospice care patients, I had to buy a tree, turned out great, we did enjoy it alot, viewing it from my kitchen window was perfect since I feel like I am always at the sink or the stove.🙄
Happy New Year! Your trees looks beautiful! And that fern looks a lot like mine. We’ve been having temperatures around -40 for a while now, with still more to come, and lots to snow. The cold dry winters are hard on the house plants, but they perk up again once summer comes. Best wishes to you in the new year!
We used to have -25F here (was yours C or F?) until about 4 years ago. Haven't gotten close to that since. No global warming, huh? Sigh...
Happy New Year!
We are in Celsius. But Celsius and Fahrenheit convert the same at -40. I find the animals do fine until about -20C. Anything below that, they hunker down and put all their energy into staying warm. Chickens stay perched and cows and wildlife stay in the bush. And I stay indoors with our sad little house plants haha
Yup! It has been very lazy time for me, not doing much. Need to recharge my battery.
Hope you’ll have lots of energy and strength for the year 2022.
Oh, I hope so too! This not doing much is getting to me...
Happy New Year to you. Our Christmas tree is still up like yours and I kind of like it up for a little bit longer. I asked my wife not to take it down till next month 🥰
Wonderful photos and a wonderful story about the carpenter's son and delicious seafood soup.
Unfortunately, I don't have ferns. There were two, as in your photo, but they died. Apparently the atmosphere of my house does not suit them. The rest of the flowers grow beautifully.
I wish you health and all the best in 2022!
Normally the dryness of my house due to wood heat doesn't either. But so far, I've managed to keep that fern alive...