Thanks for the responses. How toxic is Immunox/myclobutanil? The warnings of course make it sound horrible and our water comes from a well not far off. Unfortunately, there will be no getting rid of the cedars, for family reasons. And while the area around the trees is mowed and underneath is kept mulched and weeded, the rest of the field (and the surrounding fields) are basically tall weedy grass that gets mowed once a year. That's not going anywhere either unless someone gives me a brush hog and a tractor to pull it with. I guess the best bet moving forward is to try to spray at the right time(s) in the future. I'll look into the suggested sprays for this year, though. Randy - My William's Pride isn't bearing yet (just put it in this year). I've had them from farm stands though and thought they were good enough to try planting. I don't have any tasting notes or anything, though :) Anyway, I hope they're good. Thanks again. Sam

I think it's a swell gift idea and would be pleased to find it in my stocking so I hope your gifts were received with good cheer, Lynn. My friend's son recently had his done and was tickled to find some Australian native DNA in his background. Scandinavian/German/Italian was all that was in the oral tradition of the family, so it was a neat surprise. Our family's Ancestry.com hobbyist received an email from a "surprise" cousin that we did not know we had, after several family members' DNA was registered. Photos were exchanged and yes, there is no way to deny the blood kinship--he looks just like the rest of us, poor fellow. The generation of folks who might have been shocked/hurt by this surprise family member are all gone, and I am glad for him that his lifelong question of paternity could be answered. I can see that it might be awkward for younger families who find out they have siblings they never heard of, but I'm a fan of sunlight in dark family corners-- and I also think it's time that some kinds of families stop acting like those situations never happen "among our kind of people", lol. I also had my dog's DNA done and I'm getting our newer dog's done, too. Very fun to find out what went into these rescue/shelter mutts we love.

We have a ridiculously large live one every year in our foyer. Ridiculous in that wrangling a live tree that large onto the car and into the stand and into the house is just a special kind of stupid. Sigh. But I can’t, no I WON’T give up doing it. It’s so pretty from both outside and inside that I suffer through the placement and removal days each year. I will say that the Bowling’s Last Stand that we took out a mortgage to buy (lol) a few years ago has almost completely eased my PTSD of a couple of horrific tree fallings in previous years and negated the need for all of the complex fishing wire engineering dh had to fashion before we encountered the wonder of BLS! Here’s this year’s bad boy: (And I have a little lighted table top tree in the study bc it is front facing & also looks good from the street. I am toying with the idea of doing one on the table in the dining room bc it is also a front facing room but, ugh. More stuff to get & store.) edit: you have to click on the pic to get the full effect...apparently tree too big to be contained by Houzz photo elves, lol.)

Love reading about everyone's Christmas spirit. I'm getting there but it's a little slower this year. We celebrated Thanksgiving in our home with one son, his wife and 2 little girls. Normally I decorate the day after Thanksgiving but this year we drove to our place in upstate PA on Friday so that we could have a second Thanksgiving on Saturday with my other son, his finance and her family in upstate NJ. Now I'm waiting for one of them to show up and help get the decorations down from the shelves in the garage. DH is unable to climb a ladder and while I can - some of the boxes are too bulky for me to handle. Last night was the annual holiday party in the Clubhouse and it was a really nice event. Catered dinner, music, singing and we had a table of 8 close friends. Springoz - I hope you post some photos of your antique barn with the sleigh- perfect for this time of year. Jen - you've had an unusual year - I can't imagine living in a rental for that long but soon you'll be in your new place and a New Year up ahead. Hope all goes well with the move. Funky - love the Grinch tree - I parked next to this car at the Post Office yesterday.