Our daughter, Marcelline, sends along this note and some pix: It used to be "the girls" would do the sorting of the artificial tree limbs and mom would assemble the tree each year as we grew up.
Thanks in part to the 1/2 off sale at the Steeple People Second Hand Store... We got a bargain of a deal with this 7-foot tree for a mere $6.50. And as Max takes over the assembling part, he shares that "at least we finally have a big tree this year, it's not so embarrassing." (13 years old and counting. )
No one seemed to go for Marcelline's idea of just putting a few less limbs on the tree so it can go flat against the wall, thus leaving more space in the room. Kathleen did laugh hard enough to bring a few tears to her eyes.
Tonight we are celebrating the completion of the "History of the Computer" time line assignment that Max delivered well today in school. He began the two-month-long assignment three days ago. Mom is just happy it's all over.
We took this photo of the tree with my sister Jennifer's famous 6-foot quilt. We have cherished this quilt for years, but as it has seen better days, we thought we should document it with this "good photo" just in case it could be the blanket's "last Christmas with us". 
We posed her as the tree skirt in this photo but are still using her for warmth on the cold nights. Thank you, Jennifer, for such a wonderful gift that we have been given over and over.
Love to all,
Marcelline and Max
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