Christmas tree

This year we decided to choose a balsam tree from the lot we'd passed on our way into the neighborhood all these years in the past.  Of course, the evening we went, it started raining once we hopped into the car for the short drive.  So we made a rather hasty choice and headed home.

Not quite as scenic as the tree lots where we took the kids
to cut down our own trees when they were young,
but still it has it's own sort of Wisconsin charm-surrounded
by fields and a few farms, yet close enough to home to avoid
getting too cold in the process.

Note the ice fishing houses in the background
ready to be towed out to the lake in a month
for the sturgeon spearing season

So cold we had to bring the tree inside in
the bucket-sized cube of ice to defrost
before we setting it up in the stand-
took hours for the limbs to thaw and relax

Lights and ornaments
adorn the branches