Beautiful peppers and photos, trfanatic! Are they Bhut Jolokias? They look like it to my untrained eye, anyway....Whatever they are, they look like they'd make any time of the year a HOT one! Merry Christmas in August to you, and may visions of Jolokias dance in your head!

Sharon, GW has a wonderful Christmas and Holiday forum. The people there are full of great ideas. Come on over and play! Here's the link. Here is a link that might be useful: Christmas and Holiday Forum

Oh, Christmas Tree is one of my favorites, too.... My mother sang it in German (she was of German descent from Northern Ontario, Canada, and didn't speak English until she went to school), and that's how I always remember it - auf Deutsch. When I was in 5th grade our small class was a human Christmas Tree for the school Christmas program and we sang O Tannebaum. Being the smallest girl in the class, I was the angel on the top of the bleachers that formed the "tree", and the kids all held pine boughs. I was so tiny I needed a wooden box to stand on to be seen, and the teacher was so afraid I would fall off. I was so proud because I already knew all the words to the song (LOL)! Deutsch Tannenbaum TEXT: Ernst Anschütz, 1824 MELODIE: Volksweise (traditional) O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum, wie treu sind deine Blätter! Du grünst nicht nur zur Sommerzeit, Nein auch im Winter, wenn es schneit. O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum, wie treu sind deine Blätter! O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum! Du kannst mir sehr gefallen! Wie oft hat nicht zur Weihnachtszeit Ein Baum von dir mich hoch erfreut! O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum! Du kannst mir sehr gefallen! O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum! Dein Kleid will mich was lehren: Die Hoffnung und Beständigkeit Gibt Trost und Kraft zu jeder Zeit. O Tannenbaum, o Tannenbaum! Das soll dein Kleid mich lehren.

Really enjoyed looking @ everyone's lovely trees! Sorry a bit late, but here's ours. After years of elaborate real trees decorated w/ traditional ornaments, garlands, lights & candy, once our kids were grown, I got a small vintage aluminum tree on eBay & have enjoyed its convenience & simplicity ever since. No lights, no topper, no watering - takes me about 1/2 hour to complete... Here it is the first year we had it - 2007. Only year w/ icicles, after I learned (the hard way) that my cat liked to eat them... & here's a tree @ work - all decorations by kids in my arts & crafts classes... Merry Christmas to everyone!