Christmas Tree

Our first day in Novato was set aside for finding the Christmas tree and decorating the house. So we piled into the car, and set off with our cousin to the Liberty Christmas Tree Farm in Peteluma to select the tree.

When we arrived, we grabbed ourselves a pull along trolley, a measuring pole, and a saw, and headed off into the farm. We had a height limit of about 8 feet, so we had to walk past a few large trees that should have been sold last year. Everyone had their favourites, but we eventually settled on a nicely formed tree we christened as "Crystal".

We cut down Crystal, put her onto the trolley, and dragged her back to the sheds. She was shaken down on the automated tree shaker to remove all the loose needles - something we had never seen before. She was then dragged through the netting machine by two burly blokes with some serious leg strength. Finally, we mounted Crystal on the roof and tied her on for the ride. She look positively tiny on the roof of our monster truck.

Before heading home to start the decoration, we took a detour to Vintage Oaks to the newly opened In-N-Out Burger - a stop we'd repeat many times before leaving California...

As with most Christmas trees, it took quite a bit of work to get her to reliably stand up. Several wood chocks and 30 minutes later, she was standing proudly in the lounge, and we set about decorating. As always, the Angel was placed atop first of all, and then the lights were wound round and round. Then everyone found their favorite decorations - those hand made as children, a lobster from our time in Boston, and a tiger...

Before long, the tree was ready, so we turned on the lights and stood back to admire Crystal in all her glory.

But we weren't done, we still had to construct the Christmas village, and put up the lights outside. Only then could we put our feet up and dream about Almond Roca...