nope mine is Christmas tree. I was referring to size of her plant. All can't be perfect until they are given a fighting chance. Mine got too much sun so had to be moved. I am sure you can show us all a perfect one though Ken This post was edited by almosthooked on Mon, Dec 24, 12 at 22:36

The same to all of you... may the season be merry and happy for each of you and your families. And may 2008 bring peace, happiness, and good health to one and all. And may something especially quilty find its way under your tree tonight!

Belated Merry Christmas to all. Especially to Triciae, who was on my mind a lot this holiday and will be during future holidays. Dear Wonder Woman, I hope you are doing well, where ever you are. Thank you for showing me what courage and strength and kindness are. We drove down to the Bay Area for the holidays. Christmas Eve we had dinner with our good friends in Berkeley, raw oysters with mignonette, cracked crab, and the traditional Buche de Noel. Last night we had dinner with other good friends in Richmond, tenderloin, mashed potatoes and a warm cauliflower-brussel sprout salad. I made half of the tenderloin, cut pieces 1" thick and tied them into rounds, pan cooked, with a sauce of reduced white balsamic vinegar, Muscat wine, shallots and garlic, butter, sauteed mushroom stems, blended smooth, then simmered over whole mushroom caps. No recipe, just made it up. Our hostess roasted the rest of the tenderloin with a red wine and shallot reduction. We were supervised by a friend who is a head chef at a large hotel and, for the first time in many years, didn't have to work on Christmas day, but was nonetheless pressed into service which he did with good humour. I've been negotiating a stressful matter at work for the past few weeks. As of Dec 24, we were uncertain whether our little business unit would be shut down and I had prepared myself to be jobless come Jan 1st. That all got resolved satisfactorily at noon on Christmas Eve, final document review pending, so for the first time in a month, I was able to relax and unclench. It was nice.

This indeed is a bit early for the year, this thread revival. I say what I want to say. If it is December 25th, I say Merry Christmas. If it is December 21st (MY actual holiday) I say Blessed Yule or Blessed Solstice. Otherwise, since there are so many of them, I say Happy Holidays. However, I will note if a shop clerk says "Merry Christmas" to me at checkout, I'll parrot back with the same. I hate seeing people bent out of shape over this "issue". The idea is that you are wishing someone something happy and joyful, or so I thought. PS, I call mine a Solstice Tree. I'm quite happy to call yours whatever you want me to call yours, as you probably don't share my religion, and so yours is probably a Christmas Tree. And yes, those things I mail out early December I do inevitably call them Christmas cards (although I don't buy the religious ones), and I hope we are still able to mail them this coming December. (You hear me, USPS???). And I love getting any I get, no matter religious, spiritual, or just simply fun the impetus is behind your sending them to me...