Hi, Justin--

The tree isn't so silly. It makes the house smell good. We put ours up on the evening of the Winter Solstice and leave it up until Epiphany (Jan. 6), because Christmas really does have 12 days, and not one of them is before Thanksgiving.

We have roast beast (thank you, Ted Geisel), and all the fruit and vegetable side dishes are red and green, on Solstice if I can manage it. Red for new blood; green for new growth. Lemon meringue pie tart enough to cauterize cuts for dessert.

The reading before the Solstice celebration is from Nathaniel Hawthorne's rendering of the story of Pandora in A Wonder Book:

"Pray who are you, beautiful creature?" inquired Pandora.



"I am to be called Hope," answered the sunshiny figure. "And because I am such a cheery little body I was packed into the box to make amends to the human race for that swarm of ugly Troubles which are destined to be let loose among them. Never fear! we shal do pretty well in spite of them all."



Regards--
Mary Anne