OH CHRISTMAS TREE
Time flies, doesn't it? Seems like just 12 months ago we were out hunting for the perfect Christmas tree :-) You remember what we found, don't you? Our Charlie Brown tree, the most adorable tree ever.
Actually, most of you called it pathetic, and your votes in WBFJ's contest "That Christmas Tree Thing" made us the winner of a beautiful 7-and-a-half-foot Christmas tree from Michael W. Smith, along with a copy of his new Christmas cd, "It's a Wonderful Christmas."
On Thursday, December 6, Darren, Tami, and Verne (the hosts of WBFJ's Morning Show) delivered the tree and the fun began. After putting the new Christmas cd in the player, Darren and Verne got the tree out of the box
and then the three sections were easily put together.
We started "fluffing" the branches, but ... hmmmm. One small problem: the lights on five limbs didn't work! We wiggled and jiggled wires, plugged and unplugged cords, and even read the directions.
About an hour later we decided it was time for refreshments! When we spoke on the air on the day the winner of the contest was announced, Tami told me that she had never had raw milk before. So - Christmas goodies and fresh milk it was!
And back to the tree.... After more attempts to get the lights burning on those 5 branches
, Weldon even replacing fuses
, there was nothing to be done except call customer service. Their solution? They would send us a new string of lights which we would receive in 7 to 10 days, and we would have to take off the offending lights and replace them with the new string. Well, that was rather discouraging, but that's the way the Christmas cookie crumbles.
The Morning Show had also brought along some decorations: The Twelve Days of Christmas and a Spode spoon picturing a tree and the year 2007. For the sake of photo ops, we each hung an ornament and then called it a day.
The next day, I turned the tree so the offending branches were toward the window and finished fluffing the tree. I sent an email to the Morning Show hosts thanking them for all they had done and for the wonderful, fun time we had had together. (They really are a great bunch. Verne had come to deliver the tree, in spite of the fact that he was on vacation!!) Tami insisted that she would come and get the tree and return it to Home Depot and bring us back a new tree. Could she actually do that? You see, Michael W. Smith (in Nashville) had ordered the tree through a company that supplied and shipped the tree through homedepot.com. There was a big flyer in the box that said the tree could not be returned to Home Depot. Well, go for it, Tami!
And go for it, she did! After explaining the whole thing to Home Depot, they gave her a new tree, she delivered it Sunday night, and we set it up to make sure all the lights worked (they did).
KUDOS to Home Depot and more thanks to Tami and WBFJ.
I finally got it all fluffed and decorated, and the tree is beautiful!!
See the "maid-a-milking" in the lower left and the spoon in the upper right corner? I'll post another picture of the tree in a day or two so you can see all the lights.
Thank you, Darren, Tami, and Verne. Thank you WBFJ 89.3fm. Thank you, Michael W. Smith. Thank you, Home Depot! Thank you, all you who voted. Thank you, God, for Christmas :-)
Her sister Pearl wasn't able to join us.
Her youngest, Beth, had to teach, so she missed the festivities.
and then the three sections were easily put together. 
We started "fluffing" the branches, but ... hmmmm. One small problem: the lights on five limbs didn't work! We wiggled and jiggled wires, plugged and unplugged cords, and even read the directions. 
About an hour later we decided it was time for refreshments! When we spoke on the air on the day the winner of the contest was announced, Tami told me that she had never had raw milk before. So - Christmas goodies and fresh milk it was!
, Weldon even replacing fuses 
, there was nothing to be done except call customer service. Their solution? They would send us a new string of lights which we would receive in 7 to 10 days, and we would have to take off the offending lights and replace them with the new string. Well, that was rather discouraging, but that's the way the Christmas cookie crumbles.
(I'm not kidding.)
But the colors were beautiful and definitely worth a little discomfort. Arizona and Florida family and friends, eat your heart out :-)
but that mischievous grin made me a little uneasy. 
from all walks of life. We thought perhaps these two young ladies had been contestants in the Potty Princess Pageant the night before, but no ... just a couple of good-looking chicks talking with the menfolk! 
I was beginning to have serious doubts about the merits of this festival, but then I saw that channel WXII12 was there from Winston-Salem. Hey! They wouldn't be here filming and interviewing the crowd unless this were important, right??
It was time for the races to begin and, yes, the town stopped traffic on the main north/south and east/west roads for this amazing race. 
I'd let the pictures speak for themselves, but they don't have much to say. First of all, I've been in quite a few outhouses in my lifetime, and these were definitely not outhouses. Maybe "privy" is a poor southern excuse for an outhouse. I was expecting to see big old outhouses barreling down the street, maybe pushing back the crowds with the smell. But instead, these races were very civilized. Two privys raced at a time, making two quick stops during which the team members had to rotate their positions. Then the winning teams raced against each other, resulting in one team winning the big bucks.
I took quite a few pictures and the sky truly was a beautiful blue, but the rolls of toilet paper were either fake or were somehow sealed ... no streaming paper - just a hokey contest. The back of this guy's tee shirt had contestants playing horseshoes with toilet seats. Sort of summed up the whole experience.
