did you hear the one about...

... the family that got lost in the mountains for three days while trying to chop down a Christmas tree? Yet another reason why gas station trees rule.

i love michael cera

seriously.

O Tannenbaum

We just got our Christmas tree! Yay! I know many people have this idea that you need to go out in the woods on a snowy day and chop your own perfect, fresh tree down for the quintessential holiday experience, but I am a firm believer in the gas station tree. A woman I know told me that she got her tree at Gulf Station across from the Pizza Hut on Marsh Rd. for $35...so the things that went through my mind were 1) bargain, and 2) no long commute to Smyrna or Middletown. So off we went tonight for a scenic tour of the lights of North Wilmington, and then a stop at the gas station. It could not have been more perfect. The guys running the lot were, as we call them in my family for some reason, hooples -- several mullets and not very many teeth. And one of them was even a little person. They were nice as could be and super helpful, and my lovely Frasier Fir from Schuylkill Township was cut down just three days ago. It smells just like Christmas, even though it came from the Gulf Station. We are baking cookies tommorrow and decorating the tree. It will be so festive! Come join us!

cheese glorious cheese

My family has a long-standing tradition that if you get straight-A's on your report card, you get to have what is cleverly known as a "Straight-A Dinner." When I was growing up, this meant that you got to pick the menu for my mom to cook. Of course, Lucy's childhood, while in many ways similar to mine (I was an only child until I was almost nine, I was not allowed to have Atari, I liked to read), is also different in significant ways. First, her report cards don't even have A's on them -- just numbers and pluses and asterisks. So, we had to make a concession, allowing for a "Straight A Dinner" even when it should now be called a "Straight 4s and Asterisks and Pluses and Lucy is an excellent role model for her classmates Dinner." Second, instead of getting to have her mom make her spaghetti and meatballs or porkchops, she got to pick a trip to Toscana for a NY Strip Steak, followed by a Godiva Chocolate Mousse Bombe (which is pronounced "Godeeva Chocolate Mouse Bombay").

But here's the real point. Toscana's food is good. Nothing too exciting, but pretty tasty. But the best thing they have there is a FRESH FRESH FRESH mozzarella di bufalo. It is to die for. Richard, Lucy and I are getting to be quite the cheese afficianados. Definitely a worthwhile pursuit. (Lucy actually knows about manchego, and humboldt fog, and brie. When I was a kid, Velveeta was exotic. My child is really spoiled, isn't she?)