Hello! I'm growing my first crop as a Greenhouse/Nursery student this year and we do Point Trials for some breeders. Thought maybe you'd be interested in seeing some new cultivars and their progress so far, so I'm posting a link to our site. Never was much of a fan of points to be honest, but I'm having TONS of fun with this!!! I've developed a huge appreciation for them, it may not develop into a passion for me, but I am enjoying it for now. I'm also very excited to see your drive (and success!!!) to do this from home!!! Kudos you guys!!! The "Pointsettia Trials" Tab at the top of the page takes you to the list of what we have. Each cultivar has weekly photos every Friday and we will write up bios on each one here pretty soon. You can also look at completed trials from '05 and '06. Feedback is welcome! Janelle Here is a link that might be useful: SCC Greenhouse/Nursery Program

I just recently found out about Jolebokaflod too, and now I see references to it all over the place. I love it when that happens. Thank you for the link Vee. I shared this with my sister who just loved the whole thing. In our (small) family we'd be the only ones participating. Her DH and kids aren't big readers, my DH reads mostly research type information on the computer and our cats don't read at all. In my household I'd be the only one participating. Well, there's nothing wrong with that - maybe I'll do it anyway. Plenty of choices on my TBR shelves. (I could ask DH to pick some out at random so I'd be surprised) I might be able to find one for my sister too, although our reading tastes rarely overlap. Sadly, other traditions we kept in the past have dwindled in the face of a shrinking family and other perfectly normal factors. When we opted out of gift giving altogether a few years ago I had planned to add some new traditions of my own but really haven't done so. One that I tried to introduce was having Shepard's pie on Christmas Eve. I thought I was being quite clever but it never really stuck.I'm enjoying this thread and it's giving me some food for thought, so thank you all.

I put aside the shopping season festivities a long time ago. I just quit buying any presents and told all that I want none. Of course, one exception is the wee young ones, the grandkids. I quit with the tree and went with a nice super big wreathe. Now I have quit with the wreathe. Last year I was almost able to ignore it completely. I think that there has been a change in our view of this dictating and dominating holiday. I see less and less of the frenzy around it, fewer home decorations, and I, thankfully, hear less of that gawd awful sappy music due to the fact that I spend less time in stores (in normal times). Also, I don't get as subjected to the TV advertising since I watch most streaming. The exception is the news channel where they mostly advertise heart medicines and reverse mortgages. I identified with the notion of feeling a sense of freedom from it. That is just exactly the way I felt---liberated. Joyfully liberated! I am ready for a new perspective to take shape in our American world view. Those old traditions are ready to take a back seat to a new culture, hopefully. I wont be around to see it, but I have hopes that it will change and evolve to meet the new world. Time for a new perspective. The old one is too small and narrow , and, is worn thin as can be. Good riddance! I have alway liked both Thanksgiving and New Years much better than the Shopping Season. Having said all of that, I just might put the big wreath up this year. Not for me, but for hubs who is having a. hard time coping with it all and he has alway liked the lights. I stopped liking the lights when we went to LED tree lights. . They are such a cold unblinking light that I don't like them. They cast an eerie cold glow onto everything. I have seen some holiday trees in the windows of some houses that are so flashy that they could be seizure inducing! You know, those high tech explosive light shows on the tree.

Nice reminder--thanks! I wonder what kind of radio/TV reception we'll get tomorrow. The forecast is for serious rain over 24 hours, with flooding expected. We still have about 10-12" of snow left on the ground.