Things are changing hourly, lol. Good thing we are in a festive mood. Our boiler stopped working, scratched our heads about that mysterious 'boiler' room downstairs and the temp seemed sorta fine. Turns out we have two...one for upstairs and one for down. Rarely use the downstairs heat as it is half in soil built into a hill and keeps a nice 65. DH was fussing down there and cranked the heat... Called a # on the unit and the owner of the company stopped by in an hour and changed the thermostat. (when does that ever happen!?) Turns out he installed the originals and was full of stories about the neighborhood and our original owners...and yes, we need a new boiler and it is ordered...MerryChristmas, yikes. $ Had to postpone our trip by a couple days...travel xmas morn. Menu is still the same. Pork butt is in the oven on low and slow for tamales. Ground all my spice mixes. Making 3 mustards. Toasting croutons for the oyster stew that is now going to be a seafood stew Saturday. Soaking salt cod for cakes. Managed our shopping trip after the boiler was semi-fixed. Near a re-peat of the Thanksgiving shopping...one of everything for a mixed veg roast with the turkey. Crazy crowded but they had all lanes open for quick check-out. Jolly crowd and seems good moods are all around. Scrapped Costco and Rockland Bakery as the traffic was unusual for 2pm and it has been gray and raining for two days. Can live without any of that. Guessing it is gift shopping and kids are off school tomorrow so mom's are doing the last minute things. Always amazed what little it costs for feeding 6-8 for 5 days when so much of it is harvest garden goods. Food, meals and cooking is always my gift so no other shopping is needed and the type of shopping i don't like is gifting and wrapping. Need a substitute for file/sassafras. DH has everything for an oyster/andouille gumbo he is insisting on making...thought i had some deep in the cupboard. (but it would have been 20yrs old) If this was colder temps we would be deep in snow right now. Wow is it raining non-stop....

Fun family Annie! I need to try ann_t's meat tort. I say that every year but it is on my list. We had some failures. Christmas day was dysfunctional family day. No one told me family was waiting...when we walked in and trying to settle after a long drive...yikes. I was hounded trying to un-pack...did not know so many people were there. And a sit down dinner was waiting. I had prepped so many sides but this and that niece and nephew had to eat by 5 and sister wanted all to be perfect...they started digging into my cheese and treat platters before i could pee. Horrible meal. I gave up and had a glass of wine. I had 6 cheeses and olives and ghost pepper salami and salmon charcuterie all prepped to platter but they dove into the containers before i could plate them...savages. My homemade flatbread was still in the truck yet to be unloaded. : ) (thought it was to be a quiet evening with my parents)...prep and eat around 7. My mother, now 86, tried to make a traditional turkey meal but it was so unnecessary. She cooks blonde. (not hair). Just safe and under done. The turkey was started 5am like the ye-olden days, Dressing bland and not baked fully, gravy white and floury. Sweet potatoes boiled in water to death. She stressed knowing i was on my way not knowing family showed up and waiting...(my sister that does not cook and expected miracles). The turkey sat 3 hours covered. How do they not know safe temp as i have taught them for years!? . I had all the fixings prepped to go into the oven but they were done well after all the family left. (did not know the extra family were even to be there). Family that does not cook and thinks those of us that do should provide for all. Grrr. "Almost forgot- Christmas apps were amazing! Crab cakes, mini lobster quesadillas, shaved filet mignon crostini and mini sliders." Yum! We had better successes the following days. : ) The best oyster stew ever. Finally perfected that one. Then oyster fritters for breakfast this morning...

Thank you both for your comments. It actually gets a lot of full sun on the canopy at least. There are several large live oaks probably about 20 feet away that are about the same height at these trees . . . .about 25 feet tall so they all kind of shade each other. And yes I'm asking if it will hide the house. Sounds like it might . . . just might take awhile.

i have to tell you this story so you dont feel so bad. We placed a call to utility company to evaluate a dying tree dangerously close to power line. An ARBORIST was sent within days. The guy shows up and said he wasn't sure what kind of tree it was. I immediately knew he didn't know squat as it was a pecan, an easily recognizable tree. I tried to be as friendly as I could and eventually found my way to asking him where he'd studied arborist science. His reply, and quite proudly so, was that he was almost 1/2 way done reading his manual. (What the ...!!!???) 99% of the so called arboriststs are tree butchers with a dull chainsaw, sigh... I'd just let your trees be and would not recommend removal at all. Be comforted by the thought this will never happen to you again. And to find an true arborist, I'd start with the nearest ag school in your area and word/of mouth.