Birthday and Christmas Tree

What does my early November birthday have to do with Christmas trees? A few weeks ago I read that the U.S. Capitol Christmas tree would make a stop at the Dixon Fairgrounds on its journey from the Six Rivers National Forest where it was harvested to Washington D.C. and it was on my birthday. I wanted to go see this.

There is a display that accompanies the tree and it starts with this sign.

This is just part of the next sign, but I was amused when I looked at the base of the tree to see who is sneaking out from behind it.

The next thing to see was the quilted tree skirt make up of 24 panels created by three northern California quilt guilds. You can see the whole thing at the website for the Redwood Empire Quilters Guild. Eel River Valley Quilt Guild and Moonstone Quilters are the other guilds involved.

I was just at the USCapitolChristmasTree website and read this: TREE SKIRTS: More than 50 tree skirts in varying sizes were created and donated to adorn the 50 companion trees that will decorate the Senate and House chambers of many California delegation members, along with the USDA and USFS headquarter offices. Specifically, a 15-foot skirt representing the “Essence of Humboldt” was lovingly stitched by members of several local quilting associations will be placed inside the Whitten Patio at USDA; and a 12-foot skirt representing beloved icons Smokey Bear and Woodsy Owl will be inside the Chief of the Forest Service’s office.

So now I think that this tree skirt is the one for the USDA. I wondered if it was going to be on a tree that was set up outside. Maybe it will at an inside venue.

This is quite impressive. There is a book at the information desk with information about all the quilters and their panels.

Some of the quilters showed their sense of humor. Notice the piece on the left is titled “Bigfoot, Banana Slug Reindeer & Snail Sleigh”. Sure enough, those are banana slugs (who thrive in a cool, moist north-coast forest).

Here are a few close-ups.

The images represent places and inhabitants in the Six Rivers area.

These are life-size cut outs of 3 fish common to some of the six rivers that are important to this area. The are Chinook Salmon, Green Sturgeon, and Pacific Lamprey. This all migrate from the ocean into fresh water rivers to breed. I wish I had a photo of the USFS representative who was there to indicate scale. That sturgeon is a really big fish!

This was cut from the base of the Christmas tree. It indicates that the tree was 57 years old. This tree is a white fir and was 84 feet tall.

There is a special oversized trailer that carries this tree and this is the route it will travel. It is difficult to show the scale of this truck, but think about the trucks we usually see on the highways. Those containers they carry are 40-53 feet and this tree is 80 feet long (after cutting 4 feet off the base). That is a long trailer.

The back section of the trailer has plexiglas sides so that you can see the tree inside. It has been decorated with ornaments that are thematic for the area from which it was harvested.

There are a lot of people accompanying the tree—USFS representatives, and honor guard, and the drivers. There are six drivers who trade off in pairs for the trip. Matt asked one of the staff about how the tree is kept hydrated. He was told that there is a bladder of water at the base in the enclosed part of the trailer and around it is a wax ring that seals the bladder to the trunk. I don’t remember how often they have to add water, but they do keep it wet and the enclosed plexiglass was steamy inside from the humidity.

There is a USCapitolChristmasTree website where you can read about the Six Rivers National Forest, the special truck built for this job, the drivers who were selected, and more.

My own two USFS employees who both said that they’d sign up for this job if a tree is ever chosen from the El Dorado National Forest.

This has nothing to do with the Christmas tree, but it is a cool metal sculpture at the Dixon Mayfair.

So this was a fun activity for my birthday.

We picked up dinner from a Chinese restaurant but forgot to open the fortune cookies until the next morning. I chose the cookies for Matt and Kaleena because they weren’t there. Theirs are the top two. My cookie is next and was empty. Dan’s is at the bottom. Chris and Meryl got theirs later.

Chris and Meryl came over this evening and we finished with the fortune cookies. I got to choose another and got the fortune that is third from the top. I think that describes the end of 2019 into 2020 for me. Meryl’s and Chris’ are the last two but I don’t remember which is which. Considering that they are moving to the next phase of their lives (literally moving to Boise) those are good fortunes to have.

The Night Before The Night Before...

That would be the eve of Christmas Eve. But who is keeping track of what day it is this year?

We put up a Christmas tree a couple of weeks ago. That is early for us but I’m glad we did. I love smelling the Douglas Fir Christmas smell in the house. I put lights up but not all of our ornaments. We have accumulated a lot over the years and I never like the task of putting them all away again.

So I just hung ornaments until I got tired of sorting through them. These are some of the favorites.

I don’t think I’ve bought ornaments in years, except for this one. I couldn’t resist a Clydsedale.

This cow whose legs move has been in our family since our dairy days that started in 1985

Of course I have been given sheep ornaments.

Dan and I got a tandem the year we were married and used to ride a lot. In recent years we managed one training ride and the Foxy’s Fall Century (metric) every year (until 2019).

Another farm related ornament.

Now into the archives. When my brother and I were kids we got to choose one ornament each year and my mom labeled them. The labels are now gone but this is an owl that I chose back when I was very young.

This is another from that era.

I think this is one that I chose when I was 4 or 5 years old. That’s a pink angel in a green sphere.

The year 2020 has a pretty bad reputation and I agree that it’s been rough. However in our family we could make the argument that 2019 was worse—at least the last 3 months. In October 2019 I had a near fatal accident and 2020 is when I recovered, but just as I was rehabbing and recovering, the pandemic hit. So let’s look ahead to 2021. It has to get better, right? Merry Christmas!