Waiting For The Solstice

Here we are, one week from the Solstice – and the madman is waiting. For the next few weeks, we’ll have a little over 9 hours of daylight. But with all the Christmas lights, it seems it’s hard to find a dark spot around our house. As soon as the sun goes down, the lights go on. They keep the madman’s spirits up, even though the Christmas tree isn’t in and decorated yet.

Waiting On The Tree

This year we’re waiting a little longer than usual. The madman decided to give our perfect Christmas tree another season off. The past couple of summers have been tough on all of the trees. But last summer’s drought was just awful. The ground was dry, the air was dry and very little fell from the sky. We tried to water, but it was never enough.

White Spruce

Our perfect Christmas tree is a little White Spruce. The madman loves conifers, and the White Spruce is one of his favorites. He’s not alone in this sentiment. The early French explorer Jacques Cartier felt the same way. In 1535, as he sailed up the St. Lawrence River, he became the first European to see our continent’s White Spruces. He called these trees, “the finest in the world.” Who wouldn’t want the finest tree for a Christmas tree? That’s why the madman doesn’t want to lose his.

It is now sitting in the mulch pile with the rest of his trees in pots. Each year we carry our potted trees to the side garden where we can bury the pots in the ground and mulch over them. This protects the roots from repeatedly freezing and thawing which could kill the plants. Next fall we’ll see if our perfect Christmas tree is ready to come inside for the holidays.

The Green Giant

So, the madman found a potted Arborvitae ‘Green Giant.’ It was the right size, shape and color – and that made it this year’s perfect tree. Fifty years ago, this idea would never fly, after all you had to have a spruce or fir. But the world is changing, Christmas trees are in short supply and we have to adapt. Once the lights and Cranberry/popcorn garland are in place, we’ll hang candy canes and a few ornaments. After all, we don’t want to overwhelm the little tree. Our potted Thuja is now waiting patiently in the unheated étalier where overnight temperatures are in the 30˚s.

Evergreens

Unlike deciduous trees which shed their leaves and go totally dormant for the winter, evergreens slip into a stage of semi-dormancy. The madman feels that the key to success with bringing a live evergreen inside is time. A combination of heat and light over time will push it out of dormancy so he doesn’t want the tree spending too much time in warmer temperatures. He plans to bring it inside at the last minute and put it back into a cooler environment as soon as possible.

Not Sitting Idle

But we’re not sitting idle while we wait to bring it in. We have the rest of the house to decorate. The madman and I love the Christmas season, and as you can imagine, over the past 47 years we have amassed a ton of Christmas things. We collect ornaments from every place we visit. And, on top of that we have decorations from our parents, and a bunch of stuff the kids made. All in all, that’s a lot of stuff, but it’s fun bringing up the memories as we unpack each ornament.

When we aren’t decorating, we’re outside finishing up the last of our gardening tasks. The madman is collecting, cleaning and storing the garden decorations. Meanwhile, I’m sowing the last of the seeds. Thankfully the ground hasn’t frozen yet although it is under a few inches of snow. We’ve gathered all the tools in one spot. Over the winter, we will inspect, clean, sharpen and repair or replace each tool. Sometimes there’s just no way to repair a favorite tool – like the madman’s hand cultivator. That thing didn’t break, it just disappeared.

Christmas List

I was not surprised to see a hand cultivator on his Christmas list this year. But what about the gardeners you know. Are you stuck for gifts for them? In 2019, we blogged about Christmas gifts – three years later, the madman says that’s still a darned good list. The thing he would change are the labels for the stocking stuffers.

“Make sure they are sturdy wooden labels,” he says. “And throw in a couple of #2 pencils for marking.” And, I would add one more item to the gift list. The Full Moon Calendar from earthsky.org – one for you and one for those you care about, because even though you may be far apart, you can all go out and look at the same night sky.

Tonight, the moon rises at 9:11 p.m., and it’s going to be a waning gibbous moon because the full moon was Dec. 10. Hopefully this moon won’t wash out the Geminid Meteor Shower. Join us out there with your own cup of hot chocolate.

We wish you all a joyous holiday season.