Hi everyone! Sorry for the delayed response--been very busy with work. I do agree with needing to raise the tree up. I have a large box that should work and will see if I can procure some faux snow. I think I also have some old bricks lying around. HMMMMMM. I actually like red and white lights, as well as blue and white--but my neighbor has blue and white, so I think I'll stick with red and white for a candy cane look. I agree that the lights on the japanese maples aren't my favorite, and that they detract from my christmas tree indoors. I guess I could put them on the bushes to the left of the porch? (There are some large overgrown evergreen bushes to the left, though I'm not sure they show up well in the pictures...) I AM having fun--love decorating my new home for the holidays! Such a fun time! I still have work to do indoors--we're having a party in a week and I have a lot to do before then.

DH and I custom built a 2000 sq.ft. contemporary home in Houston with all fixed glass except for the bedrooms where windows were operational with screens. We lived in that home for over 30 years and have absolutely no regrets. For those very rare times when fresh air was needed (after hurricanes with no electricity), we did fine. I'm preparing to go the same route in my little home that's being prepared for retirement, change out the single pane, operational windows in the familyroom to one big piece of fixed glass in each window, even if it means the extra expense of tempered glass. For me, it's all about the unobstructed view. However, if I lived in a more temperate climate where the weather was pleasant more days of the year, I would go the operational window route for the fresh air.

You can find some arrows on the lower right of the Bing page after it loads - use the back arrow to see previous days pictures! If your browser cooperates (sometimes IE does not) it will have moving specters on it!!

Floral, on original posts, the time for which one can edit is rather short, after which the edit button disappears. So if Frank finds that the edit button isn't available next to his original post, he can add photos in the comments section of this thread.